JustFrollo
2004
I won’t bother with any preamble about the influence this series has had on FPS games or the seemingly eternal wait for Half-Life 3, you all know about that by now. But what do I think you might be asking, assuming you didn’t see the star rating already. Well, yeah it’s pretty good.
Ok but in all seriousness this game is absolutely kickass and has almost no right to hold up this well after nearly 20 years since it’s release. Right off the bat the presentation is way more unique than any other game I’ve played thus far. The game doesn’t have cutscenes in the traditional sense as you’re still allowed movement during most important story moments, albeit with limited mobility. On the one hand this does result in a lack of great cinematography for the most part like the Halo series could often achieve, but on the other hand it makes for one of the most immersive experiences I’ve had with any game.
Regular gameplay is also pretty solid, as I’d expect from one of the major innovators for the genre. The gunplay isn’t amazing or anything, but it’s really tight and responsive, which coupled with really solid enemy A.I makes for many tense and fun set pieces. One thing I appreciate over other shooters though are the puzzles, which make a nice way of breaking up the pace of the regular gameplay. What I don’t enjoy quite as much are the vehicle sections, which while not necessarily awful felt way too finicky and sensitive in terms of controls. Admittedly this may be a victim of a PC control scheme being modified to fit with an Xbox controller (I played this through The Orange Box collection) but even still those sections weren’t any less cumbersome.
Another great aspect would definitely be the soundtrack and sound design. Whilst the former is used quite sparingly, it makes every instance of music all that more affective, with Apprehension & Evasion and Triage at Dawn being my personal highlights of the soundtrack. What the game makes up for in its sparse use of music however is the sound design. The heavy emphasis on ambience over music for most of the game once again adds to the immersion, while also making the horror moments a lot more effective.
Of course I’d be remiss without mentioning the story, which also is unsurprisingly excellent. I do find the borderline deification of Gordon Freeman among the freedom fighters to be a bit overplayed at times, but it’s more than made up for by the great cast be it big players like Alyx and Dr Breen, to more minor characters like Father Grigori. The plot treads a fine line between being entirely episodic and a more linear narrative approach really well, yeah you can divide the game up into particular sections with their own little mini stories carrying through, but it all plays a bigger role in building up to the finale which while really intense and fun, can’t help but feel a bit anticlimactic. Of course I get that this is just one part of a (still) ongoing story so I’m willing to excuse that, especially since a certain someone even alludes to the anticlimax during the ending. If you know, you know.
Overall a pretty awesome game, and one I’d consider a new favourite. Yes I’m super original in my takes on most highly revered media, aren’t I? 10/10
Ok but in all seriousness this game is absolutely kickass and has almost no right to hold up this well after nearly 20 years since it’s release. Right off the bat the presentation is way more unique than any other game I’ve played thus far. The game doesn’t have cutscenes in the traditional sense as you’re still allowed movement during most important story moments, albeit with limited mobility. On the one hand this does result in a lack of great cinematography for the most part like the Halo series could often achieve, but on the other hand it makes for one of the most immersive experiences I’ve had with any game.
Regular gameplay is also pretty solid, as I’d expect from one of the major innovators for the genre. The gunplay isn’t amazing or anything, but it’s really tight and responsive, which coupled with really solid enemy A.I makes for many tense and fun set pieces. One thing I appreciate over other shooters though are the puzzles, which make a nice way of breaking up the pace of the regular gameplay. What I don’t enjoy quite as much are the vehicle sections, which while not necessarily awful felt way too finicky and sensitive in terms of controls. Admittedly this may be a victim of a PC control scheme being modified to fit with an Xbox controller (I played this through The Orange Box collection) but even still those sections weren’t any less cumbersome.
Another great aspect would definitely be the soundtrack and sound design. Whilst the former is used quite sparingly, it makes every instance of music all that more affective, with Apprehension & Evasion and Triage at Dawn being my personal highlights of the soundtrack. What the game makes up for in its sparse use of music however is the sound design. The heavy emphasis on ambience over music for most of the game once again adds to the immersion, while also making the horror moments a lot more effective.
Of course I’d be remiss without mentioning the story, which also is unsurprisingly excellent. I do find the borderline deification of Gordon Freeman among the freedom fighters to be a bit overplayed at times, but it’s more than made up for by the great cast be it big players like Alyx and Dr Breen, to more minor characters like Father Grigori. The plot treads a fine line between being entirely episodic and a more linear narrative approach really well, yeah you can divide the game up into particular sections with their own little mini stories carrying through, but it all plays a bigger role in building up to the finale which while really intense and fun, can’t help but feel a bit anticlimactic. Of course I get that this is just one part of a (still) ongoing story so I’m willing to excuse that, especially since a certain someone even alludes to the anticlimax during the ending. If you know, you know.
Overall a pretty awesome game, and one I’d consider a new favourite. Yes I’m super original in my takes on most highly revered media, aren’t I? 10/10
2019
To call this a step up from Dark Moon would be a gross understatement, and while I don’t think this quite captures what made the first game stick out in people’s memories it more than makes up for it by being a fantastic game in its own right.
Unlike the current dev team behind Paper Mario since Sticker Star, Next Level Games seemingly took a lot of the gripes people had with Dark Moon to heart, between the return of bosses more akin to the first games portrait ghosts and the complete axing of the mission structure, which overall makes for a better gameplay cycle. The game autosaves quite frequently anyways so the devs still found a work around to accommodate for the Switch’s portability which is a welcome addition.
The few new additions to exploration and combat also help to spice up the gameplay enough that it avoids some of the repetition that Dark Moon and even the first game suffered from at points. I did initially think Gooigi would end up as really gimmicky and little else, but it’s implementation did actually make for some humorous moments during cutscenes, on top of a lot of cool new ways for puzzle solving that the first 2 wouldn’t have been able to achieve.
Speaking of cutscenes, good God is this game a technical marvel. Between the many great lighting and particle effects to the phenomenal character animation it almost puts other big Switch titles like Mario Odyssey to shame in some regards.
While a Luigi’s Mansion sequel more in line with the original in tone and atmosphere would certainly be really nice, I’m more than happy if this’ll set the precedent for any future sequels, which given Nintendo’s recent acquisition of Next Level Games is almost inevitable at this rate. Regardless I excitedly anticipate the next paranormal romp with my favourite Mario brother with great enthusiasm, here’s hoping it’ll be able to top this.
9/10
Unlike the current dev team behind Paper Mario since Sticker Star, Next Level Games seemingly took a lot of the gripes people had with Dark Moon to heart, between the return of bosses more akin to the first games portrait ghosts and the complete axing of the mission structure, which overall makes for a better gameplay cycle. The game autosaves quite frequently anyways so the devs still found a work around to accommodate for the Switch’s portability which is a welcome addition.
The few new additions to exploration and combat also help to spice up the gameplay enough that it avoids some of the repetition that Dark Moon and even the first game suffered from at points. I did initially think Gooigi would end up as really gimmicky and little else, but it’s implementation did actually make for some humorous moments during cutscenes, on top of a lot of cool new ways for puzzle solving that the first 2 wouldn’t have been able to achieve.
Speaking of cutscenes, good God is this game a technical marvel. Between the many great lighting and particle effects to the phenomenal character animation it almost puts other big Switch titles like Mario Odyssey to shame in some regards.
While a Luigi’s Mansion sequel more in line with the original in tone and atmosphere would certainly be really nice, I’m more than happy if this’ll set the precedent for any future sequels, which given Nintendo’s recent acquisition of Next Level Games is almost inevitable at this rate. Regardless I excitedly anticipate the next paranormal romp with my favourite Mario brother with great enthusiasm, here’s hoping it’ll be able to top this.
9/10
This game tends to get the short end of the stick more than any of the 3 Luigi’s Mansion titles, and even despite having grown up playing this a fair bit I didn’t have great expectations going in. I played Dream Team a lot growing up and I think that games a load of arse. Fortunately that’s not the case here, as I still consider this to be a solid game despite being a bit lacking as a sequel.
