The Mario Party series is back with more multiplayer fun and minigame madness, but now with the control of the innovative Wii remote. Fans of the series will rejoice when they realize how fun some of the minigames are using the Wii remote to play.

Mario Party 8 is still a lot like the past games but now with new boards, new minigames and also introducing some different ways to play.

The Battle Royale is the standard four-player board game where you compete to get the highest number of stars and play minigames to earn coins. The board games in Mario Party 8 are different than some in the past because there are different ways to win.

For example, in Koopa’s Tycoon Town players must invest in hotels to get stars. Other players then can invest more money in that same hotel thus taking the stars from the previous owner. I like that Nintendo has added that little spin to the game.

The board games in Mario Party 8 are covered with new “candy” pickups that give players the abilities to steal coins or double, or even triple, their dice blocks. These candy pickups can really turn a player’s luck around in the game.

With the control of the Wii remote, players are able to punch, steer, lasso, shake, pump and shoot through tons of different minigames. If you’re a real fan of the series, you should be able to remember some of the same type of minigames from the past but now using the Wii remote. I really can’t blame Nintendo for resurrecting some of the past minigames on the Wii. After eight games in the series, how many minigames could they really come up with now? Although some of the games might seem familiar, they’re still fun with the Wii remote and there are plenty of new minigames as well.

If you don’t have any friends with you to play at times, there is the Star Battle Arena to play. It’s a single-player mode where you face a computer-controlled player in a one-on-one board game. The only difference here is that you only play a minigame if you land on a particular space on the board. This mode isn’t really much fun because you’re playing by yourself and it limits the best part of the game, the minigames.

Although Mario Party 8 is a fun game, it has its dull points. There is so much dialogue during the board games that it really slows things down. And quite frankly the game is only fun with some friends and even then some of the minigames make me want to yawn.

But in the end, Mario Party 8 seems to be a good fit for the Wii. It could’ve been a little more creative and innovative with its series debut on the new console, but it still manages to be a fun and entertaining game for all Wii owners.