Super Paper Mario review

Time to take a close look at Super Paper Mario. We’ve seen Mario appear on the Wii a couple of times already with Mario Party 8 and Strikers and this is probably the closest we’ll come to a proper Mario game before Super Mario Galaxy gets everyone in a spin just before Christmas. So, is it any good? Let me tell you.

At its core the game is a cross between a 2d platformer and a simple role-playing game. But you’re not fighting Bowser in this one. This time, the evil Count Black materialises from another dimension and spirits the princess away so you must make your way through many lands filled with Goombas and other bad guys to rescue her.

Graphically, the game has a great style about it. When Mario turns it’s plain to see he’s paper thin, but they’ve been very clever about how they use this feature. If Mario gets stuck, he can press a button to flip the game from 2d to 3d to make his way past an obstacle or find hidden items. You have to flip back quickly though or you’ll start losing health points.

It’s a very interesting concept that hasn’t been used in any game before and the game deserves extra points for this innovation alone.

There are also many items to pick up and use, and lots of characters to talk to on your travels.

My only big gripe with the game is the HUGE amounts of text you have to scroll through, especially at the start. You’ll be playing for a good 15 minutes before you can actually play the game properly where you can run through the levels, bash blocks and have a good time.

So how does the Wii’s motion sensing get used? Well, for the majority of the game you hold the remote sideways like a joypad, and occasionally point it at the screen to find hidden items as if you were using a torch. You can also shake the controller up and down to activate special powers.

This game’s great fun but it’s unfortunate it’s broken up with so much dialogue, and it has a glaring glitch. If you get to chapter 2-2 and talk to a character called Mimi, make sure you flip into 3d and collect the golden key. If you don’t do this, the game will crash and you’ll have to restart from your last save point. Tut tut tut Nintendo! II would have given this game 8 out of 10 but because of the annoying glitch it loses a mark.

Super Paper Mario gets 7 out of 10.