Although these two games didn’t draw the big crowds, there was still tons to enjoy here, if you’re big into party games.
Mario Sports Mix
As I pulled up to the kiosk touting Mario Sports Mix, I was joined by others and what ensued was a mixture of frustration and fun. Mind you, the frustration was from the fact my teammate and I went 0-2 for both sports we tried.
First up with Mario Sports Mix was basketball. This isn’t your typical basketball either. If you were to take NBA Jam and the Mario universe, that would be a close approximation to what I experienced. Moving around your character is fast paced and done with the Nunchuk while passing and shooting is done with the Wii Remote itself by flicking it. The A and B buttons are reserved for stealing and using items respectively. My teammate and I found that the game was heavily biased towards our opponents, giving them buckets while when we shot in the clear, it bricked hard off the rim.
What made it even more frustrating was that because this isn’t typical basketball, there were items and power-ups involved. Generally this evens the playing field, but since we have the demonstrator on the other side, victory was a far cry. The team would expertly take shots on points where it would multiply the score by two and occasionally by four. This made their final score double ours due to our novice skills.
We thought perhaps that volleyball would be our game. Sadly we were mistaken. It controls in much the same way except you use the Wii Remote this time to bump, set, spike, and block. Once again the power-ups haunted us and power moves were un-blockable for the most part. My partner did manage to power a shot past our opponents during a rally to save face fortunately.
That all said, even with losing both games, it’s a blast. I never felt dejected enough to quit and wanted to keep going to put up a win for the team. It’s that competitiveness that makes me want to check out the full game when it comes out.
Wii Party
It seems Nintendo is trying to let Mario take a breather for this party and decided to bring in the Miis to take his place. Wii Party is exactly what you’d expect if you took Wii Sports and the Mario Party franchise and mixed it together.
Minigames, which are the heart of the game, are able to be played once again by 4 players. There are several modes of play including a cooperative mode where everyone must balance their Miis on a ship without tipping it over. The type of Mii size each player will get depends on how well they perform during the minigames.
In Board Game Island mode, it’s similar to how the board game mode plays in the Mario Party series. A board will be picked and you’ll roll dice to advance. To end the game, you’ve got to get to the end. In the middle are spots where you’ll sprung ahead or pushed back. The entire gameboard reminded me of Candyland in its whimsical, care-free, and colorful nature.
One game I wanted to mention that I was told about was a hide-and-seek mode. Someone will hide a Wii Remote somewhere in the house and the rest of the players must find it. They’ll be able to track it down by the noise it emits. In certain deviations of that mode, party members will have to find particular Wii Remotes that will sound off with animal noises.
Although the Wii has been flooded with party games, this is top notch in that category. Nintendo isn’t cheapening their “Wii” line of games by this entry. If you’re looking for something fun to do with the family, this might be worth a look in the fall.
