Bobby Mills-Thomas
volves around a depletable inventory –
this time cards in lieu of
stickers – which means
you’ll be needing to
stock up on Jump cards
to perform basic jump
attacks, Hammer cards
to swing the hammer,
etc.
The issue isn’t that
you’re ever short of
cards in the deck – in
fact, the game goes out
of its way to push as
many onto you as possible in the overworld
– but rather that you
often find yourself in
skirmishes without the
right card. In TTYD, for
example, you would
seldom be in a fight
that you technically
couldn’t win. Sure, you
could be disadvantaged if you were low
on SP, but you always
had at least a fraction
of a chance. Not here.
If you wind up against,
say, a bunch of Spinies
and all you’ve got are
regular Jump cards,
you’re outta luck and
you’ve gotta run for it.
Not that there’s any
actual reason to battle, though; EXP points
(not counting some
superficial paint stock
upgrades) are as much
a thing of the past as
they were in Sticker
Star, and thus I often
found myself turning the game into an
odd parody of Metal
Gear, trying to stealthily weave round foes I
would otherwise have
fought simply because
I was unequipped or
unmotivated.
Things get worse in
boss fights – mostly
against Paper Koopalings, of course
– where it’s almost always a case of ‘have
the right card or die,’
since they’re tanklike
and you’ve no hope
with standard jumps.
I can actually forgive
this one, though, since
when you do employ
the right card, it’s usually a ‘Thing’ card, which
means a gigantic rendition of the everyday
object they represent
– a fan, a lemon etc.
out spoiling anything,
has the guts to mash
up Super Mario Bros.
3 and Super Paper
Mario – it’s easily one
of the year’s standout titles, and honestly feels like a kid in a
toy shop dragging you
around by the hand,
always eager to show
you its next big idea
or innovation, never
letting up until the very
end of the 30+ hour
journey.
If you’re finding it
difficult waiting for
13
– is summoned and,
in a jaw-dropping
animation, lays total waste to the boss.
Take that, Roy. Smug
shades-wearing son of
a Koopa.
But the shortcomings
of the combat system are entirely worth
bearing out to experience all of the other
joys Colour Splash
has to offer. Complete
with a swinging jazz
soundtrack and meta
nods to Mario lore
both new and old –
one bonus area, with-
Zelda: Breath of the
Wild next year, this’ll
fill your Wii U slot in
style this Christmas.
GRAPHICS: 9
GAMEPLAY: 7
SOUND: 8
STORY: 8
8.0