TORONTO: Mario Party 10 is beating the odds and ending up on top. This is because regardless of whether the mini-game is skill or luck based, they’re exciting to play. Probably one of the best examples of this is Fruit Cahoots. In this mini-game you need to avoid bombs and collect fruit. To do this you need to choose to either collect your fruit or tell the conveyer belt to move forward one space.
In the basic Mario Party mode, up to four players sit in a car and take turns rolling dice to propel the group around the board, collecting mini stars and competing in minigames along the way. This is where the majority of the content lies, offering six different boards and a multitude of minigames. It’s enjoyable for a while, but as star distribution becomes more about luck than skill and games drag on unnecessarily, it becomes plain to see that Mario Party 10 hasn’t learned much from the hiccups of its predecessors.
The minigames themselves are largely enjoyable, utilizing the various motion and button controls of the Wii remote in simple yet challenging competitions. Some are 2v2, others 1v3, but most are frantic 4v4 tests of skill and concentration. There’s a ton of variety, but not as many standouts as past Mario Party games. The biggest issue with the basic Mario Party mode is that it’s simply too watered down. Throwing everyone in the same car was a bad idea in Mario Party 9 and it’s just as bad in 10, making the experience much more passive and boring than it ever should be. Luckily for Mario Party 10 and its players, however, it doesn’t rely solely on this disappointing mode.
The first new mode, amiibo Party, is built around Nintendo’s recently released Super Mario line of NFC figures. You’ll want to have at least one of the figurines handy, too, because the mode is actually locked away until you tap one to the GamePad.
Once inside, players can either choose to use an amiibo as their in-game token or a cardboard-cutout equivalent, but only those using amiibo have access to the variety of useful tokens you’ll collect while playing. Each totes a unique ability, like covering the board in coins or changing a portion of the game board, and when used shrewdly afford amiibo users a notable advantage over their cardboard opponents. Apart from that, though, there’s not much reason to use Nintendo’s hit figurines – in fact, I’d recommend you don’t.
