Introduction
The Mario Party franchise has been around for quite awhile and every installment seems to become a more shallow experience. Even with added mini-games and a large assortment of secrets, each sequel only exists to prove one thing, Mario sells. The first game which is widely considered the best in the series has become outdated as well and the mini-games can only be played so many times before they too become shallow. Nintendo seems to consider Mario Party 4 as a “back to basics game” which takes the series no where new but makes the experience at least a degree more refreshing than in Mario Party 4. Nintendo has succeeded in creating an installment on par with the original Mario Party. It may have less mini-games than in the third game but these games are a lot more addicting and require a lot more thought. Nintendo has brought new life to an aging game series.

Gameplay
The visuals are somewhat of a mixed bag in some respects. The game is definitely a step up from the simple and cheap graphics of the previous Mario Party games but they are not a large achievement of what the Gamecube is able to showcase. The boards are no longer pre-rendered and it is for the better but sometimes it is not even noticeable. The character models are a step down from Super Smash Brothers Melee and are still overly simple. If you are going to have to look at them for a long time they should at least spend a couple extra dollars to make them look more polished. The water effects and textures in the mini-games are excellent; this is where the game really shines in the graphics department. It may have some blurry textures reminiscent of the Nintendo 64 days but it is nothing to complain about. The graphics are average in some areas and excellent in others, which make for a very unbalanced experience but do not hurt the game much at all.

Story
Mario Party 4 starts off as all the other games in the series have from day one, a simple cinematic introducing a bare bones plot. This has never hurt the series but a decent story would help make the game more involving. As with past installments the game focuses on multiplayer rather than computer AI. Right when you start the game you will notice that the AI is intent on cheating the whole way through. If you make a small mistake in a mini-game you could basically give up because the computer AI takes the situation upon itself to win the mini-game with no contest. Also something that has slowly removed in each installment is the second place prizes. In Mario Party 4 the second place winner almost never gets even a single coin making it very hard to catch up to the first place player. A lack of maps also hurts the score, mainly because the maps in this game are too few and far between and have very little variety in them. Aside from these small gripes, Mario Party 4 excels in simply being an very exciting and fun game to play. With friends the game will never become old or mundane. Against a computer however, the game will simply become a snooze cruise aboard a three dimensional game board. The story mode is at least a bit stronger than in previous games as it has a lot of replay value and things to collect making it a long running game somewhat on par with the original Mario Party. Gameplay is what makes a Mario Party title and without that it would simply be a boring game.

Graphics
Mario Party 4 does not fare so well in the audio department and either has any Mario Party game before it. The character voices are recycled generic taunts that have become so dull that it may make some smash their speakers in from hearing Mario say “woo-hoo” for the tenth time. The music even though new, seems like the same music from every other Mario Party game and it becomes repetitive to the point where gamers will simply turn off the sound completely, the game has simply slumped in the audio areas. The sound effects while similar are humorous and do break up the monotony but they cant save the fans perception of the overall sound presentation.

Sound
To conclude this review of Mario Party 4 several points will be made that will either sway you away from the game or drive you towards it. This game is not a visual or audio feast and is not here to serve you eyes and ears so if you wish for that then you may want to play Super Mario Sunshine. This game does however provide a practically endless amount of multiplayer fun for all gamers out there looking for a decent party game to play with their friends. So which ever gamer you are, you will know whether Mario Party 4 is right for you. Overall Mario Party 4 is a great multiplayer game for causal and hardcore gamers alike. It is worth the price of admission.