Review For Super Paper Mario.

First things first, some technical stats. This is, of course, a Wii game, and it uses the Wiimote alone. It is the third game in the Paper Mario series, and can be considered a part of the larger Mario RPG series. However it is mostly a platformer in its genre. The game was developed by Intelligent Systems for Nintendo, like the other Paper Mario RPGs. It is an easy game if you have experience in the platformers; otherwise this game should pose medium challenge. Now, onto the review.

STORY

This is where it all starts off. First thing, this game is supposedly about some love story, although you won't find out about that until the very end. So I'll go with what is immediately obvious first. There's this evil person named Count Bleck who marries Peach off to Bowser in order to destroy the world with his 'Chaos Heart', and throughout the game we revisit this theme over and over and over again. That's right. Nearly every cutscene is going to refer to Count Bleck's plans, even though there are many massive worlds in this game which seem to have important stories of their own.

There are many characters in this game, and most seem fleshed out at the first glance, but ultimately most of them are stereotypes. The first person you fight, O'Chunks, winds up saying the same tired phrases throughout the entire game and relentlessly loses to the player. There's some trickiness later on, but ultimately nobody changes much from beginning to start.

Now, of course,for the whole story. As a whole, it isn't too bad, unfortunately most of the good stuff is also at the end, which is completely too full of spoilers for the entire game for me to mention. However, I can say that while parts of the end were unpredictable, they lacked pizazz to make me really, really care for the game's setting and characters.

Furthermore, this 'Void' concept they throw around is undeveloped. Nobody seems to think of the implications of destroying the world, rather they seem to only wonder about saving it or helping to destroy this. This is reflected in the dual natures of Flipside, which serves as a symbol of the game itself. Another important aspect to the game is how, at least in the early levels, Mario is constantly told he is a hero who was predicted long ago.

Now, I'm not going to get too snarky here, but I feel some parts of this plot are tacked on. The Count Bleck plot overshadows everything, and anyone who dares to be an individual or change usually gets eaten up whole by it. It's enjoyable, but you must read between the lines (along with reading many lines) to truly enjoy it.

CONTROLS

An important part of any game, and indeed this one too. The controls won't shock anybody: it's the Wiimote sideways. 2 is for jump, 1 is used to switch out characters which help you named Pixls (more on that later), D-pad to move, + for menu. Also, sometimes you can point it at the screen to highlight stuff and press A to find out more. It's sort of like that ? cursor you can use to help yourself in Windows applications. Handy, but rarely useful. Finally, A activates your character's main ability, assuming they have one which uses this button. Overall this game featured a lot of switching between different characters, Pixls, and even worlds, and the menu did not fail me.

So the controls were mostly a success, except for a few issues. Mario would occasionally slip and fall to his doom after landing his jumps, which is inexcusable when this is a platformer. It took me a while to adjust, however other games, especially early Mario games, did not make him move forward so much after landing. I also found myself wanting a 'run' button, as some sections moved far too slowly. Several Pixls also controlled rather poorly; in specific, most of the later Pixls require good timing or quick aim to be used effectively in a combat situation, even though several of them were made to be used this way.

Items required the occasional gimmicky movement of the controller, which subtracted from the flow of the game rather than added to it. The pointing thing would be occasionally required at times, with there being no real way to find out if it was required until after you'd become frustrated and stuck. When important items and people overlap, it could be a nightmare to point to the right one, too.

The A button mechanics were okay, at least with Mario. However his 3D gimmick turns the easy to navigate 2D world into a 3D nightmare world, in which blocks and enemies have been completely rearranged to the extent that while you can move around obstacles, it's hard to leap in a 3D motion. This is dissappointing, because 3D jumping action has already been perfected in the previous Paper Mario as well as Super Mario 64. However, I accept it isn't the main focus of this game.

GAMEPLAY

This is a very important topic for this game. It doesn't have too much new and exciting elsewhere, but here there are many new things. First, the Pixls are far more useful than Mario's old buddies; they allow him to do all sorts of crazy things, assuming you can master their controls. Secondly, the game is a lot more active; you won't get much time to sit around when you're leaping about and smashing stuff. The difficulty curve is average, except at the end, where it moves straight up for a bit, which can derail players who didn't expect it.

The 3D aspect is only accessable by Mario, making the other characters a novelty at best. At worst, you must arbitrarily switch to one character to get across one blindingly obvious obstacle. This is annoying, for sure. Bowser is the next best in my opinion, especially since he's so powerful (twice the attack + fire breath) that he can just destroy any enemy Mario can't twist his way around. Combat will never be a big aspect in this game, as even the final boss is rather weak to simple Sonic-style multistomp action. And if you've been playing a difficult platformer like Megaman X, this game's difficulty is a joke.