To shoot the elephant in the room right now, yes this takes a decisively more comedic approach compared to the first game in terms of tone, and while I do very much favour the first game in that respect I don’t think this games approach is inherently awful. Despite being released very early in the 3DS’ life, the character animation is really impressive and conveys a lot of emotion, be it from Luigi to the ghosts and Boos. It does seem a bit simple in this regard when compared to the third game, but even still it mostly holds up really well.
As for the other glaring aspect of this game a lot of people take issue with, yes I don’t like the mission based structure compared to the more open ended original. Admittedly it doesn’t hamper the core gameplay as much as people make it out to be, but it is still annoying only having a roughly 20-30 minute gameplay cycle before E Gadd drags you back to his lab.
As for the main gameplay, I’d say in some ways it makes a couple improvements compared to the original. There’s a much greater emphasis on puzzle solving to proceed to the next room, which compared to the first game which used puzzles way more sparsely is a welcome change. Also the Boo hunting has been drastically changed for the better. Not only is it not required to have the majority of them to beat the game, but most of them are only confined to one room and are mostly there for completionists more than anything. I do wish there wasn’t one Boo in almost EVERY level, seeing as how you’ll have to replay earlier levels since you don’t get the equipment required so you can spot them, but since they’re not mandatory to finish the campaign I can look past that.
While I still overall think the first game is superior, I definitely don’t think this game is quite the blasphemous mark on the former that it’s made out to be, and I’d still say this game holds up alright in spite of a few flaws.
7/10
To shoot the elephant in the room right now, yes this takes a decisively more comedic approach compared to the first game in terms of tone, and while I do very much favour the first game in that respect I don’t think this games approach is inherently awful. Despite being released very early in the 3DS’ life, the character animation is really impressive and conveys a lot of emotion, be it from Luigi to the ghosts and Boos. It does seem a bit simple in this regard when compared to the third game, but even still it mostly holds up really well.
As for the other glaring aspect of this game a lot of people take issue with, yes I don’t like the mission based structure compared to the more open ended original. Admittedly it doesn’t hamper the core gameplay as much as people make it out to be, but it is still annoying only having a roughly 20-30 minute gameplay cycle before E Gadd drags you back to his lab.
As for the main gameplay, I’d say in some ways it makes a couple improvements compared to the original. There’s a much greater emphasis on puzzle solving to proceed to the next room, which compared to the first game which used puzzles way more sparsely is a welcome change. Also the Boo hunting has been drastically changed for the better. Not only is it not required to have the majority of them to beat the game, but most of them are only confined to one room and are mostly there for completionists more than anything. I do wish there wasn’t one Boo in almost EVERY level, seeing as how you’ll have to replay earlier levels since you don’t get the equipment required so you can spot them, but since they’re not mandatory to finish the campaign I can look past that.
While I still overall think the first game is superior, I definitely don’t think this game is quite the blasphemous mark on the former that it’s made out to be, and I’d still say this game holds up alright in spite of a few flaws.
7/10
2001
7 years. Seven. Years. That’s how long I’ve wanted to play this game. Between rewatching Chuggaaconroy’s LP of it probably at least a good 20 times and getting the sequel for the 3DS, this has always been an essential title that I’d have to play one day. Cut to the present where I’ve got a revitalised passion for gaming and have now 100% both the original campaign and the infamous PAL Hidden Mansion, and needless to say the hype has paid off.
Right off the bat I love the greater emphasis on ambience both in terms of the music and sound design compared to 2 & 3, which while having great soundtracks in their own right didn’t exactly instil any sense of dread as I wandered the ghost ridden corridors. This game on the other hand has that in spades, and it leads to what’s honestly a pretty genuinely eerie atmosphere by comparison. I mean I won’t act like this games super scary or anything, but the efforts made to legit try and instil that sense of fear in the player is worth applause.
Another thing this one has above the sequels, or at least the second games, are the portrait ghosts. While some are arguably a bit one note they all have great, memorable designs and distinct character from the few bits of flavour text we’re given. The main area bosses are also pretty fun while offering a greater challenge than most of the regular ghosts, with a particular highlight for me being the fight with Bogmire.
The regular grunt ghosts so to speak are also pretty fun to fight, though I do wish they were maybe grouped up in more creative ways. It’s a rarity to see different ghost types paired up during one round of ghost busting, and it’s a shame because I think it would’ve made the already solid combat even more dynamic and engaging.
Easily the weakest part of the game has to be the Boo hunting. It admittedly doesn’t start out too bad, but once you get to the attic where they start rocking 200-300 fucking HP, it quickly becomes annoying having to endlessly go from room to room any dealing a smidge of damage and then repeating the process for like 10 minutes before you finally catch the bloody Boo. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem except it’s required that you have at least 40 Boos to access the final boss, so you’re forced to get at least most of them just to finish the game anyways.
So overall, pretty damn good for a game that had 7 years of hype to live up to. I’m in the process of replaying the first sequel, Dark Moon, currently so expect a review for that to hopefully be out sooner rather than later.
9/10
Right off the bat I love the greater emphasis on ambience both in terms of the music and sound design compared to 2 & 3, which while having great soundtracks in their own right didn’t exactly instil any sense of dread as I wandered the ghost ridden corridors. This game on the other hand has that in spades, and it leads to what’s honestly a pretty genuinely eerie atmosphere by comparison. I mean I won’t act like this games super scary or anything, but the efforts made to legit try and instil that sense of fear in the player is worth applause.
Another thing this one has above the sequels, or at least the second games, are the portrait ghosts. While some are arguably a bit one note they all have great, memorable designs and distinct character from the few bits of flavour text we’re given. The main area bosses are also pretty fun while offering a greater challenge than most of the regular ghosts, with a particular highlight for me being the fight with Bogmire.
The regular grunt ghosts so to speak are also pretty fun to fight, though I do wish they were maybe grouped up in more creative ways. It’s a rarity to see different ghost types paired up during one round of ghost busting, and it’s a shame because I think it would’ve made the already solid combat even more dynamic and engaging.
Easily the weakest part of the game has to be the Boo hunting. It admittedly doesn’t start out too bad, but once you get to the attic where they start rocking 200-300 fucking HP, it quickly becomes annoying having to endlessly go from room to room any dealing a smidge of damage and then repeating the process for like 10 minutes before you finally catch the bloody Boo. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem except it’s required that you have at least 40 Boos to access the final boss, so you’re forced to get at least most of them just to finish the game anyways.
So overall, pretty damn good for a game that had 7 years of hype to live up to. I’m in the process of replaying the first sequel, Dark Moon, currently so expect a review for that to hopefully be out sooner rather than later.
9/10
2007
One step forward, two steps back. While I certainly don’t consider this to be the game that triggered the downward spiral of Paper Mario by any means, it does in some ways feel like a regression in comparison to Thousand-Year Door even if on the whole it’s still really damn good in its own right.
Most people’s biggest contention seems to be with the shift from turn based RPG to 2D platformer with some RPG elements sprinkled in. I definitely wish that the dev team stuck to the former, especially since it’d been all but perfected by Thousand-Year Door, however when taking into account that this game started out development for the GameCube it is slightly more understandable for the change in gameplay. This is without taking into account that the actual gameplay isn’t inherently broken like Sticker Star and, to a lesser extent, Colour Splash, and while I don’t think it’s anything amazing I still found it relatively engaging throughout the adventure.
Then there’s the story, which is really where the opening sentence comes into play. Aside from Tippi and the occasional supporting character, very few of the new characters are all that interesting. Also doesn’t help that most of the designs are often random geometric shapes stapled together. I understand the need for distinct designs compared to the regular Mario fare, especially considering the conceit of travelling throughout various different dimensions, but I haven’t the faintest clue why this was the dev teams best idea for executing that.
