The Mario Party series has always been about simple yet addicting mutiplayer fun and Mario Party 5 is no different. Though little has changed for its earlier outings, there is still plenty of fun to go around for all ages.

The simple controls, fast gameplay, and goofy nature still remain intact. Expecting something totally new in Mario Party 5, keep walking, though there are some new things thrown into this year's outing. Don't expect anything leaps and bounds over the earlier games, which is not really a bad thing.

Graphically, the Mario Party series hasn't really been about pushing polygons, I will go and pretty much say that there is probably not much of a difference between Mario Party 4 and 5.

The colorful boards really do look pretty and the character animation and design for the characters are really well done. It is definitely leaps and bounds better than the N64 versions, where all the characters looked really funky and blocky.

What's even better is if you have high definition TV, Progressive Scan is available for an even sharper picture. So while Mario Party 5 is not a GCN graphical achievement by any means, it still is real easy on the eyes.

The sound of Mario Party 5 is also not the big strength of this game. The music is pretty much standard Nintendo happy-go-lucky music. Don't expect any rock, rap, alternative, or techno tunes to dance to, though each track matches the game boards very well. The Sweet Dream level has nice, sweet music.

The Future Dream has the “dramatic” sci-fi music. The voice work is very nicely done, each voice for the characters perfectly, though most of the voices are simple phrases, and most of the dialogue is in text, which is one of the grips I have with the game, but more on that later.

For those that have a great sound system, Dolby Pro Logic II is available also, though, I'm not sure why someone would want to use their kick ass stereo system for this particular game.

The gameplay is a good variety for both single and multiplayer options. Party mode is the most familiar mode, where up to four players move on a huge game board, moving their character with dice rolls to collect as many stars as possible by earning coins from various mini-games. Interesting events can occur as they move on the board and can sway the lead back and forth, it makes for a very close and fun game.

The story mode takes a single person against Bowser and his new side kick, Kid Bowser, in their attempt to take over Dream World to make Bowser's wish come true. Of course, the player is there to put a stop to that and must battle the three Koopa Kids on different game boards, defeat all three and move on to the next one, until the final showdown with Bowser himself. game boards, defeat all three and move on to the next one, until the final showdown with Bowser himself.