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Another year, another Mario Party game! Despite my less than glowing review of Mario Party 5 last year (it got a C- for those too lazy to look it up), I have to say Mario Party 6 has turned out to be the best Mario Party game released thus far on the GameCube. That being said, it still plays almost exactly like every other Mario Party before it. Those gamers that have enjoyed the series will no doubt find Mario Party 6 a worthy addition to their gaming libraries. Likewise, those that hate the series with a passion will want to steer clear. Mario Party 6 has over 70 new mini-games to unlock and play. Also new to the game are games that utilize the GameCube microphone, which comes packaged with the game. The microphone plugs into memory slot B so 4 players can still partake in the action. In my play experiences I noticed that there aren't too many microphone games and more than once I played an entire Party Mode with friends and didn't use the microphone once. Luckily you can put the microphone to use by playing Mic Mode, which has Speak Up (a quiz show) and Star Sprint (side-scrolling action game).
While there is a Solo Mode that you can play to quickly unlock the mini-games, it's the Party Mode that will most likely be played the most. Here you compete against 3 other players for the most stars. Whoever has the most at the end of the game wins. If you want to you can play on teams to liven up the competition. There are different boards to play on, and some have special rules that shake things up. For example, playing the snow level board starts all players off with 5 stars each. You must pay Chain Chomp 20 coins to try and pass your rivals on the board to steal their stars. This board is quite fun to play since 1st place always seems up for grabs. Every 3 turns the game turns from day to night and vice versa, which alters board movement as well as mini-games and special board spaces. Item Orbs can be bought or collected as players make their way around the board to unleash all sorts of mayhem. When playing with computer controlled characters, it should be noted that they move much quicker than in past games and there aren't any annoying animations to sit through like in the last game. The sound and visual presentation in the game are marginally better than the prior games. The game supports progressive scan for a nice crisp image and Dolby pro logic II surround sound. Always the case with this series, Mario Party 6 is best played with 4 players. Pretty much anyone in the family can enjoy the game and it's great to put in the system for New Year's or other occasions. Due to the faster game modes and extremely fun mini-games, this year's iteration scores slightly better than last year's attempt. The concept has been done to death, but as long as gamers keep buying the games, Nintendo will no doubt keep churning them out. If you enjoyed past Mario Party games, then this purchase is a no-brainer.
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