Developer:
AlphaDream
Publisher:
Nintendo
Genre: RPG
Platforms:
Nintendo 3DS
Website: http://www.nintendo.co.uk/
Age Rating: 3+
(PEGI)
I love the Paper Mario series. Thousand Year Door on the
Gamecube is among my favourite games and when Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
was released on the Gameboy Advance, I decided to give it a go. What was
essentially the third series of Mario RPGs (including Super Mario RPG on the
SNES and of course Paper Mario) was every bit as fantastic with even more
active combat and an insane set of characters and worlds.
Thankfully, Nintendo has allowed AlphaDream to keep
working on the series, now producing the forth entry in the series and the
first entry on the 3DS. After the disappointment that was Paper Mario: Sticker
Star, can the brothers prove they’re still among the best in the RPG business?
Dream Team Bros sees the brothers Mario being dragged
along to Pi’illo Island when Peach accepts an invite that looks like spam mail.
Things soon start to go wrong when the mysterious villain Antasma attacks the
group in flight, making you wonder if Bowser has the right idea in keeping
Peach locked up whenever he gets the chance. She’s a danger to herself, that
woman.
Before long, Luigi randomly manages to open a portal to
the Dream world when he falls asleep on a priceless treasure, a world where all
sorts of mad things happen that can be altered by poking Luigi’s face on the
lower screen. While in the normal world, the action is top down with both
brothers involved in battle. In the Dream world, the action is side scrolling
with Luigi able to attach himself to the environment to allow manipulation
while in battle he ‘merges’ with Mario to give him new, more powerful attacks
which makes full use of the 3DS’ control inputs.
Like in Bowser’s Inside Story, there are also giant
battles to take part in, which are scattered throughout the adventure in which
Luigi grows as tall as a mountain within the dream world and fights various odd
monsters including an awkward dream spirit inside a massive robot and a rather
unhappy volcano. The battles take place with the system turned on its side
(dependent on which hand you use) but can be difficult as you don’t get a huge
amount of time to get used to the controls and timing of attacks. Any stats you
have built up normally have no effect on these battles, so they’re mostly trial
and error and these battles take longer then I’d ideally like.
Within both worlds and in and out of battle, the bros
have a range of abilities to help explore the vibrant and bizarre world and to
deal with the equally bizarre enemies. Koopa Shells can be bounced off enemies
in Bros Attacks while they can work together to become a drill and blast
through solid rock in order to progress, along with the Dream world abilities
that make use of hundreds of Luigis.
Combat has seen a bit of an update, with the battle field
now stretching into the distance and well past the foreground. The bros can run
in either direction to evade or chase down enemies while enemies can appear in
the distance before being taunted into joining the battle. It gives you plenty
of attacks to dodge or counter during the enemies’ turn, though some do feel a
bit cheap until you get the timing right and timing is everything in Mario
& Luigi game battles.
Dream Team Bros sees the return of a few characters from
earlier in the series, including the Beanish from Superstar Saga, Kylie Koopa
from Partners in Time and Starlow from Browser’s Inside Story, helping the game
feel connected to previous events rather than acting as standalone stories (not
that I have a problem with standalone games, they’re certainly better then
forced series’ with cliff hangers (I’m looking at you, Assassin’s Creed), but
if they are in a series it’s nice if they acknowledge stuff that’s happened
before).
The game dialogue and story follow its usual conventions,
with plenty of jabs at traditional JRPG tropes, such as Starlow going crazy at
fellow support character Prince Dreambert when he suddenly remembers where he
hid all the warp pipes and the fact standard attacks don’t do a random huge
number of damage (100 points of damage actually means something here). Sadly
though, the new characters don’t have as much personality as those in previous
games, probably explaining why characters from previous games return. The
writing’s not as sharp either, most noticeably with Bowser who had entertaining
roles and dialogue previously but now just sits as a cocky bad guy along with
the ‘villain for the sake of being a villain’ Antasma.
Probably one of the most annoying faults in the game is
the obsession with tutorials. Every single little thing is explained in detail,
be it battles, exploring the world or hell even jumping for the first time,
usually followed by a chunk of exposition. Even without the lengthy tutorials
though, the game has a good length even if it does feel drawn out in places, with
a few side quests and challenges to tackle throughout (such as rescuing all the
Pi’illo folk and mastering combat to avoid, counter and perfect attacks).
There’s no multiplayer, but this sort of game doesn't need it.
I’m sure three paragraphs up or even moments after you
clicked ‘Read More’ you saw the verdict, so I’ll just waste a bit more of your
time by dragging this paragraph out just a little bit more before giving you my
ultimate feelings on the game. After all, I need a bit more space for pictures
of the fantastic 2D sprites that fit perfectly into the 3D environment and
battle fields. It’s not as colourful as previous entries in the series, but the
two different designs works very well together, never treading on each other’s
toes even with the 3D cranked up to full. So many of the little animation
touches to the Bros, such as Mario tugging his cap after a successful attack
and the main Luigis in the dream work, as well as other characters and enemies
give the game a level of charm that’s impossible not to like. As with the rest
of the series, the music is awesome, wacky and epic all at the same time and
the boss battle theme is currently wedged into my mind.
All in all, Dream Team Bros is a worthy entry to the series,
even if it doesn't quite hit the same heights as Superstar Saga and Bowser’s
Inside Story. It plays well, oozes charm and has plenty of weird and
entertaining ideas, but it takes several backward steps in terms of character
and story it’s difficult not to feel slightly let down.
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