Super Paper Mario review - 9/10

The next installment of the Paper Mario series is here. Well at Kolpol's house anyway.

Ok, now let's start off with the story.
Mario and Luigi are chilling out at their home, when a toad tells them Peach is missing. Original, huh? The Mario Bros rush over to Bowser's Castle, but they find that Bowser was GOING to kidnap her. Then out of nowhere, an evil dude known as Count Bleck appears, with Peach captured. He then kidnaps Bowser, Luigi, and all of Bowser's troops. He forces Bowser and Peach to get married, as a dark book of prophecies, called the Dark Prognosticus, tells that the marriage of these two will create the Chaos Heart, which will destroy all of exsistance. Meanwhile, at Bowser's Castle, a butterfly-like creature, known a Pixl, called Tippi appears. She warps Mario to Flipside. The creation of the Chaos Heart has created The Void, which is a giant hole sticking in the sky.
Merlon (the 3rd one I beleive) tells them what is going on. He says the Light Prognosticus has a method of destroying the Chaos Heart. It says a legendary hero collects 8 Pure Hearts, which will destroy the Chaos Heart. So yeah, he goes out to find them all. It's not just like that either, there are twists in the storyline that you'll sometimes never expect.
SCORE:10/10

Gameplay now, just to clear things up, it is NOTHING like SMB, it is heaps different. Obviously you've all heard that it is a platform with RPG elements. How does this work? Well, It's like Paper Mario RPGs, with like inventories and all. You just play it in a platformer style. Enemies? They all have hp, just like the rpgs, and defense. So it's like PM's battle system, only it's real time strategy, rather than turn based. Leveling up works in the classic SMB score instead of star points. At a certain score, you will level up, which will increase either your HP or attack. And it uses save points like PM too. One of the interesting parts is the ability as Mario to flip from 2-D to 3-D. This turns whatever place you are in into a 3-D form. It's mainly just used to solve puzzles, but can also be used to evade enemies. Because you can move around them in 3-D. Chapters work like SMB, going chapter 1-1, 1-2, ect, and each 4th, you'll face a boss. Most bosses are far too easy, at the final boss in PM:TTYD, it took me over 10 tries to do it. In this one, I didn't die on it once. They're basically always open to attack, which is probably why they're so easy. Later in the game, you'll get Peach and Bowser. Swappin between them is a matter of strategy, as they all have their own advantage and disadvantages. E.g. Bowser's really slow but does double damage. The gameplay, I just find, is fun. However, there are some parts that are really lame. Such as this bit where you literally have to WORK to get rubees by spinning a wheel by simply running or jumping up to hit a block. Not play, work. There are also other parts that you just do nothing and takes forever. Like for example:
*SPOILER*



This world get's destroyed, and you just move forward for about 7min.

*END SPOILER*

Through the game, you get more Pixls, each with their own special ability, which replace the partners off the other PMs. Another thing is this is a pretty long game, Kolpol and I took 18 hours. Which I'd personally perfer over games you complete in 6 hours. I'm sure you've also seen the stars that turn you into giant 8-bit versions of that character. Well apart from levelling up, they're not really all that fun. You just run with it, sorta like the mega mushroom off NSMB.
SCORE:9/10

Graphics? Well, for Paper, they're pretty damn good. A huge improvement to the sprites over PM:TTYD I reckon. but there's one sad part. No 3-D backgrounds. The backgrounds are all 2-D styled. Flipping to 3-D dosen't change them into 3-D graphics, but 2-D ones that look 3-D.
SCORE:8/10

The music on this game is absolutely brilliant. It is something that I reckon, the series has always been good at doing. Several tunes in the game I found myself humming to. Sound effects are alright, nothing new.
SCORE:10/10

OVERALL:9/10
The lack of 3-D backgrounds,lame parts and easy bosses are the only downsides of this game. If you have a Wii, you should definatly get this game, or at least rent it if you're not sure.

Submitted by Koogan 09/07/2007 66 7

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More Info:

Super Paper Mario

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