Now both of these complaints apply to all but one major exception, or should I say exceptions. As you’ll recall in my Thousand-Year Door review I highlighted that while not a terrible villain, I found that games main antagonist Grodus to be kinda lacking as far as character was concerned. Fortunately that ain’t the case here. Count Bleck is fantastic villain in terms of both character and design, as is likewise for his minions. While he initially starts out as kinda generic, not unlike Grodus ironically, as the game goes on we gradually get more and more insight into his motives and past for why he is the way he is. Obviously I won’t spoil it as I feel you should all play this game for yourselves, but the result of this ultimately leads to what is easily the most emotionally charged climax of any Mario game, RPG or otherwise. Embarrassing as this may be I did tear up a little bit after the credits, though I’d like to hope you’ll all recognise why if you ever play it for yourselves.
I wasn’t exactly expecting to hate this game by any stretch, I mean I’m the guy that loves Partners in Time so I generally have a knack for loving the more divisive entries of beloved series a lot of the time, but I definitely didn’t expect to enjoy it to this extent either. Weird as it may seem I’ve finally finished the original Paper Mario trilogy, as well as doing the same for Mario & Luigi. Of course I still got the OG Mario RPG and later entries like Paper Jam and Origami King, but this is what properly puts the cap on the ones I’ve been dying to play for years now. Needless to say it was well worth the investment both in terms of time and money (fuck you Nintendo for not re-releasing Thousand-Year Door after nearly 20 years) and I look forward to seeing what you will all think when you eventually play them for yourselves, as well as revisiting them myself sometime later down the line.
8/10
Most people’s biggest contention seems to be with the shift from turn based RPG to 2D platformer with some RPG elements sprinkled in. I definitely wish that the dev team stuck to the former, especially since it’d been all but perfected by Thousand-Year Door, however when taking into account that this game started out development for the GameCube it is slightly more understandable for the change in gameplay. This is without taking into account that the actual gameplay isn’t inherently broken like Sticker Star and, to a lesser extent, Colour Splash, and while I don’t think it’s anything amazing I still found it relatively engaging throughout the adventure.
Then there’s the story, which is really where the opening sentence comes into play. Aside from Tippi and the occasional supporting character, very few of the new characters are all that interesting. Also doesn’t help that most of the designs are often random geometric shapes stapled together. I understand the need for distinct designs compared to the regular Mario fare, especially considering the conceit of travelling throughout various different dimensions, but I haven’t the faintest clue why this was the dev teams best idea for executing that.
Now both of these complaints apply to all but one major exception, or should I say exceptions. As you’ll recall in my Thousand-Year Door review I highlighted that while not a terrible villain, I found that games main antagonist Grodus to be kinda lacking as far as character was concerned. Fortunately that ain’t the case here. Count Bleck is fantastic villain in terms of both character and design, as is likewise for his minions. While he initially starts out as kinda generic, not unlike Grodus ironically, as the game goes on we gradually get more and more insight into his motives and past for why he is the way he is. Obviously I won’t spoil it as I feel you should all play this game for yourselves, but the result of this ultimately leads to what is easily the most emotionally charged climax of any Mario game, RPG or otherwise. Embarrassing as this may be I did tear up a little bit after the credits, though I’d like to hope you’ll all recognise why if you ever play it for yourselves.
I wasn’t exactly expecting to hate this game by any stretch, I mean I’m the guy that loves Partners in Time so I generally have a knack for loving the more divisive entries of beloved series a lot of the time, but I definitely didn’t expect to enjoy it to this extent either. Weird as it may seem I’ve finally finished the original Paper Mario trilogy, as well as doing the same for Mario & Luigi. Of course I still got the OG Mario RPG and later entries like Paper Jam and Origami King, but this is what properly puts the cap on the ones I’ve been dying to play for years now. Needless to say it was well worth the investment both in terms of time and money (fuck you Nintendo for not re-releasing Thousand-Year Door after nearly 20 years) and I look forward to seeing what you will all think when you eventually play them for yourselves, as well as revisiting them myself sometime later down the line.
8/10
This is it folks, the certified G.O.A.T of Mario RPGs, the one that’s not just considered one of the best Mario games, but one of Nintendo’s all-time greats along with the likes of Mother 3 and Majora’s Mask, which needless to say I think is well deserved. Not only does it expertly build on the best elements of the first game, it also actively improves on it’s faults.
The jump from N64 to GameCube really benefits both in terms of presentation and gameplay. Not only does the combat feel way more fluent thanks to the better frame rate, but the simple yet charming art style is gorgeous when brought to life with sharper graphics, even in spite of the shite setup I went through it on. (why wasn’t the Wii HDMI compatible Nintendo!?) The more capable specs also results in an infinitely superior soundtrack to boot. The first games soundtrack certainly wasn’t horrible, but a good few tracks could come off as really repetitive and grating after a while. Not here though, almost every song is a straight banger, and the result is yet another kickass soundtrack, as is really the norm with most Mario games.
Easily the biggest improvement is with the party members, as they both have way more spark and personality whilst also contributing way more to the plot than most of the party members in the first game did. Just compare Goombario with Goombella and you’ll probably see what I’m on about. It also helps that most of the party members you meet along the way have direct ties to the plot of each chapter in some way, which helps increase investment. Given Mario’s kind of a flat character (pun entirely intended) giving the party members more prominence was definitely a wise move.
Speaking of the story, while it’s admittedly not anything particularly special when it’s all laid out, the manner in which it unfolds, combined with the massive amount of characters throughout the whole adventure honestly overshadows that. Every chapters got a semi prominent supporting cast outside of the new party member you’ll usually get once every chapter, which helps make the world feel more lived in compared to the borderline barren nature of a lot of the first games areas. The Peach segments from the first game are also carried over here, however this time she’s paired up with the X-Nauts supercomputer TEC, as it gradually begins to question its own morality. That alone makes these segments way more interesting than they were in the first, which mostly just used them for little more then exposition. Speaking of the X-Nauts, I’m very happy that the dev team decided to go for another avenue with the villains beyond recycling Bowser for this game. Granted I feel their leader Grodus doesn’t have as much character when stacked up with other RPG villains like Cackletta or Fawful, but he’s still comes off as being a legitimate threat in spite of that. Of course it’s required by law for Bowser to show up at least once, however this time he’s reduced to a supporting role much like in Superstar Saga. He’s ok here, but I honestly think he wasn’t needed for this game, plus his side of the story doesn’t even get much resolution anyways.
Now when talking about this game it’s near impossible not to address what seems to be the Achilles Heel for a lot of people: the backtracking. It’s fine lol. There’s one annoying instance of it towards the end and right before the final boss I ended up having to go back through the entire last dungeon to restock on healing items, but those are the only instances where it was really annoying to an almost intrusive degree. I have some gripes with the epilogue as far as the fates of certain characters which I won’t get into here for spoiler reasons, but the game’s definitely greater than the sum of its parts.
While I’d only really recommend the first game to die hard Mario fans, this is an essential title for anyone reading. If you haven’t already, play this game! It’s one of the best games I’ve played in years, and Nintendo should be bloody ashamed for starving fans of an easy way to play it beyond emulation.
10/10
The jump from N64 to GameCube really benefits both in terms of presentation and gameplay. Not only does the combat feel way more fluent thanks to the better frame rate, but the simple yet charming art style is gorgeous when brought to life with sharper graphics, even in spite of the shite setup I went through it on. (why wasn’t the Wii HDMI compatible Nintendo!?) The more capable specs also results in an infinitely superior soundtrack to boot. The first games soundtrack certainly wasn’t horrible, but a good few tracks could come off as really repetitive and grating after a while. Not here though, almost every song is a straight banger, and the result is yet another kickass soundtrack, as is really the norm with most Mario games.
Easily the biggest improvement is with the party members, as they both have way more spark and personality whilst also contributing way more to the plot than most of the party members in the first game did. Just compare Goombario with Goombella and you’ll probably see what I’m on about. It also helps that most of the party members you meet along the way have direct ties to the plot of each chapter in some way, which helps increase investment. Given Mario’s kind of a flat character (pun entirely intended) giving the party members more prominence was definitely a wise move.
