Overall 9.1 Graphics 9.5 Sound 9.5 Addictive 9.5 Story 5 Depth 9.5 Difficulty 4.5
9.5
It's a Party Time. Azul Fria
OVERVIEW
Mario and his friends and even a few of his adversaries have been invited to a wonderful island called Party Island and get carried away by bubbles to play games and have fun. As usual, Bowser never gets invited to these games and decides to make life hell for the island and our gang. Worry not as you will not have to deal with Bowser unless you land on his square. If you are up to a real challenge, take on Bowser's Tower Challenge and make your way up 30 floors of non-stop mini games and boss fights. Come on everybody and let's a get this party a started.
CAST OF CHARACTERS - B
Being that this is a 3DS game, the cast of characters is relatively small compared to most of the other Mario Party games within the series. You get Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Boo, Toad, and Bowser Jr. to play with. Nothing special really comes out of whoever you choose. Not even Bowser Jr. gets any special perks or mercy from Bowser for being his son.
GRAPHICS - A+
The graphics are totally perfect. The environments really come out at you especially when you decided to view them with the 3DS screen. They also help or hinder you when you are playing the mini games as they are also part of the gameplay such as Claiming the Cube where the cube will rotate along to where your character runs too and change color from black to white and wait for you to Ground Pound the white section first before the others do. Another graphical related game is Tragic Carpet Ride. A version of the Dry Bones called the Mattermouths will much away at the carpet and produce a purple void that will defeat whomever is unlucky to fall through it. The carpet will restore itself but more Mattermouths will appear as the game goes on longer. The Sprites are also modeled using 3D software and move fluently.
SOUND/MUSIC - A-
This game has all kinds of music to listen to and each level has their own individual miniature soundtrack which you can buy in the shop called Memories. When you listen to a certain memory, you can skip onto the next track. Music is great although not all of it is perfect and the sounds you hear are the same ones you've heard in several of these Mario Party games you have played in the past assuming you have. It is a shame that they still have not given Bowser a real voice rather those grunts, growls, and groans he makes. In all honestly, it is a shame that Sherman Helmsly (aka George Jefferson of The Jeffersons) is dead, he would have made a good voice actor for Bowser after I found out he was the voice of B.P. Richfield from Dinosaurs. Even the gut who played him in the cartoons would have been great too.
CONTROLS - B+
The controls I consider to be a little so-so depending on which game you are playing especially the ones which are gyroscope and tilt controlled (you use the 3DS to move the scenery). Sometimes the Gyroscope will fail to function and in a mini game that can hurt you severely. To remedy this problem, press the control pad when the 3DS to steady then it should be working again. Even then it is hard to play some of the games using the tilt feature like Spin the Bubble where you tilt the 3DS to match the pose of the character in the bubble first. Sometimes the game will take a mind of its own and that proves costly in some ways. Others require the use of the microphone which sometimes can be unresponsive but the other controls still work as planned. My advice to use a stylus instead of your finger for stylus games as sometimes you might hit something extra by accident using your finger.
GAMEPLAY - A
Now here is where things get juicy. There are several mini games to keep you on your toes. In total I counted as many as 81 unique mini games including Boss Battles and not including games that show up twice but one of them is for multiplayer. I took off a few points for the gameplay because at times the game can be cheap and you will end up being cheated out of a victory that was well within reach but some unforseen events prevented that from happening. The biggest culprit of all time is the Bowser spots that can make you swap places with another character and how fitting is that you are the one who gets swapped out when you are in the lead and the other guy was in last place before a major crossroad. Another cheap related tactic is that the places get swapped around so that whoever is first is last, last is first, second is third and third is second place. One of the boards that has a unique twist is the Bowser board. This is the only board where you want to be in last place to win. For the first few rounds, Bowser will randomly choose a mini game and whoever wins, will get an empty bonus. For this case, bonus is kind of a bad word to use. Extra hazard will be more convenient. When you get second to last place, you are given an extra die to add to your turn and add to your troubles. Second place adds a die from 1-2, third place adds a die from 1-3 and last place gives a die from 1-6. Baring the +4 event, the worse roll one can get is 11 and not 12. This is because if you manage to roll doubles, you get to stay put. And yet, I even got robbed of victory from that game a few times because one of the other CPU controlled characters kept rolling doubles.
Other boards have their own share of cheapness besides the swap. Landing on a item block will give you a random item. It is good if you are in possession of the item but for the CPU, it can spell doom for you as they will use every dirty tactic they have to keep you (or whoever is in the lead) from winning. Some will send a turtle shell to knock you back a couple spaces. Some will use an items to chop your movement by half and some minus 3 spots on the roll. The best items to get are the ones that advance you. The star is the best one because it can double your roll leading to a max of 24 spaces not including the extra spaces spot. But do not be so hasty to use the advancement items as there are some spots that will stop you regardless of the number of spaces you were given. If you pass the test then you get to take the remaining spots. If you fail, you get sent back a few spaces.
