Ultra's Reviews: Mario Party DS (DS, Wii U)

So, Mario Party.

It's a series of Party games in the Mario Universe. Most of the games were Developed by Hudson soft. and Today I want to do the Last Mario Party that Hudson Made. 2007's Mario Party DS.

North American Box Art

PLOT

One night in the Mushroom Kingdom, five Sky Crystals in the sky fall to the land. One falls near Mario, who explains it to his friends the next day. Suddenly, Kamek flies overhead the gang, dropping invitations to a feast in Bowser's Castle to apologize for his wicked behavior.

Once Mario and co arrive, they found out it was a trap set by Bowser and Bowser Jr. Who Traps the Gang into cages

With the group trapped, Bowser uses a magic wand called the Minimizer to shrink them all down to the size of chess pieces, and they are thrown out to a distant location by Kamek. This leaves Bowser to look for the Five Sky Crystals, in peace. Displeased by the outcome, the gang wakes up outside and decides to head for the castle to settle the score with Bowser. The desire to be the one Superstar that defeats Bowser and his cronies causes Mario and his other seven friends to pit themselves against each other for the title along the way.

So yea, that's about it. Eventually the one Superstar challenges Bowser and his Minions, and Yea it's pretty simple, it's pretty much a Board Game so why would Plot be important?

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay in Mario Party DS follows the style of the Previous console games that preceded it.

Up to four players take turns to roll a Dice Block that shows numbers from 1-10, which decides how far players move across the board. The goal is to get the most Stars through the conditions decided on each of the boards, Stars cost 20 coins to collect.

Once everyone has had their turn a random Minigame is selected, the Winner of the Minigame is rewarded with coins.

There are Also Item Shops which allows you to buy items with Coins, and Finally there are Hexes, You can Place Hexes on the board either 5 Spaces ahead or 5 spaces behind. Each Hex does something different, usually Stealing coins or Stars, If you land on a Hex you Placed the Hex gets used up but you also get extra coins.

The Hex System is Similar to the Capsule/Orb Systems that were present in Mario Parties 5, 6, and 7.(Though it's More Similar to 6 and 7)

There are different Kinds of Spaces to Land on, Blue Spaces Give you 3 Coins, Red Spaces makes you lose 3 Coins, Happening Spaces(or ? Spaces) Causes a Board Event to Occur, Friendship Spaces gives you and another player of your choice 5 Coins, Duel Spaces Allows you to play a 1v1 Minigame for a Random Wager, Finally Bowser Spaces Causes Bowser to appear and do a Big event.

Once there are 5 Turns Remaining Bowser appears and Does something to help the Player in Last Place. Usually by giving them Coins, Stars, Making Stars cost less, and Taking Coins from the other Players and giving them to the Player in Last Place.

Lastly there are Bonus Stars, In DS there are 6 bonus Stars and only 3 are Randomly Picked,

Mini-Game Star - Awarded to the players who have won the most minigames.
Happening Star - Awarded to the players who have landed on the most ? Spaces.
Running Star - Awarded to the players who have moved the most spaces using Dice Blocks.
Item Star - Awarded to the players who used the most items.
Hex Star - Awarded to the players who laid down the most hexes.
Friendship Star - Awarded to the players who landed on the most Friend Spaces.

Things get Chaotic here. And I'm still not done yet, that's just 1 mode.

There is a Puzzle Mode, Which allows you to play some Puzzle Games from older Mario Parties, Mini-game mode Which allows you to play some side-modes based around Mini-games. Story Mode which is the Same as Party Mode but with no Bonus Stars, The Gallery Which is pointless, and Local Multiplayer, This game even Supports DS Download play so you can play on one Cartridge.

I know there are Exclusive Modes in Local Multiplayer But I wont talk about them.

When you do Certain things in Each Mode you get MP points which can be used to unlock things in the Gallery.

I think, I Covered, Everything.

PRESENTATION

It's Alright for a DS Game, the Graphics are....DS Era.... It's not so Good, but it gets the job done.

The Music is Forgettable at best, Most of the Tracks are either Annoying, or Forgettable, There are some good ones, the Last 5 Turns Music is Great...but that's about it.

The Voice Clips sound Compressed and Awful.

THE BAD

So. Other then the Presentation I cant think of anything bad to say about this Mario Party, I mean yea, The AI in this one Mario Party is Known to Sabotage the Player, The Boards are Tiny, and there are not Enough Hexes to make using them Worth it. But Overall, this is a Solid Mario Party.

OVERALL

It's a Solid Game, With most of my Problems comes from the presentation, The Theme is Interesting, and it can be pretty fun.

But the Presentation being so meh is Such a Big Downer for me I can't give it a Really High Score.

Mario Party DS gets a....
3/5
A Solid Game, If you can get past the Major Flaws.