Parents' Guide to Mario Party 10

Anyone familiar with previous Mario Party games will be instantly at home with Mario Party 10. The boards -- standard Mario locales including airships, castles, underwater seascapes, and rolling hills -- feature familiar events such as bricks that can be bashed to reveal treasures and Whomp barriers that need to be beaten down before players can keep moving. Many of the mini-games are recognizable, too, including activities that see players dodging hammers, racing along tracks, and vying to be the last character standing above a pit of lava with a shifting floor. This apparent lack of innovation may turn off players who feel they've already had their fill of Mario Party in previous games.

But Bowser Party may be enough to keep them playing. This lopsided mode fosters a sense of camaraderie among the four players being chased by Bowser. They're all in it together and will be rooting each other on -- all the more so because Bowser is a big cheater. The player in control of Mario's dreaded enemy can do things such as roll again if he or she isn't satisfied with the first roll and try to trick players about to make choices (which chest to open, which path to take) into choosing badly by drawing distractions on the screen. Both sides are fun to play and likely will see rivals and teammates laughing out loud and shouting in disbelief. It's a relatively small change to a well-established formula, but it could be just enough to convince even people who thought themselves finished with Mario Party games to give this new one a go.