Mario Party: Island Tour
OpenCritic Rating
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Mario Party: Island Tour
Mario Party: Island Tour’s single-player campaign is laughably bad, and the ambitious, content-rich multiplayer options and unique game boards are ultimately dragged down by mostly boring minigames and unfortunate system-jerking motion control. A group of friends might only have fleeting good times with this collection.
Island Tour isn't the Mario Party you remember, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. That said, there are definitely some missing pieces that keep it from being a memorable entry in the franchise.
Plenty of honest effort has been expended here, but Mario Party has never seemed like a sensible kind of game to turn into a portable title.
Good luck finding three friends that will waste their time with this
If you're looking for on-the-go minigame mayhem, Mario Party: Island Tour is an enjoyable sojourn.
You might add a little to the score if you’ve got friends who are frequently ready and willing to play, but Mario Party: Island Tour ultimately feels par for the series’ course. It’s still good, but is mostly hurt by a higher barrier to entry for multiplayer, a lack of continuing the push towards truly "Mario" feeling mini-games, and the series’ ever-present dominance of luck over skill.
For a quick fix, the solo boards really aren’t too bad, but at the same time they’re not much to write home about. Board game enthusiasts will find themselves bored quickly, the average player will only break it out when there are friends around—which is the point, and I guess with friends the skill-based games aren’t too bad—and Party aficionados will be able to scratch that virtual itch. For everybody else, unless you’re really planning on playing with others on the go, there aren’t many mini-games here worth playing more than a few times, so be aware of what you’re getting yourself into. Then again, Mario Party is a series that’s been on six different consoles (N64, Gamecube, Wii, GBA, DS, 3DS), so if you’re not aware of what’s going on by now, I can’t say I feel sorry for you.