Chris Haythornthwaite has some furiously fun mini-game action with Mario and his mates...

Mario and all his friends get together again for their sixth outing in the party franchise. If you have the slightest questioning nature then you'll be asking the same question as me. Surely these party games are a little past their sell by date? The answer is no, get your friends round make sure nobody's lost their voice because Mario has a new trick up his sleeve and it's a funky new toy.

The 'Mario Party' franchise was started on the N64 back in 1999. Since then we have had five outings on Nintendo's main platforms, a soon to be released Gameboy Advance version and numerous clones from the likes of Sonic and South Park. However none have been able to match the ultimate party game that brings new innovations with each new version, and number six is no exception.

'Mario Party 6' has probably the most notable innovation to date, the addition of a microphone to use during the game. At first one struggles to understand how this will work without Nintendo drastically changing the way the game is played, however it soon becomes apparent that nothing has been sacrificed, the microphone has just been added with new features and new mini-games. Some might see it purely as a bolt on, with the only purpose of convincing a sceptical audience to buy the sixth version of a game they could well have three or four versions of anyway. However I would disagree with that view, the microphone does not dictate the game, the game just uses the microphone when it is applicable.

So for instance, during the party games where you and your mates will play, you use the mic for 1 vs. 3 player games only, with the one person shouting commands with the intent of defeating the other three people. The mic is surprisingly versatile in what commands it can understand. So for some games you will shout 'up', 'down', 'left' or 'right', while in others you can shout 'Bullet Bill' or 'Laser'. Occasionally it will misread what you have said, especially if you have quite a thick northern accent like mine, however mostly it works very well.

The game also has lots more to offer, there are the usual multi-player party games with six all new boards on offer, a solo mode which has changed quite a bit from past versions and the usual ability to play only the seventy five plus mini games that Mario has to offer.

There are also special sections with additional mic games, the star bank, where you can buy extra features with your accumulated stars and the options menu.

The other big new feature in this game is the day and night changes. Each board has two versions of itsself, one that appears in the day time and one that appears at night. Every three turns it will change from one to the other bringing about changes in the board, new routes to travel as well as new opportunities to steal stuff from your friends. This feature adds a new layer of strategy to the games, with you having to time your move and position yourself so that you may take advantage of the new features that are about to open. Mario Party 6 retains the orb function that was introduced in Mario Party 5, but now allowing you to buy them as well as get them randomly.

The boards have been considered carefully so that each board has a different way of playing, therefore now it isn't just a case of heading for the next star and buying it, you may have to consider your next move carefully. For instance on the 'Fair Square' board, you can now buy five stars at a time, in a set location, it will cost twenty coins in the day time and anything from five to forty coins in the night time, this will change the way you play the game and refreshes what was becoming a tired game mechanic.

The solo mode is significantly different as well, with the games only taking 15 - 30 minutes to play. The objective of the solo mode is to win as many mini games as possible and work your way to the end of the board, should you manage to land on the last square exactly you can unlock a secret rare mini game, such as four player Mario basket ball. However should you go past the last square something suitably awful will happen to you and you will lose all you coins and extras gathered during that game which otherwise would have been converted into stars which you could then spend in the star bank.

The star bank has loads of unlockable features, from pages in a pop up book to a new party board, character and then secret commands that you can say in the mini games. There is so much here the lastability has tripled since the last couple of Mario Party games, which didn't really have anything to unlock.

This really is the ultimate 'Mario Party' game and I would recommend trading in your other party games and getting this one, the mini games are new and mostly highly enjoyable with the amount down to pure chance at a minimum. There is enough here to satisfy a solo player that can only get their mates round occasionally and with the mic thrown is as well, anyone from 10 years old to 70 can play. (This game is extremely funny after a couple of bottles of wine, say no more.)

The only thing Nintendo can do now to improve on this is to bring out a best of Mario Party Game with all the best mini games from the last six versions…. please bring out a Mario Party greatest hits, I can give you suggestions... how about 'Bumper Balls', 'Speed Skating', 'Hot Bob-Bomb', 'Verbal Assault'…