Hello again, gamers! For the last issue of The Mirror News this semester, I decided to review a game from a series we all love. (As opposed to Halo 4 since, let’s face it, you already bought it!) That’s right, folks! Good ol’ Paper Mario. If you haven’t played a game from the series, you’re missing out! Anyway, let’s break this game down piece by piece.
The story begins with the Sticker Fest, where a “magical” comet sticker descends from the night sky to grant everyones’ wishes! But of course, Bowser has to come in and mess everything up, and breaks the comet into six royal crowns, giving him way more power than he needs. So what’s your job? Get those pieces together and kick some koopa tail! I’ll start off with this: This game gave me a lot of mixed feelings. It has a lot of good aspects, and a lot of bad ones, too. To help me explain, I’ll remind everyone of the previous Paper Mario games.
The original Paper Mario was amazing. You saved the stars from shooting star summit and helped them get back the star rod that Bowser stole. You traveled all around the mushroom kingdom to find these stars which were each in a unique location. The battle system was turn-based and your strength varied from the badges equipped and the items you carried. Basically, everyone loved this game. So when Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was released for the Nintendo Gamecube, people were psyched. Once people realized it was basically and improved Paper Mario, everyone fell in love. There was more interaction in battle, more badges, star power, and side quests as well. The game was an incredible RPG. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when Super Paper Mario was later released for the Nintendo Wii.
While most people were expecting a game even better than the second Paper Mario, they got a shock when they found out that the game play in Super Paper Mario was completely different. It was basically and old school Super Mario, but...well, paper form with some RPG elements. You went from World 1-1 to World 1-2 and so on until you achieved your ultimate goal. Many people were furious about this, especially once they realized that the battle system was also completely new. Instead of going through a turn-based system with an interactive audience, all fighting is in real time, but experience is still earned for leveling. Once people heard Paper Mario: Sticker Star was coming out, the hope rose for our beloved paper Mario to come back to us.
Well, I hate to say it, but he only partially came back. Paper Mario: Sticker Star mixed elements from the old Paper Mario games and the new Super Paper Mario. While you do get to roam around like you would in an RPG, you still go through world-to-world locations. The battle system came back too! Well, sort of anyway. It’s back to the turn-based system but...you fight with stickers. There’s no standard jump, no hammer, no flower points, or even badges! The stickers are now all of your moves which range from jump, hammer, items and even stickers with badge-like attacks. Basically, if you have no stickers, you can’t fight.
The one thing that really throws me off though is the lack of experience. Mario doesn’t level anymore! The only way to improve your attacks through time is to collect better stickers, simple as that. This, for me however, made fighting only seem like a nuisance since I knew I wasn’t getting anything more than money from it. Another thing this game lacks are many side quests like cooking, mini games, Bowser/Peach stories, and helping others too. Not to mention there aren’t any partners/sidekicks either other than a little bossy crown sticker that follows you around everywhere.
I’ll sum it up with this: this game is more like an improved Super Paper Mario as opposed to the enhanced old school Paper Mario we were all hoping for. The game is fun and I enjoy it. However, if you didn’t like Super Paper Mario at all, this game is a no-go. So there you have it, gamers! Have an excellent winter break, and you’ll be hearing from me next semester! Until next time, gamers. Stay golden!

Overall Grade: C+