It just doesn’t seem right – as if the balance of the entire meta-game has been knocked off. But by shifting the focus of some boards to being the simple “get to the finish” objective, the entire game is now based around how quickly (or how slowly) you can roll a six. Previously, players would have to only rely on luck to get to Toad, buy a star, and then win minigames to get ahead. It seems unfair to criticise Mario Party for being so reliant on chance to determine its winner, but Island Tour just takes this too far. Some games are designed in an interesting manner – such as encouraging players to stay away from the finish point, but this is also determined by the roll of a dice at the end of the day. It’s even possible for someone to roll their way to the finish of a board without ever seeing a mini-game. This works and doesn’t work for the formula – as most of these modes are more or less determined by the roll of a dice and luck plays a considerable role in deciding who will emerge victor. Each board provides a unique objective – eschewing the traditional race to collect the most stars within a certain number of turns. Players now all take separate turns and don’t move together like in the major change in Mario Party 9. Party mode does make some changes to the formula, though most of these are more of a return to form. Bowser’s Tower is a laborious attempt to provide a single player campaign to what has ostensibly been a multiplayer franchise. Minigames strips away the board and its related pleasantries to offer minigames with a custom “goal” – for example players can choose how many minigames a player must win in order to be declared winner.

Each of these modes provides different ways to play – Party mode is the traditional mode most players know and love from previous Mario Party games. There are three major modes in Island Tour. But even then this party isn’t particularly worth attending or even bothering to RSVP to. Regardless of this, it would be unfair to judge Island Tour purely on opportunity cost that has been forgone by the decision to release it on the 3DS. So when Nintendo announced a portable Mario Party game, while their home console was faltering, I was pretty perplexed by their decision. Wouldn’t have realised that recent LEGO games are actually getting better. Without such an attitude, I wouldn’t have seen the strategic merit in playing a game like Style Boutique.

I am a staunch believer in giving everything a fair go.

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