Mario Party 6 Critic Reviews

On their own they pose no real threat to players of average skill, but pit four such players against one another and watch the tension grow.

A nice multiplayer game for newbies and veterans alike. It is simple yet suitably challenging. The microphone-based minigames are hilarious. But where is marioke?

Do not play this game alone or with one other person. It just isn't that fun when you don't have a minimum of three or the ideal four players for the game. This is a party game, and no one likes someone who likes to party alone.

Just as polished as the rest of the series, striking just the right balance between familiar and fresh material.

There's not really all that much new content in Mario Party 6 save for the microphone novelty, but in the end the final product feels more polished and enjoyable than both previous efforts released on the GameCube.

But compared to the last few games in the series, Mario Party 6 is definitely an improvement and hopefully is an indication of where this series will go in the future.

Like I wrote when reviewing "Mario Party 4," "As a single-player experience MP4 lacks in excitement and any kind of addictive fun factor."

Whether you're frantically picking up letters to give to the Shy Guy postman, or mowing as much grass as you can, the games are inventive, manic and most importantly fun.

Six boards and four gameplay modes give players plenty of options and hours of non-stop partying.

The microphone mini-game selection is too small to make Mario Party 6's appeal that much wider. But for those who appreciate sitting down for a long night of Star collecting and raucous behavior, Mario Party 6 is a polished upgrade with solid improvements.

It can be cool but sometimes is overdone.

Most of the new features in Mario Party 6 add little to the overall experience, so it's hard to recommend the game to owners of either previous GameCube entry to the series. However, if you're a hardcore fan of the series, the sixth game may be enticing as an expansion pack of new mini-games, which are abundant.

The implementation of the microphone peripheral is a huge misstep, but a limited number of players may still manage to eke some enjoyment out of its inclusion.

While a bit of a novelty, the mic works well, even if the games could have just as easily been played with a regular joystick.

Not the greatest party ever. This series is in desperate need of a fresh injection of originality.

The mini-games are repetitious and require little skill, the CPU-controlled characters are easy to beat even on higher difficulty levels (unlock the Brutal difficulty mode for a fairly decent challenge), and the microphone is a neat peripheral that adds nothing amazing to the game.

While the game offers one of the best mixes of gameplay out of the entire series, I still can't deny that the outdated visuals and audio is really starting to hurt the series.

If you have 4 players then you would struggle to find a more entertaining game, but with fewer players it's just slow and pointless.

A step in the right direction. It makes the generally boring board portion of the game more interesting with the addition of the strategic Orbs and the day and night shifts. It does not completely solve the past games' problems, but I'll take what I can get.

But if you've played the previous two games already and you and your friends are hungry for more, don't think twice. Four-player games are still a blast. You just have to keep your expectations in check and expect more of less.