Speaking of the story, while it’s admittedly not anything particularly special when it’s all laid out, the manner in which it unfolds, combined with the massive amount of characters throughout the whole adventure honestly overshadows that. Every chapters got a semi prominent supporting cast outside of the new party member you’ll usually get once every chapter, which helps make the world feel more lived in compared to the borderline barren nature of a lot of the first games areas. The Peach segments from the first game are also carried over here, however this time she’s paired up with the X-Nauts supercomputer TEC, as it gradually begins to question its own morality. That alone makes these segments way more interesting than they were in the first, which mostly just used them for little more then exposition. Speaking of the X-Nauts, I’m very happy that the dev team decided to go for another avenue with the villains beyond recycling Bowser for this game. Granted I feel their leader Grodus doesn’t have as much character when stacked up with other RPG villains like Cackletta or Fawful, but he’s still comes off as being a legitimate threat in spite of that. Of course it’s required by law for Bowser to show up at least once, however this time he’s reduced to a supporting role much like in Superstar Saga. He’s ok here, but I honestly think he wasn’t needed for this game, plus his side of the story doesn’t even get much resolution anyways.
Now when talking about this game it’s near impossible not to address what seems to be the Achilles Heel for a lot of people: the backtracking. It’s fine lol. There’s one annoying instance of it towards the end and right before the final boss I ended up having to go back through the entire last dungeon to restock on healing items, but those are the only instances where it was really annoying to an almost intrusive degree. I have some gripes with the epilogue as far as the fates of certain characters which I won’t get into here for spoiler reasons, but the game’s definitely greater than the sum of its parts.
While I’d only really recommend the first game to die hard Mario fans, this is an essential title for anyone reading. If you haven’t already, play this game! It’s one of the best games I’ve played in years, and Nintendo should be bloody ashamed for starving fans of an easy way to play it beyond emulation.
10/10
2000
Seeing as how I’ve already played the original 3 Mario & Luigi games, it seemed only fitting I finally did likewise with the Paper Mario games, well that and I wanna prolong having to review Dream Team as much as humanly possible but I digress.
The story for this one is……….actually pretty good. Granted it’s the same Bowser kidnaps Peach trope that’s been frequently repeated in the main line games, however I think in the right hands you can make something good out of it with the right approach, Galaxy follows that plot line and it’s my favourite Mario game. As for this game I think it pulls it off pretty well. Having Bowser properly kick your ass right at the start in particular was a wise choice, both in establishing him as a credible threat and giving the player strong drive to take him down. Bowser in general is handled pretty well in this outing, much more than I actually expected to be honest. Going in I was worried that after 3 Mario & Luigi games, which generally cast him in a much more comedic light, Bowser wouldn’t work as a proper threat, however that fortunately wasn’t the case. The game does have a fair few comedic bits with him, but it knows when to hammer home that he’s a credible antagonist. It strikes a fine balance between having him as borderline comic relief while still filling the player with the urge to defecat-I MEAN defeat yeah, that’s what I meant. Anyways.
We also get a decent bit of focus on Peach’s side as Bowser’s prisoner over the course of the game, with the game cutting back to her at the end of each chapter. Whilst I wish these served more of a purpose than mostly just being a less boring form of exposition, I still appreciate trying to give her a more active role unlike the majority of Mario games and even the AlphaDream RPGs. I do also find that the general story structure can feel a little repetitive after a while. After the first few chapters, you’ll probably know the games number with how the story is gonna proceed, at least as far as pacing is concerned.
But what about our beloved moustachioed plumber? Well Mario’s mute the whole game, and Luigi doesn’t come along for the adventure, so the game substitutes this by having you pair up with various new characters that’ll join you as you continue on your journey. I’m a little split on this aspect, as on one hand I appreciate going for a more original approach, as well as modelling many of the characters after classic Mario enemies. Whether intentional or not this adds interesting layers to the world of the Mushroom Kingdom by showing not every Goomba or Koopa is solely subservient to Bowser. On the other hand I don’t find most of the party members get much development beyond their initial introductions, with them usually just becoming extensions to Mario’s arsenal in combat. I really wish that the various party members had contributed more to the plot, especially given the games attempts to play on your supposed investment in them towards the end.
As for the gameplay it, much like the story, is just ok. The combat system improves more and more as you unlock new party members and gain access to more badges, but it’s somewhat held back by the lower frame-rate of the N64, with dodging in particular often being a real pain in the ass. I definitely prefer the more snappier, fast pace of the Mario & Luigi series’ combat mechanics, but that was probably born out of those games being made for handheld systems, whereas this console game can get away with taking its time both in terms of pacing and gameplay.
So yeah overall not a bad start to this series. I don’t think it holds a candle to AlphaDream’s first trilogy, but it was still a fun time and that’s really what I think matters, especially with Mario games. So then, now it’s on to the next game, oh boy…
8/10
The story for this one is……….actually pretty good. Granted it’s the same Bowser kidnaps Peach trope that’s been frequently repeated in the main line games, however I think in the right hands you can make something good out of it with the right approach, Galaxy follows that plot line and it’s my favourite Mario game. As for this game I think it pulls it off pretty well. Having Bowser properly kick your ass right at the start in particular was a wise choice, both in establishing him as a credible threat and giving the player strong drive to take him down. Bowser in general is handled pretty well in this outing, much more than I actually expected to be honest. Going in I was worried that after 3 Mario & Luigi games, which generally cast him in a much more comedic light, Bowser wouldn’t work as a proper threat, however that fortunately wasn’t the case. The game does have a fair few comedic bits with him, but it knows when to hammer home that he’s a credible antagonist. It strikes a fine balance between having him as borderline comic relief while still filling the player with the urge to defecat-I MEAN defeat yeah, that’s what I meant. Anyways.
We also get a decent bit of focus on Peach’s side as Bowser’s prisoner over the course of the game, with the game cutting back to her at the end of each chapter. Whilst I wish these served more of a purpose than mostly just being a less boring form of exposition, I still appreciate trying to give her a more active role unlike the majority of Mario games and even the AlphaDream RPGs. I do also find that the general story structure can feel a little repetitive after a while. After the first few chapters, you’ll probably know the games number with how the story is gonna proceed, at least as far as pacing is concerned.
But what about our beloved moustachioed plumber? Well Mario’s mute the whole game, and Luigi doesn’t come along for the adventure, so the game substitutes this by having you pair up with various new characters that’ll join you as you continue on your journey. I’m a little split on this aspect, as on one hand I appreciate going for a more original approach, as well as modelling many of the characters after classic Mario enemies. Whether intentional or not this adds interesting layers to the world of the Mushroom Kingdom by showing not every Goomba or Koopa is solely subservient to Bowser. On the other hand I don’t find most of the party members get much development beyond their initial introductions, with them usually just becoming extensions to Mario’s arsenal in combat. I really wish that the various party members had contributed more to the plot, especially given the games attempts to play on your supposed investment in them towards the end.
As for the gameplay it, much like the story, is just ok. The combat system improves more and more as you unlock new party members and gain access to more badges, but it’s somewhat held back by the lower frame-rate of the N64, with dodging in particular often being a real pain in the ass. I definitely prefer the more snappier, fast pace of the Mario & Luigi series’ combat mechanics, but that was probably born out of those games being made for handheld systems, whereas this console game can get away with taking its time both in terms of pacing and gameplay.
So yeah overall not a bad start to this series. I don’t think it holds a candle to AlphaDream’s first trilogy, but it was still a fun time and that’s really what I think matters, especially with Mario games. So then, now it’s on to the next game, oh boy…
8/10
Did we need 4 of these games? Hell no. Does that detract from the quality of the first 2? Nah fam. I may be a bit biased as this is the first video I game I ever played, but I still think this games holds up. Not as mechanically interesting as the 3D games and definitely not as engaging on a story level compared to the RPGs, but it’s still a fun romp through the Mushroom Kingdom, even if the saturation of this franchise has made it less of a stand out title then it might’ve been otherwise.
7/10
7/10
(Note: BIS is an abbreviation of the games title for brevity’s sake, just thought I’d clarify)
For the last 8-9 years I’ve heard near endless praise levied at this game constantly. Next to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door this is frequently talked up as one of the best Mario spin-off titles, Hell some people even think it’s better than Thousand Year Door just to give you some perspective. Of course this begs the question of what I thought of it as a huge fan of the last 2 Mario & Luigi games? D’ya not see the rating, I fucking loved it!
