Mario Party: Star Rush (2016)

A brilliant collection of mini games, tied together with mediocre game modes.

Mario Party Star Rush gets rid of a few bad ideas from the previous games in the series, but it just doesn’t have the staying power to keep players come back for more week after week.

Mario Party Star Rush’s modes range from OK to uninteresting, and even the fun mini-game challenges can’t make up for the boring overall package. The sheer repetition of events is a major problem that saps the excitement out of this party. After a few trips through Mario Party Star Rush’s modes, you’ll have seen nearly everything it has to offer.

Mario Party: Star Rush can be a charming title at times, and definitely shows some promise. However, the game tries too hard to separate itself from its predecessors which causes its mechanics to fall under the pressure of trying something drastically new.

Overall, Mario Party: Star Rush has some fun and original mini-games, and looks great. Toad Scramble’s new fast-paced simultaneous is enjoyable enough, but it’s too bad it can’t be played online.