Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope review: one of the best Mario spinoffs

For all its qualities, 2017 Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle First and foremost, it was a proof of concept. I mean it as a compliment. Nintendo’s plumber, Ubisoft’s minions, and a simplified version of XCOM’s tactical battlefield? It’s a strange concept to prove, but kingdom battle proved well.and I opened the door Mario + Rabbids Spark of Hopea completely daring, deeper and more adventurous sequel could walk with confidence.

spark of hope A giant manta ray comes to life when it attacks Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and the Rabbids cadres impersonating them. As it turns out, Manta is controlled by an otherworldly being named Katha. Kartha wants to spread dark meth like the Inky Plague across the galaxy to harness the energy of Sparks. super mario galaxystar-like lumas.

Thus begins the planet-hopping trek to stop Katha and save Spark. kingdom battle, missions play out in turn-based skirmishes against a roster of enemies from both famous franchises. However, unlike its predecessor, spark of hope Real-time elements are incorporated into character movements. Rather than commanding your fighters to be placed in specific locations on the grid (la chess), you actively control their movement with the switch’s left analog stick.

The initial range of movement is indicated by a highlighted patch of ground and can be extended by teammate-propelled jumps, character abilities, and environmental factors. Firing a character’s weapon can consume any remaining action points, but it cannot move further and can hide if it is close enough to a wall, fence, or concrete slab.

This dynamic freedom isn’t a game changer, but it might seem blushing at first glance — kingdom battle‘s grid-based movement was a metaphor for this real-time action. Did you technically end your turn in a tiny space that the grid wouldn’t allow? Who cares. Luigi slide-tackles a bomb bomb, throws it into a group of enemies, jumps off Mario’s outstretched hand, hovering over a watchtower, and eliminates an enemy sniper to complete the mission. It’s very good.

Active movement also works and connects at the theme level spark of hope To Mario’s 3D platformer. So is the overall structure of the game.In contrast to the linear, node-based overworld kingdom battle The sequel (which mimics the world map of early 2D Mario platformers) super mario odysseyExplore 5 planets (4 of which are seasonal) for side quests, collectibles, weapon skins and mini-bosses. Story missions are usually marked by an inky blob of Darkmess, but you can enter minor encounters such as wandering Goombas.

Image: Ubisoft Milan/Ubisoft Paris

While some of these worlds are overly complex in level design (Pristine Peaks’ winter cliffs are particularly frustrating to step back in), the rest exude just as much skill and charm. A cartoonish Sleepy Hollow set in Eternal Fall directed by Edgar Allan Poe stand-in, Palette Prime is one of my favorite girlfriends in the 3D Mario universe. Not only is it vivid and cozy, it also introduces the wrinkles of the game’s most compelling enemies and mind-boggling environments. Battles under the canopy of trees include evil mages who can heal teammates and hooded vampires who steal your health to replenish their own.

Equip each squad member with its eponymous spark to counter an ever-evolving roster of enemies.swap weapons for swappable weapons kingdom battle, sparks grant various abilities and passive buffs. They start off simple, but can quickly throw you off balance and build an unstoppable force of nature, whether it’s dealing fire damage to your attacks or boosting the defenses of nearby allies. After unlocking the ability to equip 2 sparks each, I equipped Bowser with an Ether Ring (a spark that makes him invisible for a few turns) and a Pyrogeddon (which summons meteor showers in his immediate vicinity) . I will let your imagination run wild.

Experimenting with different combinations of characters and sparks is what drives us spark of hope Through that weak moment — battling yet another weak Goomba squad just to see the planet progress tracker increase by 3 percentage points — can get old — and with some of the best I’ve played Enter the most elaborate missions of its kind XCOM 2 Also final fantasy tacticsWhat stood out was activating the wind tunnel to push bomb bombs through a labyrinthine network of patches of ice and into the final Darkmess-covered wall. Rabid Luigi’s Frisbee-like weapons were important in their function as ricocheting death discs, and Peach’s shield ability helped the team survive the worst of enemy onslaughts. It was a delicate balancing act between guiding, planning the location of the next cover, and eliminating as many enemies as possible in the meantime.

Image: Ubisoft Milan/Ubisoft Paris

Elsewhere, it’s the ‘moments in between’ that lead to my biggest frustration spark of hopeI admit I’m sick of the Series X and PlayStation 5’s slow load times, but I don’t blame the nearly six-year-old Switch for not keeping up. spark of hopeHowever, the long load times are not disgusting, amount of the loading screen. In a game where the pre-mission planning phase is mostly a matter of navigating between menu screens, staring at loading screens every time you navigate between the battle overview camera and the squad select screen becomes a test of patience. Double if you’re backtracking to previous planets and fighting low-level battles in search of a single collectible.

Ultimately, however, this technical frustration spark of hopedesign benefits.As someone who loves the tactical genre, I’m the first to admit that it often gets too serious. spark of hope Finding such harmony between strategic depth, cartoonish charm, and a fair amount of comedy (I honestly think Rabbids is funny) is no small achievement.If kingdom battle standing on the shoulders of giants, spark of hope Jump off of them and dive into your own arena. Anyway, it’s a great tactical game. But it’s also a confident Mario adventure in its own right.

Who could have predicted that such a strange fusion could elicit so much joy? spark of hopeUbisofts Milan and Paris turned one of gaming’s weirdest elevator pitches into one of Mario’s biggest spin-offs.

Mario + Rabbids Spark of Hope It will be released on Nintendo Switch on October 20th. This game was reviewed using a pre-release download code provided by Ubisoft. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.