I’ll admit the story might not be as concise as the last 2, it mostly follows Bowser travelling the overworld and getting into assorted shenanigans, but I honestly don’t mind because Bowser’s just such a fun character in these games. Bumping him up from tritagonist to main character really shakes up both the story and gameplay for the better, and the more emphasised snark and ego he often displays adds way more personality to him than even the best of the main line games can manage. Of course the other noteworthy thing about this game is the return of Fawful, this time as main antagonist. Needless to say he’s still just as fun and entertaining as he was in Superstar Saga, and watching the clash of egos between him and Bowser was an absolute riot.
BIS also isn’t without its fair share of entertaining new characters, such as Broque Monsieur, Midbus and the Elite Trio. However perhaps the most notable of the newbies, if only because she went on to return in both of the following games, would be the Star Spirte Starlow. On paper she mostly serves the same purpose as Stuffwell from Partners in Time, in that she’s a way to give the player tutorials on certain mechanics in a less sterile way than just explaining it to the player more directly. However while Stuffwell was so forgettable and honestly pointless to the main plot that I didn’t even feel the need to highlight him, Starlow isn’t. She’s an active participant in the plot and actually has a proper personality besides occasionally making crappy puns. I know some fans don’t like how much of a dick she can be to Luigi, and I’ll admit I was put off by that at first, but provided you go out of your way to do a certain optional boss fight, (if you know, you know) there is a scene where she does apologise and acknowledge that Luigi is indeed just as great as Mario, so she gets a pass on that front. I mean they totally walk back on that in Dream Team but that’s beside the point.
BIS also dabbles in some world building, albeit in small doses. Superstar Saga kinda did this with the Beanbean Kingdom, but really it didn’t contribute a massive amount that the setting was wholly different to the Mushroom Kingdom aside from the odd exchange rate joke. Likewise for Partners in Time which didn’t really use the time travel plot point to enrich the lore at all. Here though we’re given a slight bit of that with what’s arguably this games MacGuffin, the Dark Star. The fact the Star Sprites, which are arguably the Mario equivalent to Demigods, had to come in to assist in sealing it away adds a lot of weight behind just the power of the thing, which of course leads to added tension once we learn Fawful is after it. I do wish we got some more expansion on it as more of a character seeing as how it does talk from time to time, but it works just fine as this mystical apocalyptic force.
Now that all that’s out of the way, I can finally talk about the gameplay, or rather the few bits that this game introduced. With Bowser being one of the 3 leads now that obviously translates to combat sections where you play as him in turn. These aren’t a huge step up from the regular combat other than the enemies having more jacked up health to accommodate for Bowser being stronger, but it’s still really fun getting to blow through enemies as the Koopa King. We also get a slew of mini games throughout that either involve very specific button mashing or often using the DS stylus. While some of these can be a little annoying they’re never enough to kill the pacing or make me want to put the game down, even the infamous carrot mini game wasn’t all that bad. This also marks the debut of giant battles which are, ok. The touchscreen controls are kinda finicky and sometimes my inputs don’t even seem to be registered, but again they’re not a deal breaker, not even the Fawful Express which actually WAS just as bad as people make it out to be.
Oh and the soundtrack is absolute gold, I really haven’t given Yoko Shimomura the kudos she deserves for her work on these games. Be it the area themes or the battle themes Yoko manages to pull off some really impressive stuff given the DS’ sound capabilities. All of this ultimately culminates in what might be my favourite final boss fight in any Mario game. The settings intense, the story’s reached its peak in tension, the integration of both the Bowser and Bros combat sections are fantastic, and it’s all capped off with Yoko pushing the DS’ sound limits to create one of the most amazing final battle ballads I’ve ever heard.
Well that’s that, I went in with high expectations and even then I was blown away by this. In a few years this might end up being my favourite game possibly. In the meantime I want to implore all of you to PLAY. THIS. TRILOGY. They have their ups and downs, but after Mario’s massive stagnation for most of the 2010s these games are a huge breathe of fresh air, not to mention just really fun and engaging. The original Superstar Saga and Partners in Time are available through the Wii U eShop for dirt cheap, with the former also being remade on the 3DS, and Bowser’s Inside Story is stupid easy to get a copy of these days. Please, if you haven’t played these 3 before, do it! You might not love them as much as I do, but I can assure you that you’ll almost definitely have a good time with them.
10/10
For the last 8-9 years I’ve heard near endless praise levied at this game constantly. Next to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door this is frequently talked up as one of the best Mario spin-off titles, Hell some people even think it’s better than Thousand Year Door just to give you some perspective. Of course this begs the question of what I thought of it as a huge fan of the last 2 Mario & Luigi games? D’ya not see the rating, I fucking loved it!
I’ll admit the story might not be as concise as the last 2, it mostly follows Bowser travelling the overworld and getting into assorted shenanigans, but I honestly don’t mind because Bowser’s just such a fun character in these games. Bumping him up from tritagonist to main character really shakes up both the story and gameplay for the better, and the more emphasised snark and ego he often displays adds way more personality to him than even the best of the main line games can manage. Of course the other noteworthy thing about this game is the return of Fawful, this time as main antagonist. Needless to say he’s still just as fun and entertaining as he was in Superstar Saga, and watching the clash of egos between him and Bowser was an absolute riot.
BIS also isn’t without its fair share of entertaining new characters, such as Broque Monsieur, Midbus and the Elite Trio. However perhaps the most notable of the newbies, if only because she went on to return in both of the following games, would be the Star Spirte Starlow. On paper she mostly serves the same purpose as Stuffwell from Partners in Time, in that she’s a way to give the player tutorials on certain mechanics in a less sterile way than just explaining it to the player more directly. However while Stuffwell was so forgettable and honestly pointless to the main plot that I didn’t even feel the need to highlight him, Starlow isn’t. She’s an active participant in the plot and actually has a proper personality besides occasionally making crappy puns. I know some fans don’t like how much of a dick she can be to Luigi, and I’ll admit I was put off by that at first, but provided you go out of your way to do a certain optional boss fight, (if you know, you know) there is a scene where she does apologise and acknowledge that Luigi is indeed just as great as Mario, so she gets a pass on that front. I mean they totally walk back on that in Dream Team but that’s beside the point.
BIS also dabbles in some world building, albeit in small doses. Superstar Saga kinda did this with the Beanbean Kingdom, but really it didn’t contribute a massive amount that the setting was wholly different to the Mushroom Kingdom aside from the odd exchange rate joke. Likewise for Partners in Time which didn’t really use the time travel plot point to enrich the lore at all. Here though we’re given a slight bit of that with what’s arguably this games MacGuffin, the Dark Star. The fact the Star Sprites, which are arguably the Mario equivalent to Demigods, had to come in to assist in sealing it away adds a lot of weight behind just the power of the thing, which of course leads to added tension once we learn Fawful is after it. I do wish we got some more expansion on it as more of a character seeing as how it does talk from time to time, but it works just fine as this mystical apocalyptic force.
Now that all that’s out of the way, I can finally talk about the gameplay, or rather the few bits that this game introduced. With Bowser being one of the 3 leads now that obviously translates to combat sections where you play as him in turn. These aren’t a huge step up from the regular combat other than the enemies having more jacked up health to accommodate for Bowser being stronger, but it’s still really fun getting to blow through enemies as the Koopa King. We also get a slew of mini games throughout that either involve very specific button mashing or often using the DS stylus. While some of these can be a little annoying they’re never enough to kill the pacing or make me want to put the game down, even the infamous carrot mini game wasn’t all that bad. This also marks the debut of giant battles which are, ok. The touchscreen controls are kinda finicky and sometimes my inputs don’t even seem to be registered, but again they’re not a deal breaker, not even the Fawful Express which actually WAS just as bad as people make it out to be.
