About as meh as meh could get and still have me finish the game. The first M+R was a ton of fun back in 2017 and turned me onto a bunch of new tactical and strategy games. Unfortunately, this was also the game’s curse - making me experience other tactical and strategy games over the last 6 years, and realizing that Sparks of Hope is mediocre at best, and tedious/unfun at worst (and trust me, it gets repetitive as hell). It’s even more offensive when you find out just how easy the game is.

The voice lines, while some people may love them, grated on me HEAVILY. Especially Rabbid Peach in combat. I could’ve done without the voice acting a la 2017’s Kingdom Battle.

Not sure what exactly is going on over at Ubi, but this felt entirely uninspired. The story is incredibly weak, the gameplay loop dull, and the only saving grace (new overworld exploration system with fun puzzles) is hindered by the fact that you CANNOT JUMP. Let that sink in, you’re playing a Mario game where he can’t even jump.

Whereas I’ve played thru Kingdom Battle a few times, I think I’m one and done for this one. Just not my thing, and this is coming from someone who LOVES strategy games.

Oh yeah, and I hope you don’t mind a bunch of loading screens, because they are very often (even for just pulling up your map or character inventory) and they are LONG.

5/10 - wait for a steeper sale than $30