Okay, I just picked this up and played two 20-turn rounds with 4 humans.
MEGAߥTE, who had never played a Mario Party before apparently, said that he found it really slow in pacing, but it is actually faster then any other Mario Party yet because you can point and use your items instead of selecting things through a menu. Other than that, it's exactly the same pacing as the last 7, so I didn't find it slow - I found it normal.
The minigames are the same as always, too. You've got your racing, your being pulled behind a boat, your trying not to fall off a platform into lava, your escaping death from a player in a large vehicle, and your completely random bomb diffusing game where everyone heatedly debates the odds of survival and if it's fair if you have to go last (it is).
From what I've seen so far, the boards are the most unique thing here. There's a vertical board, a board that's just one giant long purely straight path with a free star at the end, and I guess a Monopoly-like board where you invest on spaces. I haven't seen the other ones yet, but these were all pretty unique.
The majority of the non-minigame seperately selected sidegames are 2 player, which is kinda weird, but I guess if you have 4 people, you should be playing the main game. It's a good addition for people who only have one other person to play with. The only 4 player game I had unlocked was... bowling. It's just like Wii Sports except worse, because your Mii moves through a set animation and doesn't react to your physical swing. The ball roll does, but the animation doesn't. We played a full 10 frames and will never go back.
In conclusion, this is a completely normal Mario Party. Aside from some interesting new boards, it's exactly what you'd expect. There's nothing groundbreaking or gamebreaking.
Also, I don't see why everyone wants this series to go online so badly. If you think it's boring waiting for everyone else's turn while they're in the room and you're all talking and taunting and joking, just imagine sitting by yourself watching internet people move solemnly around the board. Once in awhile you'll see a small
mariosamuss55: lol nice roll
But when four people are all crammed against each other on a couch, rapidly "shaking" their "remotes" rapidly up and down over their crotch to make their "soda" "squirt" the highest, that's the Nintendo magic.
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