In fact, even if you have trouble, your HP will likely bear you out. You can do stupid things like run directly into enemies to progress, leap into pits, leap face-first into bosses, even stomp spiked enemies and your HP will just take it for you. It becomes large enough only absurd levels of stupidity will get you killed--assuming you don't just use some stockpiled items, which you will have way too many of in the first place. So dying is pretty much out of the question. I went through the entire game without dying once, and I'm nowhere near a speed runner.

Although I am sort of one, as this game is quoted at 20 hours, yet I finished it in 15. It's entertaining, but it isn't going to fight back if you start messing with it. One nasty aspect though: it usually tries to slow you down with inane puzzles. Some are genius, but others involve rapidly switching perspectives until you feel like you're inside a Picasso painting. In fact, due to this, you'll be unlikely to enjoy using any other character than Mario for long, because only Mario has the flippy power which is so often required to proceed. Bad Nintendo.

Unfortunately, the 3D aspect is tacky and serves mostly for puzzles, as you'll lose HP (not that you have to worry about that) if you stay in it too long. It's sad, really, considering all of Paper Mario 2 was 3D and did so with flair and style. Anyway, in general... don't let the gameplay get you down. It may be boring to be able to destroy everything with two-three hits and have to use Mario everywhere and also probably have to use only the Pixl that is most useful for the stage's current puzzle, but at least you can mercilessly defeat everything in your path.

GRAPHICS

These games aren't known for them, and it shows. The textures are all there, and there isn't any issues caused by lack of console power. This game, however, was obviously designed for the Gamecube, with few improvements from Paper Mario 2. There's some more 3D-ish stuff with characters, yet for some reason that vanishes most of the time when you go 3D with Mario. Little is done to make the 3D worlds more than the textures of the 2D world re-arranged, and many rehash enemies are going to be coming your way. Nothing really stood out visually except Dimentio, one of Bleck's henchmen. Besides him, some minor work is done to make sure expressions are done well, especially on Count Bleck.

The 3D and 2D like to clash; for example, that pointer Pixl I spoke of is blaringly 3D and made up of rainbowy colors, which does not fit with any other Pixl and serves to stand out against everything around it, including Mario. Also, the way they animated their fire-sticks (think Super Mario Bros.) is horrible, mostly consisting of spinning disks that are coincidentally red. Where's the animated fire polygons when you need them?

It's 100% functional for Paper Mario, but it isn't going to wow you or catch your attention, unless its those little doors you never see but are important in a later level.

SOUND

This is one of the biggest backsteps from Paper Mario 2. Everything is in the same electronica-y style which usually has only about 2-3 minutes at best before it mindlessly repeats. If you listen to it outside of the game, it feels extremely flat and one-dimensional, with angry music only being angry, sad music being sad... even then. The saddest and the angriest songs keep the same bouncy way to them, so the game makes you feel like everything is trivial and you're just Marioing your way through it without any care for what's going on.

I have received several complaints about the Flipside music in particular, which annoys me as well. It's so bubbly and poppy, and played constantly (especially when you're after 'Heart Pillars') and so little is composed to it, despite ample opportunity to hear upwards of 15 minutes straight of it. Furthermore, bosses and enemies no longer have recognizable, powerful tunes, but mostly variants of their stage tunes and theme music mildly tweaked.

The Sounds won't win an emmy, either. While they work well, the text sound makes no sense, and long text exchanges sound closer to a chainsaw than people talking. Beep, boops, pops and blips are everywhere... too much everywhere. In fact, it's like being eaten alive by a Pac-man machine. The Sound doesn't suck, it just doesn't add anything; rather it distracts from the other aspects, most of which had more work put into them than this, if my experience is correct.

OVERALL

This is a fun game, but not very hard-hitting. You'll run through it, kill some time, and sure, it may be worth $50. But ultimately you won't find yourself coming back to it very often, except for a few special after-game treats. But those are the dessert, and nothing else exists after them. Some of them are even possible before the game ends, so I'm unsure how much they're supposed to add to replay value. I'd recommend to buy it if you're the kind of person who dies all the time in old Mario games and has never won one. If you've beaten one of those or something similarly hard, rent it; you can run through the game in under five days and get it back in time to rent or buy something harder and more rewarding.

Ratings
S-Story C-Controls G-Gameplay GR-Graphics SO-Sound

Reviewer	S	C	G	GR	SO	Overall (NOT AN AVERAGE)
MetalMan	7/10	8/10	6/10	7/10	5/10	7/10 - B

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