Oh and the soundtrack is absolute gold, I really haven’t given Yoko Shimomura the kudos she deserves for her work on these games. Be it the area themes or the battle themes Yoko manages to pull off some really impressive stuff given the DS’ sound capabilities. All of this ultimately culminates in what might be my favourite final boss fight in any Mario game. The settings intense, the story’s reached its peak in tension, the integration of both the Bowser and Bros combat sections are fantastic, and it’s all capped off with Yoko pushing the DS’ sound limits to create one of the most amazing final battle ballads I’ve ever heard.
Well that’s that, I went in with high expectations and even then I was blown away by this. In a few years this might end up being my favourite game possibly. In the meantime I want to implore all of you to PLAY. THIS. TRILOGY. They have their ups and downs, but after Mario’s massive stagnation for most of the 2010s these games are a huge breathe of fresh air, not to mention just really fun and engaging. The original Superstar Saga and Partners in Time are available through the Wii U eShop for dirt cheap, with the former also being remade on the 3DS, and Bowser’s Inside Story is stupid easy to get a copy of these days. Please, if you haven’t played these 3 before, do it! You might not love them as much as I do, but I can assure you that you’ll almost definitely have a good time with them.
10/10
2012
Alright, let’s get the one good thing out of the way before I rip this game a new asshole: the expansion on Chief and Cortana. I know some people find it a bit jarring that Chief is now more of a proper character as opposed to mostly being a blank slate for the audience to project onto, and while I do think the transition between the two (as in the two different characterisations of Chief) could’ve been handled a bit better, I overall much prefer having him as fully developed character. The greater emphasis on the relationship between Chief and Cortana also leads to a much stronger emotional core than any of the previous games had, not that they weren’t without any emotional moments, but they weren’t as pronounced as they were here I feel.
It’s also good that I can more strongly connect to the two leads this time since the rest of the plot and cast is kinda eh. The crew of the Infinity aren’t all that memorable besides Del Rio, and that’s only for the hysterical line delivery of “I am ordering you………to GIVE ME THAT AI!”, (Who in their right mind thought that was a good take?) and the Didact is easily the worst villain this series has to offer thus far. Never put most of your villains backstory and motivation into a long ass cutscene that’s just an overload exposition people. Also doesn’t help that even the stuff I liked with Chief and Cortana is probably rendered null and void by Halo 5, so that’s great.
What about the visuals then? I’m kinda split if I’m being honest. The new designs for the Covenant were a bit off-putting at first, but I did adjust eventually. What I didn’t adjust to for the most part was Cortana’s revamp. It’s really jarring after the first three games designed to mostly just have the basic outline of a human woman to now where she has more noticeable features like individual hair strands and more pronounced lips. I do understand to an extent why this is the case since theoretically if she’s more detailed it’ll allow for the emotions to shine through more, but I still have to question why they didn’t just carry over her appearance from the first 3 games. Halo 2: Anniversary did that and she was still really expressive so I don’t see what the issue would’ve been. Like am just being crazy, IDK.
Ok so the story is mostly meh and the new art direction was a a similarly mixed bag, but at least the gameplays good? No, not really. The vehicle sections are still really fun, but the regular gameplay is rendered a lot less fun thanks to the general level design being aggressively linear in a way most of the previous games never were, not to mention the new Forerunner enemies are just a chore to fight. The regular ones are bullet sponges, the flying ones always fold their wings which for some reason just makes it impossible to inflict damage on them, and the dog ones despite being way less hard to kill are often in groups so they’ll usually dogpile your ass. This made a lot of the late game really frustrating because often if I didn’t go out of my way to kill literally EVERY enemy I’d end up getting capped and having to redo a lot of my progress, which unsurprisingly got really annoying after a while.
But yeah that’s pretty much all I gotta say about this. I didn’t have particularly high hopes going in so I can’t say I’m disappointed to a massive extent, but a lot of my friends told me it wasn’t as bad as a lot of people make it out to be, so I am a tiny bit bummed out that I only really liked one element of the campaign. Even then that’s undercut by it probably being pissed away by the next game, which I ain’t playing for the record. Therefore I guess this marks the end of Halo for me until Infinite drops later this year. Overall I’m quite happy to have finally given this series the time of day, and I greatly thank my friends for encouraging me to give it a shot. 5/10
It’s also good that I can more strongly connect to the two leads this time since the rest of the plot and cast is kinda eh. The crew of the Infinity aren’t all that memorable besides Del Rio, and that’s only for the hysterical line delivery of “I am ordering you………to GIVE ME THAT AI!”, (Who in their right mind thought that was a good take?) and the Didact is easily the worst villain this series has to offer thus far. Never put most of your villains backstory and motivation into a long ass cutscene that’s just an overload exposition people. Also doesn’t help that even the stuff I liked with Chief and Cortana is probably rendered null and void by Halo 5, so that’s great.
What about the visuals then? I’m kinda split if I’m being honest. The new designs for the Covenant were a bit off-putting at first, but I did adjust eventually. What I didn’t adjust to for the most part was Cortana’s revamp. It’s really jarring after the first three games designed to mostly just have the basic outline of a human woman to now where she has more noticeable features like individual hair strands and more pronounced lips. I do understand to an extent why this is the case since theoretically if she’s more detailed it’ll allow for the emotions to shine through more, but I still have to question why they didn’t just carry over her appearance from the first 3 games. Halo 2: Anniversary did that and she was still really expressive so I don’t see what the issue would’ve been. Like am just being crazy, IDK.
Ok so the story is mostly meh and the new art direction was a a similarly mixed bag, but at least the gameplays good? No, not really. The vehicle sections are still really fun, but the regular gameplay is rendered a lot less fun thanks to the general level design being aggressively linear in a way most of the previous games never were, not to mention the new Forerunner enemies are just a chore to fight. The regular ones are bullet sponges, the flying ones always fold their wings which for some reason just makes it impossible to inflict damage on them, and the dog ones despite being way less hard to kill are often in groups so they’ll usually dogpile your ass. This made a lot of the late game really frustrating because often if I didn’t go out of my way to kill literally EVERY enemy I’d end up getting capped and having to redo a lot of my progress, which unsurprisingly got really annoying after a while.
But yeah that’s pretty much all I gotta say about this. I didn’t have particularly high hopes going in so I can’t say I’m disappointed to a massive extent, but a lot of my friends told me it wasn’t as bad as a lot of people make it out to be, so I am a tiny bit bummed out that I only really liked one element of the campaign. Even then that’s undercut by it probably being pissed away by the next game, which I ain’t playing for the record. Therefore I guess this marks the end of Halo for me until Infinite drops later this year. Overall I’m quite happy to have finally given this series the time of day, and I greatly thank my friends for encouraging me to give it a shot. 5/10
2009
Boy does it feel good to be back at it with Halo after a good few months. I am aware that this simultaneously takes place in between and concurrently with Halo 2 and 3, but my friends said that it was best experienced after I’d played those 2, so that’s what I went with. Regardless though this might honestly be in good competition with Halo 3 for my favourite instalment of this series so far.
I’m a big sucker for derelict, ruined industrial areas so having that basically be the core aesthetic for the entire game was right up my ally. Some might argue that it’s a bit repetitive compared to the more varied locales of the other games, but I honestly didn’t have much of an issue with it, although it did make navigation a little confusing without looking at the map a few times.
I wouldn’t say the story is anything amazing to ride home about, but it is still quite enthralling all the way through. I will say though having the narrative split up between your different squad members through flashbacks whilst frequently cutting back to the Rookie traversing through the decrepit streets of New Mombassa in the present was a really cool change in presentation. This also might be the funniest Halo game to date, that ending scene in particular comes to mind (if you know, you know)
Honestly my only major issue, and it’s honestly not that big, at least for me, is the length. I kinda wish the game was a bit longer in some respects, though on the other hand I do think the campaign is paced near flawlessly so maybe it’s a good thing that it’s as short as it is.
Well then, got only one more Halo title to go (ain’t touching 5 lol) and then I’ll be all set for when Infinite comes out later this year. Based on everything I’ve heard this next one’s certainly gonna be a doozie so………..yeah……….see you guys real soon.
9/10
I’m a big sucker for derelict, ruined industrial areas so having that basically be the core aesthetic for the entire game was right up my ally. Some might argue that it’s a bit repetitive compared to the more varied locales of the other games, but I honestly didn’t have much of an issue with it, although it did make navigation a little confusing without looking at the map a few times.
