Ok everybody, funny game time is over.
It's time to be a meanie.
Look, I know very well that I'm the minority here and that a lot of people REALLY like this game, and to everyone that thinks this, I have nothing but one thing to say to you: I absolutely understand it and respect you, whether if you loved as a kid or as an adult. However, I sadly cannot say with a good concience that I enjoyed most of this game.
The gameplay is probably the best part by far, only because at its core it's still Mario&Luigi, and Mario&Luigi's gameplay is, you know, really fucking fun, but even that here has problems, two to be exact... THE BABIES. Initially, the inclusion of THE BABIES seems like a cute one, specially in the context of the theme of the game (we will get to that later), and it is for certain things... until it starts to get tiring. Let me put in perspective: when a new mechanic is introduced in a series, it usually ADDS to was there before or in some cases replaces it for the better, the idea is for the mechanic to feel like is an inseparable part of the game's core design and something that makes you look back an thin ''Wow, this was really cool! I don't know how this wasn't here before''. THE BABIES however, do not feel like that for me.
Their introduction makes use of the X and Y buttons for attacks, which seems like a novel idea, but then attacks that before needed only the brothers make use of their younger selfes, and then you notice special attacks start to get longer and longer without the damage being worth the trouble, and then you start to get REALLY tired of separating the babies from the brothers to do puzzles that take A LOT of time and for the most part feel cluncky, or at least not as inspired like what came before or after. There are also some cool enemies and especially some of the bosses are really great, but a lot of normal enemies take A LONG time to kill, making this the only game on the franchise were I really didn't want to fight enemies.
That's the main problem with this game, everything takes longer than usual, LIKE THE FUCKING FINAL BOSS, or rather its third phase, the first and second are great, but the third represents whats wrong with this game perfectly: it's not intense, it's tiring. Oh and also, however came up with the idea of special attacks being purchasable items is a fucking maniac, the special points system was perfectly fine in Superstar Saga and thank god they brought it back to Bowser's Inside Story.
Oh and the time travel theme is a huge waste of potential. Due to the Peach Castle being a main hub area and the rest of zones are accesible throug portals, you only see other zones in the past version, which aside of Yoshi's Island and seing some characters younfg versions, serves no purpose story wise and gives me no connection to this places, sure, there are some cool shenanigans here and there, but in the grand scheme of things, this game could not have been abut time travel with some minor tweaks. Also the Shrooms are not that great... they are cool and dark at first but they blow their scary factor pretty quickly and they start to become too silly and unfunny. Also this is a minor complain, but the score is not that great in the grand scheme of the series; it has some stellar pieces here and there but as whole, is probably the weakest out of the series.
I really know that I'm being too harsh in some places, but I genuely belive that this game has some serious thematic and gameplay problems, but I'm not gonna ignore its ups and its condition. It was the studios' first DS game, and it ahs really cool ideas, and I'm happy to see they tried to go through a darker and more shocking route; also things like the rumble pack and a first really cool use of the dual screens are very respectable. And the end, the fact that this ended up even a bit fun and enjoyable is still a win, and all of its problems would later be resolved in BiS, so I really think this first step was needed.
I may not like the game, but I really do respect it.
It's time to be a meanie.
Look, I know very well that I'm the minority here and that a lot of people REALLY like this game, and to everyone that thinks this, I have nothing but one thing to say to you: I absolutely understand it and respect you, whether if you loved as a kid or as an adult. However, I sadly cannot say with a good concience that I enjoyed most of this game.
The gameplay is probably the best part by far, only because at its core it's still Mario&Luigi, and Mario&Luigi's gameplay is, you know, really fucking fun, but even that here has problems, two to be exact... THE BABIES. Initially, the inclusion of THE BABIES seems like a cute one, specially in the context of the theme of the game (we will get to that later), and it is for certain things... until it starts to get tiring. Let me put in perspective: when a new mechanic is introduced in a series, it usually ADDS to was there before or in some cases replaces it for the better, the idea is for the mechanic to feel like is an inseparable part of the game's core design and something that makes you look back an thin ''Wow, this was really cool! I don't know how this wasn't here before''. THE BABIES however, do not feel like that for me.
Their introduction makes use of the X and Y buttons for attacks, which seems like a novel idea, but then attacks that before needed only the brothers make use of their younger selfes, and then you notice special attacks start to get longer and longer without the damage being worth the trouble, and then you start to get REALLY tired of separating the babies from the brothers to do puzzles that take A LOT of time and for the most part feel cluncky, or at least not as inspired like what came before or after. There are also some cool enemies and especially some of the bosses are really great, but a lot of normal enemies take A LONG time to kill, making this the only game on the franchise were I really didn't want to fight enemies.
That's the main problem with this game, everything takes longer than usual, LIKE THE FUCKING FINAL BOSS, or rather its third phase, the first and second are great, but the third represents whats wrong with this game perfectly: it's not intense, it's tiring. Oh and also, however came up with the idea of special attacks being purchasable items is a fucking maniac, the special points system was perfectly fine in Superstar Saga and thank god they brought it back to Bowser's Inside Story.
Oh and the time travel theme is a huge waste of potential. Due to the Peach Castle being a main hub area and the rest of zones are accesible throug portals, you only see other zones in the past version, which aside of Yoshi's Island and seing some characters younfg versions, serves no purpose story wise and gives me no connection to this places, sure, there are some cool shenanigans here and there, but in the grand scheme of things, this game could not have been abut time travel with some minor tweaks. Also the Shrooms are not that great... they are cool and dark at first but they blow their scary factor pretty quickly and they start to become too silly and unfunny. Also this is a minor complain, but the score is not that great in the grand scheme of the series; it has some stellar pieces here and there but as whole, is probably the weakest out of the series.
I really know that I'm being too harsh in some places, but I genuely belive that this game has some serious thematic and gameplay problems, but I'm not gonna ignore its ups and its condition. It was the studios' first DS game, and it ahs really cool ideas, and I'm happy to see they tried to go through a darker and more shocking route; also things like the rumble pack and a first really cool use of the dual screens are very respectable. And the end, the fact that this ended up even a bit fun and enjoyable is still a win, and all of its problems would later be resolved in BiS, so I really think this first step was needed.
I may not like the game, but I really do respect it.