Game Review: Mario Party Advance
Rated by 2 members
What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that the fun here has little to do with
plot, but the storyline briefly introduces a good vs. evil
theme, and players are encouraged to help the townspeople along
the way. The game has multi-player options that allow kids to
compete, but also trade mini-games and gadgets. Parents should
note that the massive amount of mini-games won't do much to
strengthen short attention spans.
Families who decide to let their kids play this game with their friends may want to talk about sportsmanship and remind them what it means to be a good winner (and loser) beforehand. What should you say if you win? What should you say if you lose?
Common Sense Media Review
MARIO PARTY ADVANCE is the latest addition to one of the
longest running series in the entire Mario family, and marks
the first time it's been available for the Game Boy Advance.
Too bad this hand-held version isn't as much fun as its big
screen counterparts.
The plot is pretty light: In the main Party World mode, players select one of four familiar Mario characters (Mario, Luigi, Peach, or Yoshi). They strive to recover all of the games that nasty Bowser has purposefully scattered around Shroom City and bring them back to Party World. They must also eventually face-off against Bowser, who has the remaining few games.
Players move around a large game board (a.k.a. Party World), playing mini-games, such as properly operating an elevator or catching bunnies. They also go on missions for villagers, and answer questions. They earn mushrooms (which in turn earn mini-games), and gadgets, such as a magic lamp.
Once players have earned enough mini-games and gadgets they can exit Party Mode world for temporary diversions in Play Land to play with the gadgets they've earned, or go to Party Land to play mini-games against other players (GBA Game Paks are required for some of these). They can also go to Challenge Land to play casino-type or other mini-games, and earn coins; the coins can be used to buy new gadgets.
While this version's focus is on the single-player mission, players can join up with friends. Players can both against each other in a variety of ways (one duel allows up to 100 people to play at once on a single GBA). Players can also transfer mini-games and gadgets to other players.
On the downside, once players have completed all of the tasks in Party World, playability is limited to the mini-games, which won't keep their attention for more than a month or two. Also, the strength of the Mario Party series isn't in its cleverness (like the Wario Ware games), but in its multi-player competitions. Unfortunately, Mario Party Advance, especially when using multi-player modes, is a lot more fun and immediate on the big screen; Mario Party 4, for example, makes for a great party game.
Overall, Mario Party Advance is a decent miniature addition to the family, but buying a Gamecube version is a much better investment.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