I wouldn’t say the story is anything amazing to ride home about, but it is still quite enthralling all the way through. I will say though having the narrative split up between your different squad members through flashbacks whilst frequently cutting back to the Rookie traversing through the decrepit streets of New Mombassa in the present was a really cool change in presentation. This also might be the funniest Halo game to date, that ending scene in particular comes to mind (if you know, you know)
Honestly my only major issue, and it’s honestly not that big, at least for me, is the length. I kinda wish the game was a bit longer in some respects, though on the other hand I do think the campaign is paced near flawlessly so maybe it’s a good thing that it’s as short as it is.
Well then, got only one more Halo title to go (ain’t touching 5 lol) and then I’ll be all set for when Infinite comes out later this year. Based on everything I’ve heard this next one’s certainly gonna be a doozie so………..yeah……….see you guys real soon.
9/10
To shoot the obvious elephant in the room right out of the gate: yes I think the additional bleeping on a lot the swearing is stupid, especially when the majority of the swearing in the N64 version was uncensored besides the F bombs. That being said I’d happily play this over the original version purely because the last third is borderline unplayable with the dated shooting controls. That goes doubly so if you’re playing it through Rare Replay with the respective controls mapped to their equivalent position on a modern Xbox controller. I wasn’t even intending to play this version from the get-go, I just eventually went “fuck it” and played through the remainder of what I had in the N64 version just so I could manage the final 3 levels without popping another blood vessel.
With that out of the way, I honestly think this games a little overrated, though not to an extreme extent like other media I’ve watched/played before. (if you know, you know) The writing while being rather hit or miss mostly lands 20 years later, though certain movie parodies feel very of the time and not in a good way, especially the drawn out Matrix segment towards the end.
While Conker mostly succeeds in the writing department, it often falls flat in what is arguably the most important aspect: the gameplay. While only a few segments are straight up awful, majority of the game is just tolerable at best.
Fortunately thanks to the refined controls this mostly dissipated during the last third given that the shooting controls aren’t, y’know, a horribly dated crock of shit. It’s still annoying how you have to infrequently switch between shooter gameplay and really precise platforming, but it’s still a bit more bearable now. Ironically though I feel like this is where the writing takes a bit of a nosedive, or at least I would say that except I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the ending. It’s weirdly somber for a game that mostly plays as an immature farce, and while I’m all for a good shake up of my expectations when done right, I honestly can’t gather what the devs were going for.
So uh, yeah. I’m kinda disappointed to be honest. After years of hearing all the hype behind this with some even considering it Rare’s magnum opus, I’m honestly kinda underwhelmed. It wasn’t horrible by any means, but it’s far from reaching the highs of other titles I’ve first played this year. Hell even the best comedic moments don’t compare to the likes of Monty Python and the Holy Grail or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I really hope this isn’t gonna be the standard with the other Rare titles I’m hoping to play soon, or else I’m probably in for a bad time.
N64 version: 6/10
Xbox version: 7/10
With that out of the way, I honestly think this games a little overrated, though not to an extreme extent like other media I’ve watched/played before. (if you know, you know) The writing while being rather hit or miss mostly lands 20 years later, though certain movie parodies feel very of the time and not in a good way, especially the drawn out Matrix segment towards the end.
While Conker mostly succeeds in the writing department, it often falls flat in what is arguably the most important aspect: the gameplay. While only a few segments are straight up awful, majority of the game is just tolerable at best.
Fortunately thanks to the refined controls this mostly dissipated during the last third given that the shooting controls aren’t, y’know, a horribly dated crock of shit. It’s still annoying how you have to infrequently switch between shooter gameplay and really precise platforming, but it’s still a bit more bearable now. Ironically though I feel like this is where the writing takes a bit of a nosedive, or at least I would say that except I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the ending. It’s weirdly somber for a game that mostly plays as an immature farce, and while I’m all for a good shake up of my expectations when done right, I honestly can’t gather what the devs were going for.
So uh, yeah. I’m kinda disappointed to be honest. After years of hearing all the hype behind this with some even considering it Rare’s magnum opus, I’m honestly kinda underwhelmed. It wasn’t horrible by any means, but it’s far from reaching the highs of other titles I’ve first played this year. Hell even the best comedic moments don’t compare to the likes of Monty Python and the Holy Grail or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I really hope this isn’t gonna be the standard with the other Rare titles I’m hoping to play soon, or else I’m probably in for a bad time.
N64 version: 6/10
Xbox version: 7/10
This one tends to get overshadowed by Superstar Saga and Bowser’s Inside Story, with most seeming to regard this as the worst in the series. Why this is the case is beyond me as I find Partners in Time to be a more than worthy follow-up to the former.
Story wise it’s arguably a bit less ambitious than Superstar Saga, being almost entirely set in the Mushroom Kingdom with the only major new characters being the alien Shroobs, who act as primary antagonists. Unfortunately since the Shroobs are wider in numbers they don’t get to forge out distinct personalities like Fawful and Cackletta did in the previous game. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it does make them a bit less memorable by comparison.
What does stick out though is the much more grim atmosphere and tone this game has compared to the previous entry, or really any Mario games besides maybe Luigi’s Mansion. I wouldn’t say it’s as dark as some people make it out to be though, rather that it’s more akin to something like a Tim Burton film. What I mean is that even though there’s a lot of dark crap, there’s also a fair bit of light-hearted comedy to offset this. Particular standouts would be the escapades with the talking Star door and pretty much any scene with the 2 Luigi’s. Fortunately it doesn’t ever sway too far in either direction that it ends up feeling jarring, so it overall manages to keep a good balance in tone.
Gameplay wise there’s not as much to say that I didn’t cover when I reviewed Superstar Saga, with 2 exceptions: the Bros. Attacks and the enemy HP. As opposed to retaining the BP mechanic from the previous game, Alphadream controversially changed it to where each Bros. Attack is treated as an individual item like healing items. Likewise if you want more you’ll have to buy them in item shops as opposed to just replenishing your BP with syrup jars. I’m a little conflicted on this overall: on one hand I didn’t really think the BP system was particularly awful or warranted changing, but on the other hand the new system does alleviate the need to replenish BP every now and then, which in turns I feel encourages using Bros. Attacks outside of boss fights, which you’re gonna wanna thanks to the other major problem people have with this game: the OP as fuck enemies.
Now for the first half of the game I didn’t really see what people meant, but right around Toad Town the enemies just suddenly start rocking massive amounts of HP and in turn will hit you like fucking bricks if you’re not prepared. This wasn’t a massive problem for me as I was making a conscious decision to grind throughout each area so I could have the ideal stats but if you’re just playing casually you’re gonna have a real hard time with the last quarter, especially with the boss fights. I still don’t think it’s quite AS bad as a lot of people make it out to be, but yeah I do at least see their point to an extent.
That aside though I honestly don’t see why everyone holds this as the worst. Granted I haven’t played more than 2 of them to the end but I still don’t see the drop off point between this and Superstar Saga. The combat’s still fun, it’s got all the same heart and charm while also being a bit more dark than most Mario games, the soundtrack slaps just as much as Superstar Saga’s (I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet but Yoko Shimomura is Marty O’Donnel tier as far as game soundtracks are concerned holy shit) and it’s overall just a really good time. It’s available through the Wii U eShop for like 10 quid if you’re interested in giving it a shot, along with the GBA version of Superstar Saga. I’d highly recommend getting it through there over forking over like 50 bucks for a used copy if you ask me. 9/10
Story wise it’s arguably a bit less ambitious than Superstar Saga, being almost entirely set in the Mushroom Kingdom with the only major new characters being the alien Shroobs, who act as primary antagonists. Unfortunately since the Shroobs are wider in numbers they don’t get to forge out distinct personalities like Fawful and Cackletta did in the previous game. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it does make them a bit less memorable by comparison.
