Developers: AlphaDream
Publishers: Nintendo
System: GBA
Rated: E
This was, of course, the first GBA Mario RPG. For this Review I will use a 1-10 scale, and something new. Since I always complain and talk about how ORIGINAL the games are, I will add an original section for that to this Review.
Story: 8
This story was
different for several reasons. First off, this is the FIRST Mario game
where the main boss is female; her name's Cackletta. Second, this game
takes place in the Beanbean Kingdom. Anyway, Cackletta, aided by her henchman
Fawful, steals Peach's voice and replaces her voice with an ACTUAL EXPLOSIVE
vocabulary. Everytime she talks you see bombs explode. Now the Mario BROTHERS
(Luigi is actually playable) have to defeat Cackletta. The story gets even
weirder, though. You end up having to do one thing after another. You actually
have a few different quests and you'll find out Bowser's really your ally,
too. Oh, and later on Cackletta possesses Bowser's body and acts like Bowser.
This means the KOOPALINGS (who are in the game) actually think she's their
dad. That's why I deducted some points. I loved the story overall because
of the originality (See? I mentioned it again), but it got just TOO weird.
Plus Ludwig's so smart he would have found out it was really not Bowser.
Controls: 8
Another great
thing. In battle, the action command is a LOT easier then in Paper Mario.
When you do your Bros. Attacks, the button combinations are very simple,
and you can set them to slow motion to get them down right. Really, battling
is very easy to control. Now here's the reason for deducting points. On
the playing field, you must switch Mario and Luigi back and forth to do
certain tasks. First of all, to pause the game it's SELECT. That's weird.
And to switch Mario and Luigi back and forth, it's START. I really didn't
like this. I mean, they COULD have used L or R. Plus this can be a hassel
because you might have to switch Mario then Luigi in front, then back to
Mario in an extremely short amount of time. Overall, I loved the controls,
but they can get confusing at times.
Gameplay: 8
Of course it's
an RPG, so you already know about the battle sequence. The main difference
in this game's battle sequence is you actually get to avoid and counterattack
your enemies attacks. This makes battling a little more interesting. Certain
enemies have patterns and different approaches, though. It can be very
challenging at times. Now the gameplay is also different in some ways.
You do collect items and badges, but there are some disadvantages. One
is there are absolutely no places to heal. Yes, you do collect enough Mushrooms
to feed the Beanbean and Mushroom Kingdom. But what about a HEART block,
or an inn to sleep at? You don't get these like in previous RPG games.
This is really bad because you end up using EVERTHING at times. Also another
thing about this game is you're always battling. It's very hard to avoid
enemies, and when you do run away, you lose coins. So these were the reasons
why I chopped the gameplay down a couple points. Oh, and you get a couple
of minigames, that's SWEET.
Originality: 9
(10 being good, 1 being bad)
My brand new
section. This game is very, very, very original. You already heard about
the story, that's completely different from any other Mario game. The enemies
are not like normal Mario enemies, characters, and bosses. These were great
and I'm so glad I barely saw any Goombas in this game. However, there are
Gritty Goombas and Tanoombas, which are very similar. Oh, and Bowser's
your ally (even though you don't play as him). That's sort of original
in my opinion.
Characters: 5
What made the
whole 5 points? The Koopalings and Luigi. That's it. Yes, I love different
characters, but I don't think beans are a good example. You don't get ANY
party members (characters that help you when fighting). This sort of is
a bummer considering Paper Mario had them. So did its sequel. I also couldn't
stand three characters in this game: Prince Peasley, Fawful, and Popple.
Especially the pretty-boy Peasley. Why aren't the Koopalings special? Two
things. First of all they come at the VERY end of the game; it isn't like
they guard a valuable item for seven worlds. Second of all they have NO
dialogue whatsoever. They say NO words or give any speech, they just fight
Mario. Weird, ESPECIALLY for Morton. Oh, and a cameo appearance by Geno
doesn't help much either. There is also one with E. Gadd.
Graphics:
6
I can't complain
a whole lot about the graphics. They were good for GBA, but then again
I think they weren't that terrific. It looked sort of realistic when they
do their Bros. combo attacks, but they weren't really. Anyway, who cares?
They're decent and that's good enough for me.
Music: 8
This is another
strong point in the game. There are some catchy tunes. The battle tune's
ok, Chucklehuck Woods is very catchy. I love the theme when you fight Popple
(even though I hated this guy). The boss themes are good, Cackletta's theme
is also awesome. But when you fight Cackletta for the LAST time, her song
isn't so great. Then of course in Little Fungitown you hear the original
Super Mario Brothers theme, which just HAD to be in the game. Overall,
these were great, ESPECIALLY for GBA. Very few off-tunes.
Difficulty:
Throughout the
game until the last boss: 6
Cackletta the
LAST time:10
If you're having trouble trying to understand what i'm saying, I'll make it clear. Going throguh the game you fight easy bosses, easy enemies, etc. It's a very long game, which adds to the difficulty, but it's not THAT hard. Now when you finally get to Cackletta, that's a VERY VERY different story. I still haven't beat her. She's very hard and you must be up to at least level 38, I'd say. She's got a lot of HP, for one thing. Her attacks get harder and harder to avoid each time, too. She's very hard and it will take a lot of time-consuming patience. I'm warning you, enjoy the game because you will have one very tough time beating the last boss of the game. Believe me, I STILL haven't beat her and I've had the game for months now.
Items: 6
I really only
found one great thing about the items. That great thing is you have unlimited
inventory space: you can have up to 1,000 Mushrooms (maybe). Anyway,
what I didn't like about the items was there wasn't enough variety. Yes
you get Mushrooms (enough ALSO to feed Dinosaur Land), Super Mushrooms,
Ultra, Syrup, Super, Ultra Syrup, etc. There's one problem: They're all
recovery items. Where's the Lightning Bolts? Where's the Sleepy Sheep?
Where are the attack items? You can't have JUST recovery. This disappointed
me. Well, you do collect beans and you have to make them into shakes. This
will boost your defense and offense depending on which shake it is. That's
it, though. Everything else is recovery. This was very ignorant of Nintendo
really.
Replayability:
7
Pretty Much every
RPG has its sidequests. This game is more of just collecting items. If
you do beat Cackletta, you will search the land for all the items you could
have got. Anyway, I still haven't beat her so, yeah, that's that. You will
play the game over again to try to boost your status up for Cackletta.
Overall: 8
This game was
great and almost flawless. Just the minor things I pointed out is all that's
wrong. If you're a difficulty-loving person who loves RPGs, I'd pay $30.
If you are looking for a laid back Mario game just for fun, don't buy it.
It's too frustrating. I personally loved it, but it's because RPGs are
my favorite genre. Well there you go, go out and finally SEE the KOOPALINGS
again at the very end of the game! Yay!
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