For the most part, this game is great, but is easily carried by basically everything about it's characters. The dialogue, performances and animation are all pretty insane from an indie developer in 2005, and it's just a joy to see them move and talk.
However, I think the gameplay isn't exactly a strong suit here, with the entire game taking a nosedive in quality around the second half. I've seen countless discussions about this game over the years and never saw anyone mention the Theater, Matador or Napoleon levels, and I think I have a good idea why. It definitely feels like this was an adventure game first and a platformer second.
Raz is definitely a really cool protagonist though, and I can't wait to get to his next adventure, and see if Double Fine managed to improve on their gameplay chops in the 16 years it's been

I should note, I did play the modern Steam version so I basically had no issue with the Meat Circus like a lot of other people might have

I got a bad ending and was debating giving this a 4. Upon seeing the other endings and liking them a LOT more, it had to be bumped up. Regardless of the issues everyone else has been having, I got the good fortune of very little issues myself (besides my PC showing it's age and constantly playing at a near-unplayable framerate), and found a sublime time-killer in the vein of so many others that ruined my productivity in the past. I loved how focused I could make my build, and I didn't feel slighted by not being able to max out everything. Instead, I'm excited to return with a more roleplay-oriented approach in mind on future playthroughs. I accidentally wound up being an ultra-powerful tech wizard (because my brother said it was fun (and it was)), but the amount of styles I'm fantasizing for the future have got me excited. Melee only berserker, silent assassin, or tacticool shotgunner with a love for non-lethal grenades. The story roleplaying is admittedly a little weak, but the ability to create your own character for combat is done very well. There were so many gameplay options that I was locked out of or just didn't even touch that have got me very interested!
I don't think this game was ever supposed to be the GTA killer, I think it was moreso meant to be modern-Fallout with better gameplay in a GTA-style city. That's what I had surmised and anticipated, and it capitalized on all the fronts I was hoping for besides stability. Good game!

This game often gets knocked for it's D-Pad only control scheme limiting it's movement to only 8 directions and other annoyances attached to the DS's limited buttons and design. And while those are detriments, it also comes with the fact that it's a fully playable 3D platformer as a launch title for a handheld, when 3D on the GBA was such a mess overall. This game is downright impressive when you consider what it accomplishes graphically, and still being beatable with the limited controls. The biggest issue I'd take with this game is how it underpowers Mario by taking away some of his hat powers for Wario and Luigi to use, as well as making Wario and Luigi overall less fun to play. The swimming and flying also control exceptionally below par, as I think they're just designed poorly, and not limited by the controls. Overall, this is a real fun remixing of an already great game, and the added minigame room is good for a couple of hours of low effort, touch-screen time wasting. I just pray I'll never have to swim as slow-ass Wario again