Great animation and a simple but engaging battle system remind us of the best Mario & Luigi titles and make us happy the duo are back, however, some slow pacing and a bloated, ponderous second half means Brothership is several hours longer than it needed to be.
Welcome to Concordia; a world made of previously connected but now mysteriously gloomy islands filled with inhabitants who are seemingly part plant, part electrical outlet and part whatever their specific island’s theme is (fire, ice, rock etc). Oh, and joining Mario and Luigi on this new adventure is a pink creature called Snoutlet which is (to butcher a line from Douglas Adams) almost, but not quite, exactly like (but not actually) a flying pig/two-pin plug. Yes, it’s an absolutely outrageous world, but the Mushroom Kingdom is too and there is something wonderfully odd about the lands Mario and Luigi get to explore in their RPG adventures and I for one was happy to see a brand new setting to run around in.
Watt-about it?
As someone who isn’t a huge RPG player (even less so the turn-based variety), there are a few things that I look for to get me invested in lite-RPGing… Something pretty to look at and explore, some interesting writing/gimmick that hopefully brings a smile to my face and keeps me hooked and, most importantly, an engaging battle system. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for, and right off the bat, Acquire (the new developer taking over from AlphaDream on the Mario & Luigi titles) started off strong. Their new take on character design and 3D environments is a breath of fresh air. I loved the art style and character animations (particularly those of the bumbling yet endearing Luigi) and while the music doesn’t have the greatest variety – each new area’s theme is beautiful in its own right and accompanied by the new look I was pretty impressed. Plus, having a home base shaped like a big boat powered by a tree-sail – called Shipshape Island – is pretty great.
Their new take on character design and 3D environments is a breath of fresh air.
So, what about the writing? Well, this one is a bit of a mixed bag – a flickering lightbulb – to stay on theme. I think it would be unfair to not at least acknowledge that Brothership is targeted at least partially to new players. And having that in mind, and in true Nintendo fashion, there’s a whole lot of hand-holding and slow tutorials (that are likely to irk returning players a little) and some writing that skews a little younger. It’s a place filled with beings that look like power connectors, cables and vegetation. Hence, there are a lot of electricity and botany puns happening (the main character that cares for the magical light tree is called a Wattanist… get it?). Sure, it’s not very clever but starting (and like any good dad joke) there’s something to smile about. And the overarching narrative of loneliness versus connection, and unity versus difference is a good one; Who provides a better example of the power of close bonds than the Super Mario Bros., right? Unfortunately, the writing never really gets any deeper or more interesting than that. Combine that with having to go through pages and pages of slow dialogue popups and endless new characters and areas and by the time it ends (and it takes way too many hours to do so) the length of the game probably actually makes the writing feel even weaker than it is.
Zok-it to me
Gameplay thankfully does a lot to mitigate this (at least early on) and keep you engaged. Mario & Luigi games have generally featured relatively straightforward turn-based battles, interspersed with some light platforming. Brothership follows the same formula with some significant upgrades, especially in the battle department. However, before connecting to that topic, you’ll be happy to know that it’s usually quite fun to navigate Concordia (although Luigi auto-jumps now). Not only do the different areas have unique personalities but Mario and Luigi will (as you progress through the game) gain new abilities – like morphing into a ball Metroid-style or gaining ice and fire powerups – which allow you to access or even open up new locations. Each area also usually has a unique puzzle or gimmick to make it feel special. On one island, you’ll be playing a mechanically very simple but deceptively-challenging-in-practice rhythm-dancing game with timed button presses. On another, it’s all about making it through a complicated maze by using levers and looking at the world from a birds-eye perspective. Then there’s fishing, identifying rock sculptures at sea crafting materials and a series of side-quests to acquire new gear too. Sure none of these are particularly significant on their own, but the variety probably means everyone will find something that breaks up the basic Turn-based battling enjoyable and given that at least some is optional – I think that’s a good thing. Plus, as an RPG novice, I found choosing gear, upgrading and levelling-up in Brothership the most enjoyable to any of the previous titles.