In Bowser's Tower, you fight your way through thirty floors to reach the top and take on Bowser himself. You get four floors of mini games followed by a battle with the boss of every fifth floor. On each floor, you choose which mini game you want to play then proceed to the next floor by winning or tying for first place as there are no tie breakers like in the party games. If you lose then it is game over but you can retry from that floor. The climb to the top is not that easy, Bowser will occasionally appear and penalize you randomly including sending you back to the first floor if you are unlucky.
REPLAY VALUE - A+
This is a game you can play for hours at a time. It is good to play this game with some of your friends as with all Mario Party games, the more players involved the more competitive it gets as in my opinion the CPU characters do not provide too much of a challenge unless they are in the Hard Mode and even then they are not too tough for you to handle. You can also try out the Free Mode to get coins for the shop to buy character voice packs and music memories. There are times where you feel like you got cheated somehow in some games and you just want to get back there and get your revenge by playing it until you are satisfied with victory. The Bowser Tower is the best feature in the game itself.
OVERALL - A
Mario Party: Island Tour for the 3DS gets an A. This game has a lot to offer and makes you use all kinds of different ways to play games and control. It really gives you a chance to work on concentration, luck, and accuracy because that is what is needed to succeed at some of the mini games. Now come on everyone, the party goes on forever. MOMMA MIA!!
Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 2 Depth 9 Difficulty 2
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 03-25-14
Review Replies: 2
9.3
Time to party on the 3DS IgorBird122
Ok, here’s another review by The IB, and this game is on Mario Party Island Tour.
Mario Part Island tour is a spinoff game in the Mario series where it’s basically like a virtual game board and you’re using a choice of Mario Characters like Mario, Luigi, Peach, and just to name a few. Your goal in this game, unlike in past Mario Party games where you have to collect a number of starts, this time you need to reach the end of the board 1st to win the party (which Nintendo started since Mario Party 9 on the Wii, I like the classic boards where you have to collect starts which was Mario Party DS and Mario Party 8 and prior, but hey, I am quite used to the new boards now). And also, just like in past Mario Party games, the big part of the game is the minigames, where you can battle your opponents to change the outcome of the board.
Let’s get on with the review.
Graphics..
With the graphics in Mario Party Island Tour, they are quite fantastic with the High Definition graphics, and if you switch to 3D, that makes a whole lot better, and when you’re playing the minigames each part of the minigames that are played, they all quite stand out with the 3D graphics, plus, this is the first game on a 3D handheld, I think with the 3D graphics, this is quite a huge standout with the amazement of the 3D graphics, I think being the first 3DS Party game, I think we might see another one be released sometime in the 3DS’s lifespan, when, we won’t know. I think personally if Nintendo comes up with another 3DS party game, I think they will see on what they have made with the style with their graphics in Island Tour and come up with something way above ordinary, I think might be a tough road to see, but it will be worth it. After seeing some of the boards in the game such as Rocket Road and Star-Crossed Skyway, I think the graphics are a huge improvement since the last handheld Mario Party game.
So, with the 3D HD graphics in this game right here, I am going to give this game right here a 9 out of 10, personally, I think a couple of things could be a little better for the game, but personally I don’t think it’s really too much of a big deal. All I can say, the graphics are quite impressive though, Nintendo really got it with this game, a lot of Party players likes this game if they like Mario Party, but they really don’t want to play it on a console, the 3D graphics quite stand out for the handheld which I think personally is a hit.
Sound / Music..
As for the sounds in the game, I think that Nintendo has really been spot on with the sounds effects, I think with a few of those Mario game sounds that are in like the New Super Mario Bros. series. And adding those sounds in the Mario Party games really brings the interest in playing this game.
For the music, I think personally, the soundtrack in this game has a lot of interesting and nice sounding music, and each of the different boards all have their own separate song. And this is what you really needed in a video game, have a song that will fit right in with the gamer that is playing their character. Also to add with the music, I do like the Bowser music because it gives you that vibe that you need to outsmart Bowser, and by doing that is to be last, so that is why that interesting music is being played
So with all of that, I am going to give the Sound / Music part a 9 out of 10 because the music is really quite good and I do like them a lot, they might be a little defects in the sound effects, but nothing too serious though, so it’s really no big deal.
Addiction Level..
For the addiction level, like in all Mario Party games, the addiction level in Mario Party Island Tour is really high as well, with. If you like to play your Mario Party but you don’t have to play on the console to enjoy a great Mario Party game, although this is the 3rd handheld Mario Party game, and sure, this isn’t as addicting than playing it on a Wii or Wii U because those consoles are very best for Mario Party because you can interact with the remote and you can play with others as well, but the 3DS version, you do have a whole lot more interactions than before in the handheld, so, I think all the interactions you can do on the 3DS does boost the addiction level up a lot more, because with all the interactions you can do, you just don’t want to stop playing and on how all the characters.
