Super Mario Party

Fun Factor:  5/5

Mario Party is a long running franchise for the Nintendo console since 1998.  The gameplay has remained simple from its original creation on the Nintendo 64 up to the current title on the Nintendo Switch.  There are lots of Nintendo favorites to choose from as your player and all of them mostly play the same with the exception that they have personalized dice you can choose to roll.  In between every player’s turn the players play a minigame with the opportunity to earn coins that can later be spent on other things across a play board.  The ultimate objective is to have the most stars than any other player by the time the game is over.

Learning Curve: Moderately Easy

The only real learning curve is that every minigame is completely random and plays unlike any other game available.  They vary from games of skill to games of chance.  Besides that, there is a fair amount of strategy to deciding what to spend your coins are and if you want to buy anything besides a star.  By the end of each round bonus stars are awarded for seemingly random achievements, to avoid any given player from being able to win by out skilling the other players.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Unfortunately, the biggest downside of the game is that compared to older games in the series, there are a lot less boards to play on in the basic style of Mario Party.  There are many other modes to play on and are required to play on to experience the entire game.  Besides that, it looks good, plays well, and is great to play with friends.  There is also a mode to play with multiple Switch consoles which I personally enjoyed.