I absolutely loved the strategy that mixing up different combinations of plugs brought to the battles…
The best feature overall, however, is the slightly tweaked battles themselves. Yes, Luigi and Mario will still have their Jump and Hammer but this time you also have Battle Plugs to add to the mix and even the occasional Luigi Logic special attack for Boss fights. First up, while Mario and Luigi will attack in unison (unless under status effects) with normal attacks, there is a great array of combined Bros Attacks. These are choreographed attacks featuring some cutscenes and specific combination button presses that trigger big damage (and use up BP). I enjoyed most of these attacks, however, as usual, there were favourites that I returned to time and again, namely Mario’s Bomb Derby and Luigi’s Zapperator. However, you can also craft Plugs (by collecting Lumenade on the different islands) and then equip a series of these before or during battle. These last a set number of turns and add an effect (offensive – giving you an extra hammer throw for example, defensive – making you invisible for a specific amount of turns, or auto-provide items during battle like Super mushrooms when your HP is low). I absolutely loved the strategy that mixing up different plugs brought to the game and particularly getting just the right mix of plugs for a specific boss could affect the length and difficulty of Boss battles). Finally, while it could’ve been used even more, some boss battles (and the occasional puzzle) also featured a Luigi Logic – a moment when Luigi shines and through the power of massive green-coloured intellect figures out a new way to cause big damage. Even as a Mario fan, I was glad to see how much love Luigi gets in Brothership.
Glohm-y
As you can tell, there is much I enjoyed about this game. In fact, I even tackled the vast majority of optional side-quests (especially early on) as I found it the near-perfect game to plod along with while half-watching a favourite TV Show in the background. Weirdly there are somewhat arbitrary cut-offs for doing some side-quests which will drive completionists rather crazy. However, despite taking my time with this game, and thankfully playing in short bursts over more than a month, the pacing of Brothership (particularly in the final act) is painfully slow. I can recall at least twice where I thought I was heading to the finale and after completing the section I was genuinely surprised not to see an epic cutscene followed by the final credits (which may in itself not have been a bad thing – we all want as much content as possible right?!).
The pacing is painfully slow and the final act is filled with what feels like unnecessary fetch quest content.
Sadly though, this extra content was simply hours of retracing steps and back-and-forth fetch quests to areas I had already been. I know this is a feature of some RPGs, however, this felt like unnecessary content to make the game longer. Several times I didn’t even know which island I needed to return to, so this meant trying several options before finally heading to the right one. And even when I did – that pay-off while required was usually minimal at best. And while I didn’t experience the technical issues some others seem to have, the constant misguided to and fro felt like a chore and by the end, I was just glad It was done, despite being able to take several breaks between playthroughs. You never really want to end a game like that. And if I had been reviewing this game within a shorter timeframe – I suspect this fact alone would’ve docked it a few points and will be why some won’t enjoy it as much as I did.
Shipshape, almost
As someone very close to their brother, Brothership’s sweet tale about the power of brotherly bonds featuring my favourite video game characters of all time was always going to hit close to home. Throw in a delightful new art style and the new, refreshing plug-based battle system and Acquires’s first attempt at continuing AlphaDream’s legacy often provides you with that comfy game keeping busy while you’re watching a favourite TV show or listening to some great music. Unfortunately, the game is bloated, with the final act, in particular, feeling heavy with seemingly endless unnecessary fetch-quest back-and-forths. Plus, with writing that relies a little too heavily on early ‘flower and electricity’ dad-joke-level puns and can’t seem to keep you interested right to the finale, Brothership is a fun jaunt that felt like it just needed to be 10-15 hours shorter and while there’s definitely something to enjoy here – you’re likely going to want to play it for shorter stints over a long period of time so you don’t get burned out by its slower back-end pace.
REVIEW CODE PROVIDED BY: NINTENDO
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