The release of Resident Evil 4 lost Nintendo some of their much-valued status as the 'kiddie' game company. Thankfully they had Mario Party 6 up their sleeves ready to release just a few days later to repair the damage. If you are mature enough not to reject something simply on the basis of it being kiddie then read on!

Nothing changes on Mario Party. Every year brings another game and apart from a slight tweak we are simply being sold last years game at this years prices. Clearly Nintendo have decided to end this scam and actually make a change. Sadly, the change they made definitely falls into the 'could do better' category. Bundled with the game is a microphone that slots into the second memory card port, so you can still play 4 player parties. Even after substantial play I am not happy with the microphone. One of the things I have always loved Nintendo for is the sheer quality of everything they build. The controllers, consoles and even memory cards all feel solid and satisfying. You know it won't break. The microphone breaks that trend. Admittedly it hasn't broken, but there's just something about the feel of it that's not very… Nintendo-ish.

A whole new party world with brand new crazy games.

The theme for this year's game is Sun and Moon. The Sun (named Brighton) and the Moon (named Twyla) are arguing over whose party is better. So you have to play a load of parties and use your victory stars to unlock the next piece of the story. Oh, I hope they settle their differences… Yes, the story is rather irrelevant and only the most addicted players will ever win enough stars to buy all the chapters to the story.

The boards are good. They lack the over complication of some of the previous versions and leave enough to chance to allow for a huge comeback, even in the last few turns. Sadly I did find the pastel shading too much to take, it was simply too kiddie, and I had to turn the brightness down on my TV. The mini games have all been seen before, not a surprise given the amount of mini games Nintendo are churning out these days. They follow the basic patterns of press a button quickly/in the right order, dodge an attack or the occasional obstacle course to be overcome. There do seen to be slightly fewer button bashing mini games this time round, which is certainly good news for the fingers! The microphone games do not stand out as the games greatest moments, with the possible exception of TV quiz style game 'Speak Up' where you answer Nintendo based quiz questions. The voice recognition is ok and although there are plenty of errors they rarely matter much.

Races were always my favourite of the games.

As well as the Party mode and Mini game mode there is also a solo mode. This is poor. You have to travel along a shortened board and manage to stop on exactly the last square. Doing this will unlock mini games and win you a star. It doesn't take long, but feels like it's dragging on forever. The only reason the mini games are fun is because you are doing them with several people. You can't taunt a computer after you give it a good thrashing, that's what friends are for! The game really becomes a chore when you are playing by yourself.

And that's the whole problem with this game. If you have 4 players then you would struggle to find a more entertaining game, but with fewer players it's just slow and pointless. Not only does this game have no single player value it also isn't worth getting over the previous versions. You should be able to pick up Mario Party 4 for close to half the price of 6, and get just as much fun.