It's an all-around solid RPG with a unique flavour, even if you've tasted it all before.

User Rating: 8.6 | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door GC
By -CANUCK- | Review Date:
Paper Mario : The Thousand Year Door is the sequel to one of the last great Nintendo 64 games. The original was an RPG that took place in a pseudo pop-up-book like setting with Mario saving the princess from Bowser. It's distinct look, simple but engaging gameplay, mix of platformer and RPG elements and sense of humor helped distinguish it from other RPGs. Now, we're getting seconds. Thousand Year Door takes all of that, tweaks it a little and creates a new quest for Paper Mario fans to enjoy. It's not the most groundbreaking game, but it doesn't need to be to make it great. The game takes place in a new setting, the shady Rogueport. Filled with thieves, con-artists, gangs and mobsters. Indeed, such controversial content is a bold step forward for Nintendo. It's only a matter of time before Mario starts shooting hookers. Okay, it's still E-rated so it's not that bad. On her trip to Rogueport, Princess Peach sends a mystical map she found to Mario via mail and encourages him to come help find it. Only when Mario arrives, she's missing. Quickly, you'll learn that she did what she does best; get kidnapped, but this time by a different force of evil. So Mario must not only use the map to find Crystal stars to open The Thousand Year Door (a door underneath Rogueport that supposedly hides some grand treasure) but must save the Princess as well. As mentioned before, Paper Mario employs a unique visual style, just like back on the N64. Everyone is paper-thin, houses fold open when entered and so on. You'll see tons of examples of this theme used throughout the game. Rogueport is the main hub, and Mario will access the various worlds from there. The game is broken up into chapters. Each chapter has Mario venturing into far away worlds, each providing different quests and scenarios. Mario will visit a variety of colourful paper characters and explore all sorts of dungeons. There are even some very humourous moments throughout the game as well. Between chapters, players will do some sort of mini-game or fetch quest as the kidnapped Peach, and then do an often hilarious mini-game of sorts as Bowser (no way they'd leave him out of this game.) When roaming around, Mario can run, jump and use a hammer for various purposes. You'll do a bit of platform jumping, and while it's nothing on par with a true 2D platformer, it does keep you involved with the game. Mario will also be able to earn powers that take advantage of his paper form, such as turning sideways to fit between cracks or becoming a paper airplane. Also, throughout the game, many characters will join your party. At any given time, you can assign one to follow you around and not only join fights but help you with a distinct power. Take Koops, the depressed koopa who can be shot around like a boomerang to hit things, or Goombella, who gives advice on the area you're in. There's about six in total, though many are definitely retreads of older characters from the N64 game. You'll use their powers to solve puzzles and help advance, though puzzles usually just consist of figuring out who to use at the time. Fighting is almost the same as it was in the N64 game. That is, a turn-based game where Mario and the equipped partner at the time (though you can switch during a fight at the expense of a turn) against various baddies. There's no random fights here, though you can land a free hit if you jump on or hammer an enemy on the map (though the bad guys can do the same if they hit you.) The game uses small numbers on purpose, with Mario starting with 10 HP and most attacks doing single-digit damage, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's all easy. Various attacks and special moves that use FP all involve some form of a timing based exercise to make them more powerful, be it pressing A when Mario jumps on an enemy or hitting a long sequence of buttons in order. Likewise, when an enemy attacks, pressing A at the right time will make you take less damage. New to Thousand Year Door, pressing B at the right time (which is trickier and requires more precise timing) will not only save you from taking any damage but often lets you pull a quick counterattack. It's also important to keep in mind the enemies you'll be fighting all have different strengths and weaknesses. Jumping on a gomba with a spiked helmet will hurt you, but a hammer will get the job done. Each of your six partners have different abilities in battle and you need to exploit their strengths against various enemies. Mario levels up every time he collects 100 experience points anc can choose to improve his HP, his FP or his BP (more on that later). Your partners, meanwhile, level up when you collect star sprites for Merlon the fortune teller to use. The last thing that needs to be mentioned is that for every crystal star you collect, you get a special attack that uses up star points indicated by a series of circles on the top of the screen. And how do you fill this up? With the crowd, of course! All fights take place on a stage in front of a crowd of varying size. Pleasing the crowd entails successfulling using the aformentioned timed attacks properly (and by pressing A at the right times during an attack to hit an attack with style. When you press A, you have to figure that out yourself.) The crowd can get involved with the action, whether it's throwing helpful items at you (or rocks for damaging you) or getting eaten by enemies for health, though they often don't seem to have an overwhelming effect on battle. It's a deceptive battle system that may seem simple, but there's various attributes you have to mind, and many bosses will test you viciously, so it's no cakewalk. About badges. They work the exact same way they did before. That is, while Mario doesn't need to worry about buying equipment, he needs be concerned with this. Throughout the game, you'll collect various badges that when equipped, add all sorts of changes. Some give you a new skill, some make you stronger, some just change the sound effects. Each badge requires a certain number of BP to be equipped. This in itself adds a bit of strategy and customization to the game. Paper Mario 2 is a reasonably lengthy game that can be finished in 25-30 hours, which isn't bad. What is bad, though, is that there's a good deal of filler thrown in. There's a good deal of backtracking involved, often between chapters, where you'll be thrown in some sort of tedious fetch quest of sorts. It also doesn't help that there are parts of the game that kind of just drag along and make the game feel stretched out. As I mentioned before, the game graphics lend themselves to the game's storybook look. The game is rife with neat little uses of this concept. It generally looks the same as the N64 game, but with higher resolution. Though one of the most impressive and frequently used tricks in the game is when hundreds of characters appear on screen at once. You'll see this often and often used very well. As far as audio goes, the game has a solid, soundtrack that does a good job of adding atmosphere, whether you're in a happy village or a dark dungeon. There's no voicework outside of Mario's grunts, but this is sort of made up with some great dialogue. Depending on which character you have follow Mario, their speech changes. It's not an incentive to play the game many times over, but it is great to have. Paper Mario : The Thousand Year Door doesn't deviate far from the original's formula. It doesn't have to. And while some parts are less than thrilling, the overall package is solid and makes for a great game that even those with little RPG experience will enjoy.

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