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Feb 21st, 2007 at 22:27:38 - Mario Party (N64) |
Onward to a new gameboard, I discovered that when you crank up the number of turn in a given round, it can get pretty tedious and almost tiring. Towards the end of a 25 turn round, the palms of my hand were starting to irritate from the minigames involving the rotation of the joystick as quickly as possible. The frustrations of this game were starting to come out just within the third round of gameplay.
Everyone that I was playing with learned quickly that in the middle of a round, when it isn't your turn, the gameplay gets a bit slow. In the beginning of a round, everyone is pretty pumped to be the first one to a star and at the end, everyone is getting anxious about getting enough stars to catch up but otherwise, the board game element is pretty damn boring.
The minigames are great and all but once you've played that one minigame everyone hates 5 times, it starts to suck. There is not really a huge variety in the minigame realm but I will say that there are a few that gets the players really excited to play. The competitive aspect of this game is really off the charts. I've rarely seen a group of people get this worked up over a N64 multiplayer game. Aside from the few tedious aspects and a HUGE investment of time in order to complete a round, Mario Party is a pretty excellent game
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Feb 20th, 2007 at 17:55:01 - Mario Party (N64) |
It seems like when video games were created the idea of a board game had finally had a reason to shut up in the closet. This was a sad day for video games but little did they know that a game like Mario Party would eventually come around and liberate that board game style gameplay. Mario Party is takes that same old fashioned way of moving pawns around a board and put a digital twist on it in a very successful way.
The first board that is immediately available for play when the game is turned on is the first that I engaged in. Its simplicity offers an easy way for new Mario Partyers to adjust to the new way of video gaming. After everyone has taken their first roll, the screen switches over to minigame mode. With an ingenious pregame screen that describes the game about to be played, the system offers a completely unintimidating way of immersing the player in and out of minigames.
Once the minigame in completed, usually with much ruckus and rejoice, the rewards are dished out. The immdiate gradification of coins is a really awesome way of giving the player a definite sense of victory. Continuing around the board until the game is finished only proved that the winner is not at all definied until the round is completed. The bonus stars that are given out after the round is finihed gave all the players a sense that it really could be anybody's win at any point in the game.
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Feb 8th, 2007 at 15:07:05 - Diddy Kong Racing (N64) |
In some ways this game only continues to get weirder. As minions of the giant pig type hog beast, you have boss races which include a walrus and a dinosaur of some kind. The boss races seem to be the easiest part of this game too which doesn't make any sense at all. Come to think of it, this game just doesn't make any sense on any levels.
However, I may have spoke to soon on this game being too easy. The NPCs get considerably harder as the game progresses. That may be the only logical element of this game. The story is so incrediably loose that it is really hard to have any sort of attachment to the game. The only way I could see someone becoming attached to this game is by choosing one of your favorite Rare characters. This even includes Banjo from Banjo and Kazooie.
The racing is actually addicting. It is really satifying to be awarded with a balloon after a successful race. The way the game is set up is fairly unique when it comes to the level design. It has hints of Mario Kart influence still but the themed worlds are suprisingly innovative. I'm not too suprised at all that there is now a sequel to this game because it is so weird that it actually comes across fairly charming and cute.
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Feb 7th, 2007 at 16:30:48 - Diddy Kong Racing (N64) |
When Diddy was born into the Kong family I bet he didn't know he'd be in for a racing circuit. Where did this game come from? The entire presentation of the game is really odd. The minute you turn on the console you are bombarded by awkward noises and music. There is giggly children laughing, chirps, and flamboiant roars at random moments throughout the entire game.
The one element that really sold me on this title is the flying aspect. One of the vehicles available on most of the courses is an airplane. Although hard to get used to, it has some really awesome flying dynamics. It is as if they took Mario's Kart and slapped some wings on it. The one obvious difference between the racing in MK and Diddy is the weapon upgrades. Instead of a semi random weapon being chosen for you in MK, you can save the weapon and upgrade it as you collect more of the same icon on the course.
So far the story seems pretty scarce. There is supposedly some master pig-hog-type thing that is the antagonist but it is all very hazy as to what the story is. You are supposed to drive around a multi-climate island and into different world of racing but the island is so small that it is a little bit hard to see the difference in world until you enter one of the huge swinging doors. Within the first hour and a half of playing, I feel like I've almost beaten the entire game but we will see...
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goaker has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 12 days |
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