Bill Beats me! That's what I get for sitting on the review all Christmas, I guess! May as well post mine anyway.
Mario & Luigi: Partners in TimeLong have I searched for the perfect Mario RPG. Traveling over hill and dale, fighting immense beasts, and raiding trashcans for gruel and mead. It is a quest of love, for every Mario RPG is as wonderful as the last, but nary a one is the
best. From Super Mario RPG to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, I recently found my way into the lair of Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Could it be the gateway to the fabled realm of milk and honey and 110% perfect games?
I'll get right to it: the game is rushed. The main quest to recover the pieces of the Cobalt Star ends abruptly when the Bros. recover two pieces at once, and the game is lacking in some of the "trimmings" of an RPG such as mini-games and side quests. I've heard one person claim that he beat it in 12 hours, but he was running away from most of the fights. My own clock read 24 hours in the end. For most players, I'd guess around 16-18 hours to beat it, and around 30 hours to do and see everything. But here's the thing: While a lot of recent games offer up 15 hours of action stretched to 25 hours by backtracking and item collecting, Partners in Time offers 15 hours of pure adventure. I think AlphaDream deserves major praise for letting this game be short and outstanding rather than long and watered-down. Of course long and outstanding would have been even better, but given the game's tight release schedule it's as good as it could possibly be.
There have been a few changes to the game design, and luckily most of them are for the better. The controls feel more polished. The game also has a simple hub world instead of a big, interconnected map - this could be viewed as negative, but I think it's a lot more fun when to go straight to the action instead of fighting through an obstacle-laden map. The game also makes excellent use of the dual screens: a handy map is usually displayed on top and when the babies and adult bros. split up, you'll often control each pair on a different screen. The story sequences make nice use of both screens too.
The battle system hasn't changed a lot. The biggest change is the replacement of Bros. Attacks, the new Bros. Items require less memorization and more endurance and fast reflexes. They are a nice change, but they aren't a big improvement. The only other big change is that you have to keep track of four buttons (one for each adult and each baby) instead of two. Sometimes it's annoying , but in general it's a nice addition. Overall the battle system is excellent, but it doesn't feel really improved from the first Mario & Luigi. The game also tends to be a little easier than the first since items and coins are in ready supply. I actually find this game's challenge level to be better than the first Mario & Luigi, but some players may be disappointed.
Partners in Time looks and sounds great. The graphics are much like the first Mario & Luigi but with larger sprites and more animation in the backgrounds. My only complaint is that the edges of the sprites often have grey pixels around them - presumably to make the black outlines look less jagged - but they look pretty bad against black backgrounds. The soundtrack is great, it has an epic feel to it, moreso than any game in the series since Super Mario RPG. Of course, the songs feature plenty of classic Mario songs too! The game's simple use of character voices should be an example for all Mario games: if you're only going to record a few lines of dialogue, don't repeat them over and over!
Along with the graphics and sound, the story rounds out the presentation nicely. It's not quite as off-the-wall as the previous game, but it still has lots of funny dialogue and I thought it felt a little more epic than the first game since it takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom. I just wish they had done a little more with Kamek - he was an important part of Yoshi's Island and he isn't particularly funny or important to the story of Partners in Time.
Pros:
- Another great story, nicely presented
- Not too much filler gameplay
- Great battle system makes a return
Cons:
- Battle system didn't improve much
- Short and somewhat lacking in extras
This is an awesome game. In spite of it's short size, it came quite close to being
the Mario RPG I've been searching for. Fun, vibrant, and well-written, I highly recommend Partners in Time.
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 10.0
Play Control: 9.5
Gameplay: 9.0
Lastability: 7.5
Overall: 9.0
Edit - Comments:I like this game better than the first one, too, although I don't really consider it a huge leap ahead of the rest of the series. Compared to the others there just aren't as many cool Mario references and mini-games and other extras. But I really appreciate how AlphaDream took what they had and polished it so nicely instead of trying to stretch it out.