Review for Super Mario Party. Game for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 05/10/2018
Sometimes trying to reinvent yourself could turn out to be wrong. Many titles have met with criticism when they changed direction, such as DmC Devil May Cry or the recent Final Fantasy. But even the popular Mario Party series had undergone a change in structure in recent editions. Super Mario Party brings back the old but functional classic formula, with a competition for who collects the most stars like in the old days. The result is, in true Nintendo style, a fun, addicting party game that successfully combines blind luck, minigame skills and a minimum of strategy. Super Mario Party arrives on Switch as a return of the "King" of party games, representing a must buy for lovers of the genre.
In the world of Mario there is a discussion between the characters. All of them, or almost all, have had their own games and moments in which to shine, thus claiming to be the true "super star" of the brand. To decide once and for all who will be able to win the coveted title, games are launched, thus leading to a new edition of Mario Party.
With this simple but effective premise, Super Mario Party begins, a title that immediately puts us in front of different modes, all distinct and fun for different reasons. As previously mentioned, the main mode, called “Mario Party”, goes back to the origins of the series, proposing the old formula of “star hunting”. For those unfamiliar with the title, this mode consists of a 10, 15 or 20 round race in which four players must complete a course on a board trying to collect as many coins and stars as possible. At the end of the game the player with the most stars will win. Obviously it's not all that simple: the board hides pitfalls, bonuses, penalties and the possibility of putting a spoke in the wheels of one's rivals.
After each character has thrown the dice, thus ending the turn, a mini-game will start that can be free-for-all or teams, in which the winners will get more coins giving an advantage in the movement phase on the board. The old formula works very well, also giving a pinch of uniqueness to the brand that, with the modality present in the last chapters, was getting lost a bit.
Despite a couple of rather questionable choices. In particular, the fixed order of throwing the dice, which is chosen at the beginning of the game and never changed, particularly disadvantages the last two players, in favor of the first two. It would have made more sense to dynamically change the throwing round based on the results of the minigames. Also, if there are not four players, but you have to resort to a character controlled by the CPU, you can create huge imbalances when you have to go to team mini-games due to theAI, which is not the best, not even selecting the very difficult mode. Despite this, in general the main mode works well, and the team version is original and well thought out to totally change the cards on the table and give more freshness to the title.
In addition to the classic mode, whether single or in teams, the game also offers other modes, one co-op, one free-for-all with music-themed minigames, one that takes advantage of the positioning of the console on the game table and one composed only of minigames , also playable online. The first consists of an obstacle course, with many branches that lead to various difficulties to overcome. On board your canoe you will have to get as far as possible, earning extra time by winning in the mini-games. This mode does not stand out for its originality, but its presence offers a pleasant alternative to the classic mode. Similar speech for the musical mode, which also offers a very fast alternative with unique and fun minigames.
The mode that takes advantage of the positioning of the console deserves an honorable mention. Super Mario Party, in fact, manages not only to give the possibility to modify the game scenarios through the use of two Nintendo Switches, but also to give a nostalgic "cabin cruiser" feeling, in which two people have to clash in a couple of very fun pvp games in their simplicity. Unfortunately, we have not been able to try online, as the Nintendo servers are still closed at the time of writing.
Super Mario Party, like almost every game of the brand, has excellent graphics and a very good level of aesthetic inspiration. The stages are (almost) all interesting, the characters have well-made and very expressive animations, with many of these unique for the various minigames. Speaking of minigames, Super Mario Party presents a huge number of them, and of these few are to be considered unsuccessful. The game makes the most of the potential of motion control, so much so that one almost thinks that Nintendo has revived this function on the Switch for titles like this one. The performance is more than satisfactory, with no drop in frame rate found in several hours, regardless of the minigame or the number of players present. A positive mention for the soundtrack, excellent to accompany the game sessions, with many beautiful remixes of historical themes. Perhaps the only flaw is Nintendo's tendency to focus more on older titles by snubbing possible references to more recent titles, although a few references to Super Mario Galaxy have warmed our hearts.
As often happens when we talk about the Big N, we must admit also on this occasion that, if there is one thing in which Nintendo is a master, it is having fun. Super Mario Party is a must for anyone who wants to play a party game with family or friends that can take hours of carefree time away. The different modes and everything that can be unlocked lead the title not to be redundant for a long time. The greatest merit of Super Mario Party is precisely knowing how to entertain, without too many pretensions and with its balance problems, even without aiming to unlock new content.
► Super Mario Party is a Party Game type game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 05/10/2018
