Post by Pilgrim John on Dec 3, 2005 1:09:49 GMT -5
***MARIO & LUIGI: PARTNERS IN TIME***
for Nintendo DS. Game by Nintendo/Alphadream. Review by Pilgrim John.
In year 2003, Nintendo topped off a legacy with a delicious handheld Mario RPG. The game went on to become a classic due to its crazy enemies, awesome story, innovative battle setup, and Fawful's "quite nasty efforts."
Now, it has been 2 years since that phenomenon on the GBA. Its sequel, released on the DS, is here. Will it live up to the standard set by its GBA prequel?
*GRAPHICS:
The sprite images and animation here are spot-on. All of it is chock-full of that delicious goofiness found in its predessesor, but now that it has super-uber-awesome silky animation found in most 2D PSone games, it looks better, brighter, and more vibrant than ever before.
*MUSIC & SOUND:
The music. Wow. Sounds like I just stepped into a Looney Tunes cartoon. Which is awesome, given the game's silly nature. Every tune is wacky, but evenly fits into the grand scheme of the game.
The voices and sounds are also fun to listen to. The brothers are downright LOL funny, and the grunts and yells supplied by the supporting cast are a simplistic delight.
*STORYLINE/PLOT:
The most important part of any RPG is the storyline and the pot--er, plot. The storyline still seems to have been written by a group of dudes on drugs, or at least people with waaay too much time on their hands. Peach tries out E. Gadd's newest invention: a time machine. She gets kidnapped in the past by an evil alien force named: "THE SHROOB!"(Bum bum bummm!) Mario and Luigi travel back in time to rescue her by use of "time holes" that are appearing around the castle, perhaps as a result of the now-severely imbalanced time-space continuum. While on this chronological journey, Mario and Luigi meet and team up with their baby selves to take on THE SHROOBS! Things just get weirder from here.
Needless to say, the story isn't quite as endearing as the story to the first game, and it isn't a story of timetravel equal to Chrono Trigger or TimeSplitters; but it is still as wacky and fun as Mario games allow.
*GAMEPLAY:
How does the game play? Well, it's like the first game's, except now, you control the babies via the Y and X buttons. Also, you no longer have Bros. Attacks, and therefore, no BP. Instead, you have Bros. Items, attack weapons which all brothers (Adult and juvenile) can use to squash their foes.
To add to the new/familiar zaniness of the battle scheme is the brand new boss fights. In one of the boss fights, you battle a giant octopuslike monster inside a giant purple Yoshi's stomach. You have to attack the eggs to free the Yoshis so they can aid you in battle by revealing the monster's weak point. The bosses in this game are fantasically designed, and are the most challenging and thrilling points of the game. As a matter of fact, I'd put the M&L:PiT bosses on par with the bosses from Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. THAT is very high praise.
*OVERALL:
This game has the bearings of an instant classic. As a sequel, it fails in only one real aspect: it fails to disappoint fans of the first game.
GOOD:
*Great graphics
*Cool music that fits the nature of the game
*Hilarious dialogue
*Neat story
*The Marios' voice clips are the collectors that tax your lungs of their laughs
*Fawful is back...muwahaha
*Bosses are kickass, no intelligent way of putting it
*The challenge level is constant; that means that if you screw up, it's your own fault
*The crazy enemy design will force you to think up new strategies for each one you encounter
BAD:
*Fawful doesn't get enough lines
*THE SHROOBS speak a weird language, so some cinematics have little to no discernability
*Storyline isn't nearly as good as it should be, amusing as it is
OVERALL SCORE: 9.5/10
This sequel has fury!
for Nintendo DS. Game by Nintendo/Alphadream. Review by Pilgrim John.
In year 2003, Nintendo topped off a legacy with a delicious handheld Mario RPG. The game went on to become a classic due to its crazy enemies, awesome story, innovative battle setup, and Fawful's "quite nasty efforts."
Now, it has been 2 years since that phenomenon on the GBA. Its sequel, released on the DS, is here. Will it live up to the standard set by its GBA prequel?
*GRAPHICS:
The sprite images and animation here are spot-on. All of it is chock-full of that delicious goofiness found in its predessesor, but now that it has super-uber-awesome silky animation found in most 2D PSone games, it looks better, brighter, and more vibrant than ever before.
*MUSIC & SOUND:
The music. Wow. Sounds like I just stepped into a Looney Tunes cartoon. Which is awesome, given the game's silly nature. Every tune is wacky, but evenly fits into the grand scheme of the game.
The voices and sounds are also fun to listen to. The brothers are downright LOL funny, and the grunts and yells supplied by the supporting cast are a simplistic delight.
*STORYLINE/PLOT:
The most important part of any RPG is the storyline and the pot--er, plot. The storyline still seems to have been written by a group of dudes on drugs, or at least people with waaay too much time on their hands. Peach tries out E. Gadd's newest invention: a time machine. She gets kidnapped in the past by an evil alien force named: "THE SHROOB!"(Bum bum bummm!) Mario and Luigi travel back in time to rescue her by use of "time holes" that are appearing around the castle, perhaps as a result of the now-severely imbalanced time-space continuum. While on this chronological journey, Mario and Luigi meet and team up with their baby selves to take on THE SHROOBS! Things just get weirder from here.
Needless to say, the story isn't quite as endearing as the story to the first game, and it isn't a story of timetravel equal to Chrono Trigger or TimeSplitters; but it is still as wacky and fun as Mario games allow.
*GAMEPLAY:
How does the game play? Well, it's like the first game's, except now, you control the babies via the Y and X buttons. Also, you no longer have Bros. Attacks, and therefore, no BP. Instead, you have Bros. Items, attack weapons which all brothers (Adult and juvenile) can use to squash their foes.
To add to the new/familiar zaniness of the battle scheme is the brand new boss fights. In one of the boss fights, you battle a giant octopuslike monster inside a giant purple Yoshi's stomach. You have to attack the eggs to free the Yoshis so they can aid you in battle by revealing the monster's weak point. The bosses in this game are fantasically designed, and are the most challenging and thrilling points of the game. As a matter of fact, I'd put the M&L:PiT bosses on par with the bosses from Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. THAT is very high praise.
*OVERALL:
This game has the bearings of an instant classic. As a sequel, it fails in only one real aspect: it fails to disappoint fans of the first game.
GOOD:
*Great graphics
*Cool music that fits the nature of the game
*Hilarious dialogue
*Neat story
*The Marios' voice clips are the collectors that tax your lungs of their laughs
*Fawful is back...muwahaha
*Bosses are kickass, no intelligent way of putting it
*The challenge level is constant; that means that if you screw up, it's your own fault
*The crazy enemy design will force you to think up new strategies for each one you encounter
BAD:
*Fawful doesn't get enough lines
*THE SHROOBS speak a weird language, so some cinematics have little to no discernability
*Storyline isn't nearly as good as it should be, amusing as it is
OVERALL SCORE: 9.5/10
This sequel has fury!