This is Mario’s eighth party which, considering he’s almost certainly had four times as many birthdays in his lifetime, doesn’t say too much for the generosity of his parents. Still, as videogame series go, seven sequels is a fairly impressive run, a success that bespeaks the Mario Party series’ accessibility and ongoing mini-game charm for generations of gamers. And now, with the Wii flinging wide the gates of gaming open to great swathes of fresh players the Mario Party series seems to have found it’s most comfortable and appropriate home.

For those yet to be invited to a Mario Party the rules are simple. Based on a kind of virtual boardgame template, up to four players pick a character from the Mario universe before rolling die and moving around one of six giant animated play boards in a mission to amass the most coins and stars. These collectables are won by beating other players in Mario Party’s huge number of mini-games.

The final winner is the player who, at the end of a set number of rounds, has the most number of stars in their possession. Stars can be stolen off other players in duel battles (initiated when two players land on the same square of the board) and bonus stars are awarded at the end of a game for the player who, for example, travelled the most spaces or used the highest number of items. If there’s a tie at the end of the game for stars then the winner is decided by which of those players has most coins.

This template has remained mostly unchanged throughout Mario Party’s life and the Wii version follows the rules religiously while adding in Mii support as well as, naturally, basing its minigames around the use of the Wii’s remote control. These games include such delights as shaking a can of fizzy drink and aiming it to fire at targets and other such variations on concepts you’ve seen in slightly different guises in the likes of Warioware et al.

Arguably the Wii already has its fair share of mini-game collections and, in all honesty, Mario Party 8 is just too sluggish (in terms of play experience) and cumbersome to make it an essential addition to the console’s library. Likewise the presentation is a little shoddy and the integration of Miis and even the actual use of the Wiimote never quite seem as satisfying in practise as they sound in theory. Nevertheless, with the right friends around in the right atmosphere with the right approach, Mario Party 8 can deliver an enjoyable party experience even if it falls short of its electric promise.

3 out of 5