Oh my God, THEY MADE PAPER MARIO FUN AGAIN!
Like we're still far behind the caliber of the first three games in the series and I'm not even sure we'll hit that point with Nintendo's bullshit restrictions with their character designs, but this is such a massive step up from Sticker Star and Color Splash that I'll gladly take something as solid as this entry.
Both of those previous games suffered for their awful battle systems so much to where even the creativity and solid writing on display in Color Splash was neutered by the tedious fights littered throughout the levels. They try something new here which still isn't great but is nowhere near as dreadful. Battles amount to solving quick puzzles to align enemies before unleashing attacks to wipe their formations and while this is fun at times, it didn't have quite enough interesting enemy gimmicks to keep from getting a bit repetitive later on. The game in general doesn't have a whole lot of replayability outside of hunting for 100% completion collectibles which kind of sucks that encounters are so rigid and leave little room for player choice. Boss fights luckily divert from this and while a pattern of repetition can still be seen in these, these encounters were enjoyable and easily the highlight of this game's combat.
Areas and themes aren't too much outside of Mario norm but play around with interesting ideas to feel fresh. There's a whole section of the game that basically plays like a mini Wind Waker and that had me grinning ear to ear. The vibes in this game are never too serious, which works in its favor considering the lighthearted approach to storytelling and abundance of humor. The inanimate objects as boss fights I thought would be dumb before going in and while it totally is, it plays into some pretty funny gags. I even found myself intrigued by the relationship between Olivia and King Olly for as little screentime as the former recieved.
Like we're still far behind the caliber of the first three games in the series and I'm not even sure we'll hit that point with Nintendo's bullshit restrictions with their character designs, but this is such a massive step up from Sticker Star and Color Splash that I'll gladly take something as solid as this entry.
Both of those previous games suffered for their awful battle systems so much to where even the creativity and solid writing on display in Color Splash was neutered by the tedious fights littered throughout the levels. They try something new here which still isn't great but is nowhere near as dreadful. Battles amount to solving quick puzzles to align enemies before unleashing attacks to wipe their formations and while this is fun at times, it didn't have quite enough interesting enemy gimmicks to keep from getting a bit repetitive later on. The game in general doesn't have a whole lot of replayability outside of hunting for 100% completion collectibles which kind of sucks that encounters are so rigid and leave little room for player choice. Boss fights luckily divert from this and while a pattern of repetition can still be seen in these, these encounters were enjoyable and easily the highlight of this game's combat.
Areas and themes aren't too much outside of Mario norm but play around with interesting ideas to feel fresh. There's a whole section of the game that basically plays like a mini Wind Waker and that had me grinning ear to ear. The vibes in this game are never too serious, which works in its favor considering the lighthearted approach to storytelling and abundance of humor. The inanimate objects as boss fights I thought would be dumb before going in and while it totally is, it plays into some pretty funny gags. I even found myself intrigued by the relationship between Olivia and King Olly for as little screentime as the former recieved.