After loving Mario Party 8, I knew that I had to at least try Mario Party 9, if not buy it. I rented it from GameFly with great expectations, but unfortunately, I was disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong. I think this is a decent game, but it just wasn’t good enough for me because I can not accept decent from Mario Party. After having had played Mario Party 8, in addition to the Mario Party series for the GameCube, I just expected something more… wow.
The game had similar elements to the other games in the series, which was fine, like the typical Nintendo characters and all that; however, the elements that were supposed to be different were the ones that I did not like. For example, not having minigames to play after every turn, and instead only playing the minigame when someone landed on it was something different. Personally, I did not like this because it became a game of repetition of who could go furthest the fastest. Then on the rare occasion that a minigame did pop up, I felt annoyed because it was wasting my time and got in the way of my reaching the star.
The game also just felt harder, which made it less fun. Rather than going for an attainable challenge, the game was more like luck by chance. Rather than being social, it was unsocial. There were less interactions with my competitors and rather it was a journey I mostly took alone.
Out of the two Mario Party games for the Wii, Mario Party 8 wins by a landslide. Mario Party 9 did not live up to the standards it set for itself by coming no where near the epicness of its successors. I was very honestly disappointed and grateful that I did not purchase the game. Mario Party 10 for the Wii U comes out next year and I can only hope that it lives its legacy or is taken to completely new grounds.
The moral of the story – Mario Party 9 is a no.
Did anyone else feel the same way? What are your thoughts on the game?