Mario Party 8 By circusmama on Oct 04, 2007 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

We love Mario Party 8 for the Nintendo Wii. It is one game we play all the time. You play through one of six different game board with the intent of winning stars. Each game board has a different strategy. You also win money to buy stars and candy in minigames, some easy and some more difficult.

Not only is there a multiplayer game board mode, there are several other modes as well. You can play as a single player through all the boards, then fight Bowser at the end. My three year old son loves to fight the dragon! There are also a number of minigames apart from the boards including racing, pingpong, and several others.

The controls are easy to use - even our three year old can play most of the minigames. Playing the main game requires the ability to read, so if you let nonreaders play, they'll need some help. All the games are appropriate for all ages.

There is some unlockable functions. You earn carnival cards to unlock carnival games and figurines, but you earn those just by playing. You also have two unlockable characters and one game board that you unlock by beating the single player mode.

The only problem with this game is that you cannot skip all the banter by the carnival host. After you've heard it several times, it gets annoying. It would have been nice to have a feature to turn him off. Other than that, this is a very fun family game!