Mario Party DS is the 10th installment in the series of Mario Party games, and the fun doesn't seem to end here. With 67 minigames, Mario Party DS is sure to please.
The game starts with a short little movie.
It's a starry night, and five dazzling objects shoot across the sky and plummet towards the earth. One of them happens to fall near Mario. The next day, Mario tells the crew about what happened last night. It turns out that this dazzling object was a Sky Crystal! All of a sudden, there is another surprise; the crew receives a letter from Bowser. They open it up, and it's an invitation. Bowser is having a party (with lots of food) to apologize for being such a jerk. Mario and his crew decide to attend this party, unaware of the danger they've made themselves vulnerable to. Shortly after arriving, Mario and his gang find themselves trapped in a cage, and soon shrank to size by Bowser's Minimizer. This was all part of Bowser's plot to get Mario's Sky Crystal. Now Bowser needs to get the remaining four. Mario and his crew wake up and find themselves far away from Bowser's Castle. They decide that they must find the other Sky Crystals, beat Bowser, and return to normal. And so, the party begins.
Characters
Mario Party DS features 8 playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi, and Toad. All of these characters are available from the start, so you won't have to unlock them.
Boards
Mario Party DS has a total of 5 game boards to choose from. However, only 4 of them are available from the start. Each board has its own unique way of making players obtain stars. In one, you must climb to the top of the board, and then you may buy as many stars as you can afford. In another, there are three star boxes. You must pay 10 coins to open each one, but only one holds the star. This keeps the game a bit more interesting.
Minigames:
There is a total of 67 minigames in Mario Party DS. There are thirty-two 4-Player minigames, twelve 1-Vs.-3 minigames, thirteen 2-Vs.-2 minigames, five Battle minigames, and five Boss minigames. The minigames feature a variety of control methods. Some of them must be played with the stylus, while others are played with the D-Pad, A,B,X, and Y buttons, and the microphone. These various control methods also help to keep things interesting.
Graphics:
The graphics in this game aren't mind-blowing, but they look nice. I'd say that they resemble the graphics of Mario Party 3 for Nintendo 64. Nothing special, but they aren't bad.
Gameplay:
If you're familiar with the Mario Party games, you'll be able to predict the way you play this game. The object of the game is to obtain the most stars at the end of the match. The game starts off with all four players standing in a line at the beginning of the board. Each player hits a dice block to determine the order in which the players will go in each round. Once the order is decided, each player will hit the dice block and move the amount of spaces rolled. The highest is 10, and the lowest is 1. After all four players have gone, a random minigames is played. If all four players have landed on a blue space, it will be a 4-player minigames. If one player landed on a red space, while the other three have landed on a blue space (or vice versa), you will play a 1-Vs.-3 minigame. If two players land on blue spaces, and two players land on red spaces, you will play a 2-Vs.-2 minigame. Whoever wins the minigame receives 10 coins.
Items:
The items in Mario Party DS are essentially no different from the items in any other Mario Party game. The names have been changed from previous games, though. So to make things more clear, I'll use their old names. Some of the items are mushrooms, gold mushrooms, and genie lamps. You can buy these items in the various item shops scattered throughout the boards. There are also hexes that you place down on the board as a space. One type of hex is a 10 Coin Hex. If an opponent lands on your 10 Coin Hex, they give you ten coins. There are star hexes, and 20 Coin hexes.
Single Player:
The single player mode, Story Mode, isn't very fun in my opinion. I only play it when I'm REALLY bored. In my opinion, Mario Party is the kind of game that you have to play with your friends, or else you won't really get the full effect of the game. What you have to do in Story Mode is complete 5 game boards and obtain the five Sky Crystals by being the superstar of each stage.
Multiplayer:
In my opinion, multiplayer is what makes the Mario Party games fun. There is no WiFi in Mario Party DS, but you can play via DS Download play with either single-card or multi-card. The multiplayer is the main reason I got this game.
Closing Comments:
Mario Party DS is a GREAT game to play with your friends. However, if you don't have anyone else to play it with, I wouldn't fully recommend getting it.
