I went in expecting Mario & Luigi, and that's what I got. If you were expecting any more or less, well, I'm not sure what you were expecting Xp. I have played the previous 3 games, but not the most recent one, so my review will mostly mention this game in relation to the others in the series. If you just wanna know if it's a good game, I'll save you a read and just tell you "yes, it is."
First off, this game is probably one of the lightest and least surprising in terms of story. The other three had some sort of play on who the bad guy would be, or how dark the theme might get at times, but this one is much more straightforward in terms of story. What this game's story is, though, is entertaining. Even playing it in Japanese and not totally understand the exact semantics going on all the time, there were many times where I legitimately laughed out loud because what was going on was so silly
(when Yumeppu and Starly are having a covert discussion about Bowser's butt had me absolutely in stitches).
Another thing I appreciated from the story, is how much actual characters from the other 3 games were in this one. The other three games were VERY separated, to the point where you could probably play them in any order, and aside from the first one being on GBA, you'd probably have some trouble deciding in which order they were made. This game is far from reliant on the plot of past games, but there were just so many reoccuring characters, comparatively. Starly is back from Bowser's Inside Story, there are members of the Bean Bean Kingdom and Woo Hoo Mountains vacationing all over the island from Superstar Saga, and there's even the koopa reporter from Partners in Time. I hope this trend continues in Paper Jam (when I eventually get around to it). I absolutely loved the Massive Twins X3 (I'm sorry, but I have no idea what their names are in English. That's just what I call them. They're the two strongmen who teach you lots of special moves).
The gameplay is fairly standard, but there are a few things that can make things really interesting. One thing, is that Bro Items are completely gone. I'll admit that I can't honestly remember if Bowser's Inside Story had Bro Moves or Bro Items, but this game is back to Bro Moves. More importantly, both Mario and Luigi don't share their respective Bro Moves, somewhat similarly to how their moves worked in Superstar Saga. So in addition to how their stat biases differ, their special move sets are also very different.
Where Bowser's Inside Story had the Bowser sections and Bro sections, this game has the real world and the dream world. The real world is just like normal Mario & Luigi fare, with both bros walking around, but the dream world is inside Luigi's dreams, and is a side-scrolling section. As a result, there are a completely separate set of special moves for the dream and real worlds, with many in the dream world involving some manipulation of the 3DS's inner gyroscope feature. The gyroscope stuff works well enough, but it was probably one of the mechanics that gave me the most trouble, just because sometimes it would be fairly difficult to aim something very precisely (granted you don't gotta do that too often).
Giant battles are also back in this game, and I wanna say there are a good handful more of them. I only remember Bowser's Inside Story having like 3 giant battles, where this game has 6. They're fun set-pieces, and its a cool change of pace. The only somewhat troublesome thing is that because they're so separated from the normal battle engine, your equipment and items don't really mean anything in the giant battles. It's either you master the timings of the hits and dodges, or you die. There's really no before-hand preparation you can do for them.
Another thing, this game is probably the Mario & Luigi game I'd say is the hardest in the group (of the first four). Especially because of the dream world, Luigi acts as more of a support role, and just Mario gets turns, similarly to how Bowser was all by himself in Inside Story. Bosses hit REALLY hard though, and if they stun you with one hit, you can be on a very quick path to death. Dream Team is definitely up there with Superstar Saga as being one of the harder Mario & Luigi games, in my opinion. Especially considering there's a hard mode once you beat the game once, and I'm not sure I wanna find out how hard that is right now Xp
Verdict: Highly recommended if you want a fun, quirky JRPG to play on your 3DS. It's another great entry in the series. I enjoyed it more than Bowser's Inside Story I would say, but they're all good games, and they're all worth trying :)
First off, this game is probably one of the lightest and least surprising in terms of story. The other three had some sort of play on who the bad guy would be, or how dark the theme might get at times, but this one is much more straightforward in terms of story. What this game's story is, though, is entertaining. Even playing it in Japanese and not totally understand the exact semantics going on all the time, there were many times where I legitimately laughed out loud because what was going on was so silly
(when Yumeppu and Starly are having a covert discussion about Bowser's butt had me absolutely in stitches).
Another thing I appreciated from the story, is how much actual characters from the other 3 games were in this one. The other three games were VERY separated, to the point where you could probably play them in any order, and aside from the first one being on GBA, you'd probably have some trouble deciding in which order they were made. This game is far from reliant on the plot of past games, but there were just so many reoccuring characters, comparatively. Starly is back from Bowser's Inside Story, there are members of the Bean Bean Kingdom and Woo Hoo Mountains vacationing all over the island from Superstar Saga, and there's even the koopa reporter from Partners in Time. I hope this trend continues in Paper Jam (when I eventually get around to it). I absolutely loved the Massive Twins X3 (I'm sorry, but I have no idea what their names are in English. That's just what I call them. They're the two strongmen who teach you lots of special moves).
The gameplay is fairly standard, but there are a few things that can make things really interesting. One thing, is that Bro Items are completely gone. I'll admit that I can't honestly remember if Bowser's Inside Story had Bro Moves or Bro Items, but this game is back to Bro Moves. More importantly, both Mario and Luigi don't share their respective Bro Moves, somewhat similarly to how their moves worked in Superstar Saga. So in addition to how their stat biases differ, their special move sets are also very different.
Where Bowser's Inside Story had the Bowser sections and Bro sections, this game has the real world and the dream world. The real world is just like normal Mario & Luigi fare, with both bros walking around, but the dream world is inside Luigi's dreams, and is a side-scrolling section. As a result, there are a completely separate set of special moves for the dream and real worlds, with many in the dream world involving some manipulation of the 3DS's inner gyroscope feature. The gyroscope stuff works well enough, but it was probably one of the mechanics that gave me the most trouble, just because sometimes it would be fairly difficult to aim something very precisely (granted you don't gotta do that too often).
Giant battles are also back in this game, and I wanna say there are a good handful more of them. I only remember Bowser's Inside Story having like 3 giant battles, where this game has 6. They're fun set-pieces, and its a cool change of pace. The only somewhat troublesome thing is that because they're so separated from the normal battle engine, your equipment and items don't really mean anything in the giant battles. It's either you master the timings of the hits and dodges, or you die. There's really no before-hand preparation you can do for them.
Another thing, this game is probably the Mario & Luigi game I'd say is the hardest in the group (of the first four). Especially because of the dream world, Luigi acts as more of a support role, and just Mario gets turns, similarly to how Bowser was all by himself in Inside Story. Bosses hit REALLY hard though, and if they stun you with one hit, you can be on a very quick path to death. Dream Team is definitely up there with Superstar Saga as being one of the harder Mario & Luigi games, in my opinion. Especially considering there's a hard mode once you beat the game once, and I'm not sure I wanna find out how hard that is right now Xp
Verdict: Highly recommended if you want a fun, quirky JRPG to play on your 3DS. It's another great entry in the series. I enjoyed it more than Bowser's Inside Story I would say, but they're all good games, and they're all worth trying :)