So, for the addiction level for Mario Party Island Tour, I will give this a 9 out of 10, I think it’s the best handheld Mario Party game, but I think a couple more things added will bring a lot more people to play this game.
The Storyline..
How the storyline in the series goes. Mario and the rest was chilling around the Castle and they all have received a letter they were invited to a Party Island, and they all were excited for attending the party thinking they are going to have a fun time, but that was until Bowser, and built with jealous rage (like typical Bowser), he decided to build his own tower which puts a evil spell in the bubbles machine to make Mario and his friends as bubble clones so that way, they will protect Bowser and his newly built Tower. Other than that, there isn’t really that much for the storylike other than that. Although it is a Mario Party game and you know, the main focus is playing on the boards and becoming the Superstar, that is mostly the main focus in the Mario Party series.
As for the Storyline in Mario Party Island Tour, I am going to give this game an 8 out of 10, a pretty decent game regarding the storyline, but personally, I think they could of added a little bit more to the story
Depth..
With the Depth of Mario Party, it just, it’s got a whole lot of depth into those games this I think is what makes a Mario Party game a Mario Party game, like why I happen to say that, first, you at all the characters you can personally pick from like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Toad, Toad, Boo, and yes, even Bowser Jr. and it’s not the characters you can pick from, you also have a lot of minigames to pick from (if you’re just playing minigames alone), you have a ton of games to pick from. Plus, you can play some of these games on the boards, and also, look at all the boards you can play on and each of those boards all have their own theme to them from dodging Banzai Bill in Banzai Bill’s Mad Mountain, to Riding in a rocket in Rocket Road to trying to stay in last place in Bowser’s Peculiar Peak. So, each board has their own unique way to win. Although this game doesn’t have as many power-up than we had in previous Mario Party games, which is a little bit of a letdown, but that’s all and all, the only exact disadvantage I have with the depth in Mario Party Island Tour. Even if you just want to go straight to the minigames, that’s also an option you can do, because a lot of Mario Party gamers likes to play the minigames more while others like playing on the board more, so it really depends on the person.
So, with that said, due to the lack of power-ups like I mentioned, I have to give this a 7 out of 10. If they added a lot more power-ups to this game, this would be a lot more higher like an 8 or 9, but oh well.
Difficulty / Gameplay..
For the Difficulty in the game, it can be quite hard to figure out at first, and you can pick each difficulty for each of the player you are using in your battle on the Party board, even on easy, it can put quite a challenge on you, and it also depends on the boards you play and what minigames that are played, because they all can have a factor on how exactly easy and hard your game will be, like you can be in dead last, or just completely dominate the entire board from start to end. So, it’s about you luck and will for winning and becoming a Superstar. Plus some of the minigames can be quite easy while others can be hard, I think this is where most of the player’s difficulty comes in, it all depends on the minigame you play.
As for the gameplay, I think with you can be able to use the touch screen to roll the dice, I really like that, because it can give to the interactions of you “rolling” the game dice to make your move and when you play minigames, you can be able to have a chance to move more spaces by dice, moving spaces automatically depending on where you’re placed in the mingames, gain stars, or get cards, it really depends on what board you play because they all have a major factor on if you win or lose. Ok, on the minigames, I think the controls for each of the minigames you play; they are quite fluent for the minigames, Even when I first played the games, the controls are very easy to understand, because the game tells you on what to do in each of the minigames (which they always tell you in the past games) which is quite helpful.
With that saying, I have to give the Difficulty / Gameplay a 7 out of 10, I really do like the controls and the difficulty is also not that bad to, that’s why I give it that number.
Overall..
Overall with this game, I do really like this game, this is very outstanding with the 3D display, and the HD music, and a lot of other interesting concept added in this game, being the 3rd game in the Mario Party series to on the handheld is quite great, playing a virtual game board with Mario characters is all great, but add 3D and have it on a handheld is even more amazing. And if you add the addiction and depth factors, they’re a whole lot of fun and interesting stuff you can do that will have you glued on your 3DS for a good, long time.
As for my thoughts on this game, this is by far my most favorite Mario Party game, you can be really inactive in these games with the stylus, the mic, moving your 3DS around, and a whole lot more other goodies you can do, I think this is a game you should try out if you haven’t yet, especially if you have a 3DS and you like the Mario Party games. This is a very fun and entertaining game to play. Trust me, I think you’ll have an enjoyment with this game.
For the Overall score with Mario Party Island Tour, I will give this game a 9.3 out of 10, the reason why I give it a 9.5, if you look on how the game is function on the 3DS, like the graphics and sound, they are outstanding for the series, and the storylike was pretty good. But the big part of it was the Dept and Addiction level I personally think it got the most out of the game. If you was thinking of trying out this game, go right ahead and play this fun, interesting, and entertaining game.
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 9 Story 8 Depth 10 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.5/5
Submitted: 01-02-15
Review Replies: 1
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