I like Mario, RPGs and paper. A game combining all three? Wah-ha!
The game looks nice and some of the paper skills - paper plane, boat and so on - work well. However, my main problem was with the battle system.
Although I like the timing-based elements to it, there are still random elements that defeat its purpose. Why should someone from the audience throw things at me? Why the hell does the scenery fall on you with little or no warning? Things like this make you feel you're actually not in control of the action, which is absolutely the opposite way a game should make you feel.
In terms of its production values it's very strong, and the script is very well-written - if you're a fan of cheesy American clichés, that is. It wasn't for me, especially compared to the rather more universal Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga dialogue.
On the whole I was disappointed by Paper Mario. Some bits were very enjoyable but there was simply too much to collect and memorise - I mean, I like statistics, but do I really need to keep track of HP, FP, SP, BP, Shine Sprites, Star Shards, Coins and the rest? Even for an RPG it seems unnecessary.
I think in this case, the developers should have kept focused on cutting down rather than cramming in. With a few of these annoyances taken out the game would have been all the better.
Learning Curve: Takes a while
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