Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Disappointing"

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

Paper Mario what can I say about this series? I remember the very first time I played Paper Mario back on the N64 around 2000 something (I forget) and my god I was amazed by this game, I fell in love with this game and then Thousand Year Door was released and damn that game is just purely beautiful. Super Paper Mario was a set-back on the series but it was good still... but then Sticker Star was released.

The Story:
Just like any other day Peach is throwing a party to celebrate a sticker comet (or something) and then out of no where (took me by surprise lol jk) Bowser appeared and decided to wreak the party. Legend has it when the sticker comet has appeared and the royal stickers are gathered, any wish will be granted, so I guess Bowser heard of the legend and wanted a wish, when touching the comet star it apparently exploded instead but still granting Bowser's wish and that wish is to be stronger that Mario? Kinda reminds me of the first Paper Mario. So after getting beaten by Bowser, Mario wakes up upon a destroyed festival. Thus Mario's adventure begins. Not much to say really except you gain a new companion named Kersti who is a sticker, a special sticker. She guides you to your new adventure. I must say I actually like the story, even if there wasn't much of it anyways, I do like how when defeating a royal sticker boss, you get to see how they acquire the power, it's adorable. Also near the end where Kersti sacrifices herself for some reason that got me, I was at the verge of tears, but cliche as it is Mario in the end uses his wish to revive her :P.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
The whole gameplay is different. No more Partners, no more level ups, no more BP, no more FP (taken away anyways in Super Paper Mario), no more of old Paper Mario. Instead we get a new sticker system where using stickers are the whole game. You need to find stickers to even fight enemies like jump stickers or hammer stickers, or item stickers like mushrooms, shells pow blocks, fire flowers, etc. plus every single sticker has a level based on them, from worn out stickers to regular stickers to shiny stickers and they each differ in power. As I mention before there is no level up system so fighting is pretty much worthless and no point just to waste your stickers but fighting is fun but only for awhile til it becomes a chore. You can also find real life items called "things". When finding a thing (and trust me you will know what they look like), you can turn it into a sticker and you can either use it in battle for exciting results or using it in the area for other results using a system called Paperization which can be used to stick stickers, peel paper out stickers, remove areas or replace areas which is needed to continue the game. Also no more exploring, they went with a world map. Simple but boring. You travel using the world map like in Mario Bros. ex. world 1-1, world 2-4, world 3-8 etc.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The Music is pretty damn dull, I didn't feel any of it like how I did with the original three, except for Kersti's sacrifice. Battle music is only just one track and it's not that great too. Boss themes differ depending on the situation or area, and they are also pretty dull but some are good. Areas, worlds music is also pretty dull but some are good. Sound effects are the same as always good and that's probably the only few good pluses about this.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
It's Paper Mario, what else can I say? The game is based on paper so everything resembles paper and cardboard. Also things look funny (in a good way) and when in use it looks good. The 3D is pretty good but I can hardly see much of it only at certain times.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
The game plays smooth, and it responds well. When using stickers you must time your attacks to do more attacks or more damage (depending on the sticker) and timing is pretty easy to get use to. Also whenever Kersti is with you you can use a slot during battle to see if you can score a bonus 1 or 2 extra sticker usage in one turn and a bonus depending on the slots like 3 mushrooms can net you a free mushroom use (instantly) or 3 pow blocks same free pow block etc. The boxart is pretty, tells it all like "Paper Mario" on the go, and full on details too.

Paper Mario Sticker Star is indeed a different turn on the series, and is now considered the bad egg on the Paper Mario series (IMO) but in a ways it's still not a bad game, just some elements made it bad.

Overall:

Story: 8.5
Gameplay: 5.5
Sound: 4.0
Graphics: 8.0
Controls: 8.0

Overall: 6.8