What does stick out though is the much more grim atmosphere and tone this game has compared to the previous entry, or really any Mario games besides maybe Luigi’s Mansion. I wouldn’t say it’s as dark as some people make it out to be though, rather that it’s more akin to something like a Tim Burton film. What I mean is that even though there’s a lot of dark crap, there’s also a fair bit of light-hearted comedy to offset this. Particular standouts would be the escapades with the talking Star door and pretty much any scene with the 2 Luigi’s. Fortunately it doesn’t ever sway too far in either direction that it ends up feeling jarring, so it overall manages to keep a good balance in tone.
Gameplay wise there’s not as much to say that I didn’t cover when I reviewed Superstar Saga, with 2 exceptions: the Bros. Attacks and the enemy HP. As opposed to retaining the BP mechanic from the previous game, Alphadream controversially changed it to where each Bros. Attack is treated as an individual item like healing items. Likewise if you want more you’ll have to buy them in item shops as opposed to just replenishing your BP with syrup jars. I’m a little conflicted on this overall: on one hand I didn’t really think the BP system was particularly awful or warranted changing, but on the other hand the new system does alleviate the need to replenish BP every now and then, which in turns I feel encourages using Bros. Attacks outside of boss fights, which you’re gonna wanna thanks to the other major problem people have with this game: the OP as fuck enemies.
Now for the first half of the game I didn’t really see what people meant, but right around Toad Town the enemies just suddenly start rocking massive amounts of HP and in turn will hit you like fucking bricks if you’re not prepared. This wasn’t a massive problem for me as I was making a conscious decision to grind throughout each area so I could have the ideal stats but if you’re just playing casually you’re gonna have a real hard time with the last quarter, especially with the boss fights. I still don’t think it’s quite AS bad as a lot of people make it out to be, but yeah I do at least see their point to an extent.
That aside though I honestly don’t see why everyone holds this as the worst. Granted I haven’t played more than 2 of them to the end but I still don’t see the drop off point between this and Superstar Saga. The combat’s still fun, it’s got all the same heart and charm while also being a bit more dark than most Mario games, the soundtrack slaps just as much as Superstar Saga’s (I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet but Yoko Shimomura is Marty O’Donnel tier as far as game soundtracks are concerned holy shit) and it’s overall just a really good time. It’s available through the Wii U eShop for like 10 quid if you’re interested in giving it a shot, along with the GBA version of Superstar Saga. I’d highly recommend getting it through there over forking over like 50 bucks for a used copy if you ask me. 9/10
Honestly kinda ass to be frank, definitely not worthy of the Chad Wario or the first 2 Mario Land games at all.
One of the best parts of having now rekindled my love of video games is on top of all the new games I’ll be trying out for the first time, I also have a good excuse to replay a bunch of older titles I feel like revisiting. In this case it’s a bit of both, as I’m also playing through this (and Partners in Time) to prep for when I finally play Bowser’s Inside Story later in the year.
Now then, how about I actually talk about the game now. As is almost standard with most pre-Sticker Star Mario RPGs, AlphaDream forgoes using Bowser in favour of their own original villains. In this case we have the evil witch Cackletta and her henchman Fawful, both of which are endlessly entertaining throughout all the interactions with them. Along with them, as well as side villain Popple who’s also great, is a menagerie of other fun characters, from big players like Prince Peasley to more minor ones like Hermie. Of course just because he’s not the big bad doesn’t mean Bowser isn’t along for the ride as well, and it’s honestly quite funny how the game near endlessly craps on him.
Perhaps the biggest stand-outs for me are, well Mario and Luigi. Despite speaking in almost entirely gibberish for most of the game their personality shines stronger than ever, and many funny and endearing moments between the 2 are scattered throughout the adventure. Also with the Bros exploring totally new terrain via the Beanbean Kingdom, the game gets a chance to craft out a distinct mould for itself whilst still playing on the classic level tropes. (grassy fields, scorching deserts etc) The overworld maps also integrate platforming and puzzle challenges frequently, so it doesn’t feel like you’re just slugging around from place to place randomly encountering enemies occasionally.
Now for what is in my eyes the stand out feature of this series, the combat system. While not quite as ridiculous as they got in later entries, the Bros Attacks in this game are still quite engaging and fun to pull off, and the fact you can actually dodge enemy attacks unlike most RPGs (to my knowledge) is also a welcome feature.
Seeing as how this is a remake I might as well highlight the few things that are vastly improved upon compared to the original. While not terrible graphically a lot of designs in the GBA version do feel rather dated, particularly when it comes to Bowser who looks really squat when put against other characters. The addition of the touch screen also allows for a quicker way of accessing specific Bros Moves on the overworld as opposed to just cycling through most or all of them just to find one thing. Perhaps my favourite change is the omission of the massive difficulty spike during the final boss. (if you know, you know)
My only major problem (besides the new Minion Quest mode introduced in this version being ass) is that you‘ll end up having to backtrack a good bit, namely in the 3rd quarter for what’s basically an over glorified fetch quest. It’s not a massive deal-breaker or anything, but it’s just kinda repetitive and dull, especially when it’s immediately followed by Joke’s End, otherwise known as the area so infamous that I’m not even gonna talk about it. Pretty much everyone who’s played Superstar Saga can’t stand it, and rightfully so.
Overall even despite that it’s still a fantastic game, and easily the definitive way to play Superstar Saga. If you haven’t played it yet, I’d highly recommend either seeking out a copy or buying it off the eShop before it closes. I’ll see you all back here when I cover Partners in Time, cheers!
GBA version: 8/10
3DS version: 9/10
Now then, how about I actually talk about the game now. As is almost standard with most pre-Sticker Star Mario RPGs, AlphaDream forgoes using Bowser in favour of their own original villains. In this case we have the evil witch Cackletta and her henchman Fawful, both of which are endlessly entertaining throughout all the interactions with them. Along with them, as well as side villain Popple who’s also great, is a menagerie of other fun characters, from big players like Prince Peasley to more minor ones like Hermie. Of course just because he’s not the big bad doesn’t mean Bowser isn’t along for the ride as well, and it’s honestly quite funny how the game near endlessly craps on him.
Perhaps the biggest stand-outs for me are, well Mario and Luigi. Despite speaking in almost entirely gibberish for most of the game their personality shines stronger than ever, and many funny and endearing moments between the 2 are scattered throughout the adventure. Also with the Bros exploring totally new terrain via the Beanbean Kingdom, the game gets a chance to craft out a distinct mould for itself whilst still playing on the classic level tropes. (grassy fields, scorching deserts etc) The overworld maps also integrate platforming and puzzle challenges frequently, so it doesn’t feel like you’re just slugging around from place to place randomly encountering enemies occasionally.
Now for what is in my eyes the stand out feature of this series, the combat system. While not quite as ridiculous as they got in later entries, the Bros Attacks in this game are still quite engaging and fun to pull off, and the fact you can actually dodge enemy attacks unlike most RPGs (to my knowledge) is also a welcome feature.
Seeing as how this is a remake I might as well highlight the few things that are vastly improved upon compared to the original. While not terrible graphically a lot of designs in the GBA version do feel rather dated, particularly when it comes to Bowser who looks really squat when put against other characters. The addition of the touch screen also allows for a quicker way of accessing specific Bros Moves on the overworld as opposed to just cycling through most or all of them just to find one thing. Perhaps my favourite change is the omission of the massive difficulty spike during the final boss. (if you know, you know)
My only major problem (besides the new Minion Quest mode introduced in this version being ass) is that you‘ll end up having to backtrack a good bit, namely in the 3rd quarter for what’s basically an over glorified fetch quest. It’s not a massive deal-breaker or anything, but it’s just kinda repetitive and dull, especially when it’s immediately followed by Joke’s End, otherwise known as the area so infamous that I’m not even gonna talk about it. Pretty much everyone who’s played Superstar Saga can’t stand it, and rightfully so.
Overall even despite that it’s still a fantastic game, and easily the definitive way to play Superstar Saga. If you haven’t played it yet, I’d highly recommend either seeking out a copy or buying it off the eShop before it closes. I’ll see you all back here when I cover Partners in Time, cheers!
GBA version: 8/10
3DS version: 9/10