Another Mario game. The question isn't "why do they keep making them." The question is, why do we keep loving them?
Super Paper Mario is a mix of a sidescrolling Mario game and a Paper Mario installment. It's expedient I just suggest an IGN review which I feel does a good job, as the flipping, it does not lend itself well to text-based explanation. It's like trying to win a motor cycle race by throwing spaghetti on the fridge to see if it's done. Which I do NOT do. I use my teeth, and it makes me bitter when people throw spaghetti on the fridge.
In short, I give the game a 9.3, with a You're A Moron rating. That is, you're a moron for not having it (if you have the ability to have it), as it is one of the everyone-has games, such as Goldeneye, Super Smash Bros., Perfect Dark, and Super Mario 64 on the N64. If you disliked previous Paper Mario installments due to the length of battles, it is not an issue this time.
...however, it is an issue in the obverse sense. The boss battles are WAY too short. About 30 seconds. Pitiful. They should have been at least 5 times as long. Upwards of 90% of the battles make you feel weird when you win. Definitely, they screwed up the boss battles in a most profound way. They're also not even remotely difficult; only one battle will scare you as far as dying goes. I don't think any of them will scare you as far as being scared goes. None of the battles made me wet the bed, let me put it that way.
As for the story, the IGN review failed to mention it (or do it justice). I feel it is a very good story. It's a, get this...a romance story! Hah! And I don't mean romance as in Mario rescues Peach, and I am joking. I mean it is romance story. There is no typo there. No missing 'a.'
A tale of forbidden love. Love lost. Worlds destroyed. Love found. Love restored. Love conquering all. Mayhap I am slightly effeminate, but I like the story. I particularly like how you think you've got the story figured out halfway through, then it spins around. The characters were terrific; I think it was because the allies (save for Tippi, your guide) have no personality. They thus had more awenem to spread around to the other characters.
The game centers around a one Count Bleck, who is awesome. I like how he remarks on things in the third person. He has a gang of evildoers who aren't totally bad. Except for this one green chick. My view: green chicks are always evil (unless and until Samus Aran gets a green powersuit, there are no exceptions). And I was right! She does some really inappropriate things, such as twisting her head around several times. Exorcist-style. IN AP PRO PRIATE. This is another reason (aside from the text and mind-bendingly difficult puzzles) the game is not for children. Or impatient people.
Count Bleck has this thing called the Dark Prognosticus. That is, a demonic book of dark prophecies which routinely possesses people and has the ultimate goal of foretelling and seeing to fruition the destruction of all matter in "all worlds." Ooookay. Merlon, your resident creepy-mystic-new-age-dude who you don't really like and who is somehow lacking in grandfatherly qualities (though old, bearded, kind and wise), has the Light Prognosticus, made by his ancestors to combat the Dark Prognosticus.
This he pores over every waking moment desperately to help you out. But...every time he helps, it's either already happened, doesn't happen, is indistinct to the point of inaccuracy, or is not knowledge he garnered from the book. Typically, he'll come and tell you what's about to happen, only to discover that it has already happened. He must have felt pretty lousy.
There are certain things I could have done without, such as Princess Peach being referred to as a "babe." Not only a babe, but a "hot babe." There are other such instances, not necessarily of Princess Peach. I don't like to see the characters looking at each other in a sexual light. It's uh...well, not correct. For any game. Sam Fisher (in Splinter Cell: Double Agent) did not say that Dr. VillaHottie was a hot babe. Although a guard did call her Dr. VillaHottieWhatever. But that was a guard, and he was...dispatched, shortly thereafter. Let's hope he was right with God.
Speaking of which, there is also a level which deals with where game characters, at least Mario characters, go when they die. Their "game ends." If they're good...they go to a paradise. If they're bad, they go to a hell (like a really paranoid, false view of Christianity; that is, if you're good, you make it). A hell complete with dreary surroundings and demons, serving a demonic queen. She's, uh, on the good side. Somehow. I forget if they pay a time in hell then are transferred to paradise, or if they have an eternal hell.
Missing from this installment was something I really liked from Paper Mario 2; characters talking in the background. I liked that. I miss it; though Paper Mario 2 didn't even do it enough.
There are certain things I like about Super Paper Mario, and certain things I like about Paper Mario 2, and Paper Mario was good but had a lot of things missing. The real shame about Super Paper Mario is there is some difficulty in interaction with other characters...and a certain...lack, of memorable characters. I do not know why. They did such a good job with memorable characters in Paper Mario 2; you know, that game seemed more finished.
Not that Super Paper Mario seems unfinished- just not as grand in scale. I bet the future Paper Mario's will have a selection between heavy-RPG (turn-based) and light-RPG (Super Paper Mario). Once more, it gets a 9.3 and a You're A Moron rating. Go get it now for $34 from Half.com.
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