Mario Party 6 (GameCube) Preview

It may make quite a lot of people laugh due to its general look, but it is a clever move by Nintendo to put the party back into Mario Party. The plot is remarkably odd, in the single-player Story mode Brighton and Twila

All the usual characters will be on show: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Boo, Koopa Kid, Bowser, Donkey Kong and Toad, but hopefully there will be some more characters to unlock to add a bit of depth and purpose to the single-player modes. Thankfully the whole thing has been paced up a notch or two, moving about the board is more slick and fast-paced and the graphics have been improved even more to make sure everyone has something pretty to look at whilst they zip and zoom about the boards and enjoy the 75 mini-games, all of which are allegedly new.

In Party mode players take it in turns to move about the board, whilst in Story mode there is an 'engrossing single-player experience to be enjoyed'. Same old, same old as far as we are concerned, but that is before we mention...Mic Mode! Here players can speak into the microphone to answer questions in a bizarre game show. Nintendo are getting better and better at doing 'quirky' titles, and this one certainly seems to be continuing the trend...

It's an interesting idea, but we have our worries about how much of a gimmick it will prove to be. If it can be well implemented into the whole game and there is actual purpose to the suspicious-looking sound-stick being included then it could be great, but if just involves talking like an idiot into a big stick, we're not too excited. The whole idea seems a bit fishy, whilst the Bongo drums work (because they make the game what it is) we can't help but think that the microphone isn't really needed. Nintendo trying to freshen things up for the sake of it?

The game certainly looks a lot better than any other title in the series, Nintendo have really gone to town into making it look pretty and sparkly, which will no doubt add to the fun atmosphere that the title is trying to spurt out of every orifice. The 75 new minigames should provide a welcome change as well, our one issue: if all 75 are new, surely they are the sixth worst set of games? We would have liked to see some of the best games from the first five titles included and spruced up a bit.