Luigi really gets no respect, huh?
As with any other Mario RPG I've played before the story isn't really something worth writing about, keeping things light-hearted and with no real character development to speak of. That said, this game's setting REALLY won me over, as the entire game is set in world in which its inhabitants are sentient BEANS. Like, Coffee beans. You'll be battling evil beans and interacting with good beans, even a fat queen bean lady or the tiny bean kids or the fabulous bean prince. I really liked this new world we get to visit, and the amazing spritework really brings everything to life, as the graphics are very colorful and well animated, with special mentioning having to go towards how expressive some of the facial animations are! Oh, and I also liked the game sense of humor.... which relies on making fun of Luigi from the very beginning!
The Mario RPG series have always done interesting things with their combat systems in order to keep player invested in its turn-based battles, and this game is no exception. To make things simple, Mario is tied to the A button and Luigi to the B button, which is pure genius, and you'll actively take part in offensive and defensive actions. As you go through the game each brother will gain access to three main forms of attack: Jump, Hammer and Hand. Jump is the most basic attack and you must press jump right before hitting an enemy for bonus damage, jumps won't work on some enemies, mostly of the spiky variety. For the hammer, the in-game explanation is worthless, just press the A/B button as soon as you see Mario and Luigi shake, else the attack will fail. Hand is much easier to use, just press the button as soon as you see the fire(Mario) or thunder(Luigi) sphere fully charged, these latter two can be tricky since some enemies absorb fire or thunder.... but they take extra damage from the opposite element. As for defense, you'll have to figure out if the attack is coming towards Mario or Luigi. A symbol on the left of the screen will tell you if your defense will be jumping or using the hammer, and thus you must time the method of defense alongside the incoming attack, and if you're really good, instead of evading the incoming attack, you'll actually perform a counterattack. There are also super moves that involve both brothers and pressing the correct button at the right time.
This combat system is a double edged sword. On one hand, combat is very fun, it really is, but on the other hand... it can drag on for a bit too long and every fight can last longer than it should. The game lasts about 15 hours, but the final dungeon felt like a drag because combat against basic enemies was so slow, both in pacing and in how much damage some of these enemies could tank. And maybe I just suck, but the game could get a bit challenging at times because there are no Inns to restore your health and BP(MP).. at least until you realize that the game throws a ton of healing items your way, for free. Plus, be careful where you wander off, as trying to explore BEFORE the equipment shop opens up will spell DEATH for you, and if you haven't saved in a while.... good grief.
Speaking of a double-edged sword, exploration too has its ups and downs. On the plus side, jumping, hammering and hand powers help you explore the environment, alongside a unique jumping ability... depending on how you align the brothers. With Mario in the lead, Luigi can use a spring-jump to reach high players, he can use the Electricity to move sidesways or backwards(By 'sticking' himself to Mario) or use the Hammer on Mario to shrink him down. Press Start and now Luigi is in the lead, so now Mario can use the spin-jump to travel the air, use fire to burn Luigi's butt and having him dash forwards or use the hammer on Luigi to stake him underground.
Sounds fun, right? And it can be, at first, but you'll be using the same abilities to retread old ground every time you move from place to place, which quickly goes from fun and engaging to boring and repetitive. Plus, there are too many tools, you have to cycle between Jump, Special Jump, Hammer and Hand with both L and R buttons depending on the brother, plus, switching which brother is in the lead is done with the Start button instead of select, which his super confusing, so you'll be accidentally opening the menu tons of times.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is an interesting case, because every element that makes the game fun and unique... also brings it down in some form or manner. Fun combat that keeps the player engaged... also can make combat feel slow paced and boring. Having to interact with the environment to explore it makes it fun to find new places and find its secrets... until you have to backtrack and have to cycle between tools and putting the right brother in the lead without opening the menu. If you were to ask me, the highs absolutely overweigh the lows, but your mileage may vary. Still, gameplay aside, I feel like the Bean Bean Kingdom is a very interesting new setting for Mario to explore, and all the slights against Luigi were quite funny, sorry green Mario.
8.5
No comments:
Post a Comment