Party hangover

by ERIK LEIJON

Good people is the key to having an enjoyable party, even if the weather isn’t perfect, the keg is tapped dry and someone keeps playing BTO’s “Takin’ Care of Business” over and over. Mario Party 8 (Wii/Nintendo, Hudson Soft) stretches that theory to its limits: it’s visually ugly, the action is slow and text-heavy and the Wii controls can hardly be considered a major improvement compared with the GameCube versions. If you have three friends, a lot of booze and possibly even warm memories of the Nintendo 64, Mario Party 8 might be amusing as a lark. Minus the friends, and understanding that drinking alone and playing games is a dangerous mix, Mario Party 8 has nothing to offer but frustration to anyone attempting to play against the A.I.

Mario Party is an interactive board game. Four players hit dice blocks and navigate highly colourful boards, picking up coins and attempting to gain stars (he with the most stars is declared the winner). After each of the four players has taken a turn, they participate in a mini-game, typically less than a minute in length, and the winner receives coins.

The obvious failing with the Mario Party series in recent times, and never more so than here (the first Wii Mario Party), is that players succeed entirely through luck, and having any skills is actually a detriment. Sadly, it matters little who wins the mini-games, getting stars is based more on high dice rolls and hitting the right spaces. In one particularly annoying game, I was obliterating the competition on Goomba’s island resort (I did not lose a mini-game over 20 excruciating turns), but every time I approached the Goomba to collect my star, one of the insipid A.I.-controlled opponents would be lucky enough to catch a dolphin ride or use a candy to steal my coins.

At the end of the game, award stars are given for outstanding achievements during the game. Instead of rewarding me for my undefeated streak with the mini-games, or because I had more coins than the rest of the players combined, stars were awarded for luck-based categories, such as number of green spaces hit. It left such a brutal taste in my mouth to realize that putting a genuine effort into playing well had no bearing on the final result, and it’s assumed that most gamers wouldn’t bother trying again.

Another problem I had was the slow pacing, which goes directly against the rapid-fire spirit of playing dozens of mini-games.

WarioWare was a more successful extension of Party’s original concept, and in comparison to Wario’s first Wii offering, Mario Party the Ocho’s one-hour games (minimum) are painfully slow. The MC, some talking hat character who looks not unlike the mayor from Nightmare Before Christmas, gabs incessantly about boring and unnecessary details. Most of the time, I found myself rapidly hitting A, trying to speed up to the mini-games.

It’s still fun to play multiplayer, especially the Russian roulette-style string-cutting game, but now that mini-game collections are all the rage, I find it hard to believe anyone will enjoy the Ocho’s bloated package over WarioWare’s svelte presentation.

Going Green

Shrek the Third (X360/Activision, 7 Studios) looks great, but the fixed swivel camera gave me a terrible headache, especially the Puss N’ Boots levels. The camera shakes awkwardly, and hardly provides the best angle for the player. Jumping from ledge to ledge will try one’s patience, as the view will quickly shift even in mid-jump.

Children might enjoy this title because of the cute characters and voice-overs from the actual cast (including narration by John Cleese), even if some minor technical issues prevent it from being anything more than average.