Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - Review
Howdidilly Doodilly My Name is Wolfie and Welcome To My Review of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle.
Mario is Created By Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto.
Rabbids is Created By Michel Ancel
BackStory:
So Unless you've been living under a rock this past 40 years, you already know of the character of Mario and the universe of the Mushroom Kingdom, he's a plumber who goes on journeys across different worlds to save his beloved Princess Peach from the clutches of a dragon-thing called Bowser, pretty simple concept if you think about it.
The Rabbids however, are a lot different than Mario, they were characters for the "Rayman" series of games starting off with 2006's "Rayman Raving Rabbids", initially introduced as the game's main antagonists.
The thing is, after 2006's Raving Rabbids came out, the Rabbids themselves became an instant hit, selling over 20 MILLION UNITS as of this review, they became to video games what "Despicable Me"'s Minions became to films,
They were everywhere, appearing in so many viral videos and in other types of media, including getting a TV show, and a feature film that is currently in development, in fact, The Rabbids became so popular that Rayman himself got dropped from the franchise entirely (seriously Ubisoft, where's the love for my boy Ray Ray?).
I mean heck, they even quietly invaded the game "Rainbow Six Siege" and got added to "For Honor" as an April fools joke (yes, I'm not even making this up, it's all true.).
Now, I know what you're thinking, a game starring Mario Characters with the Rabbids, it sounds like a recipe for disaster (more on that minute)
When the game got announced, people were confused as to what to think, some thought it was gonna be bad, with the Official Game Trailer on Nintendo's YouTube clocking in at 12K dislikes, some liked the idea, and most were inbetween but eventually went to getting hyped about the game.
I was one of those people who were inbetween, I didn't get the game on release, but I was a Nintendo kid, and The Rabbids have a ton of Nintendo exclusives (Rabbids Go Home on Wii is a masterpiece), I am nostalgic for them and I love them,
However, going into this "new series", I wanted to have open eyes and not let nostalgia cloud my judgment, as putting characters like Mario and the Rabbids together to make a game could go either way, and yet, dear I say that it works?
(Some Spoilers Ahead BTW)
GamePlay:
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a turn-based tactical RPG where the Rabbids have invaded the mushroom kingdom and caused chaos, and now we're left to fix the aftermath of that chaos.
And Yes you read that right, this game is a tactical RPG, something which hasn't been done this way in a mainline Mario series since 1996's "Super Mario RPG" on the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). People have called this game "Kids First XCOM", and although I myself have never played XCOM and have only watched people play it, I see where they're coming from, it definitely has similarities, with the way battles operate, the way the attack system is presented and powers to chose from.
I really enjoyed this game, it takes the best parts of both Mario and The Rabbids, and it shoves them together to create a clever and funny new Mario experience, which again, surprises me as this wasn't a first-party Nintendo game, they had inputs here and there obviously, but it was mostly made under the umbrella of Ubisoft.
Mario/Worlds/Game Battles:
The Charm of Mario's characters is still here, the way they move cartoonishly, the way they interact with one another, everything present in any Mario game is also here,
Even the Worlds Themselves that you run around in, they're absolutely beautiful, there's over 4 in the entire game with 9 chapters each, with each world getting longer and longer as the game progresses, which is both a pro and a con,-
-not that any of them are bad, I love the designs of all of the worlds, such as world 2 which is supposed to be like a giant dessert turning into a sherbert ice lolly (popsicle/freezer pop) and it looks really delicious- I mean really sweet- NO wait, I mean, really yummy- I MEAN, you know what, you get the point.
It's just that towards the 2nd half of the game, it's almost like the developers realized how short it was and thrown in more battles to be filler, and made the enemies for said worlds tougher and tougher in comparison to the previous versions of said enemies from the previous worlds,
not that the tougher enemies are a terrible thing by itself, they aren't, but it just feels like your going from battle to battle to battle while fighting UNNESSICARY amounts of those tougher enemies with no real objective to keep you entertained, and you may be thinking that I mean that they do like 3 or 4 long battles with 11 - 15 enemies in them, but NO, I'm talking about 6 - 7 battles with near 25 to 30 enemies which could take away over 100 percent of your health IN ONE HIT if they get in range and/or are able to shoot you.
It feels like such a waste of time compared to what we got before, and this isn't to say I hated the battles at all, most of them I did like.
But With All of That Said,
"Even Though This is More of a Ubisoft Game With Mario In It, It Still Does Feel like a Mario Game Made Entirely By Nintendo Themselves, and I Believe This Is Due To The Amazing Vision That Davide Soliani (Creative Director at Ubisoft Milan) Had For This Game and The Love He Had For Mario as a Child, Other Creative Director's Should Take Note of What Davide Soliani is Doing If They Themselves Are Going On To an Already Existing Franchise That They Too Loved. Davide is Truly Great at His Work."
Rabbids/Boss Battles:
The Rabbids Don't Take a Backseat Either BTW, This Is Their Game Too, and They Get Decent Treatment. People find these characters annoying, understandably so as they can be too much (again, like Despicable Me's Minions), but colour me surprised when I say they aren't that annoying here? Believe it or not, they actually play a great part in the story and mechanics of this game.
Rabbids are Also Scattered Throughout The Worlds, Often Getting Into Trouble, And Also Making Really Funny References To Films And Such.
Throughout The Game, You Unlock Characters, These are Rabbid Parody Versions of Mario, Peach, Yoshi, and Luigi (Along With The Actual Normal Mario, Peach, Yoshi, and Luigi, Mario obviously already being unlocked from the start.), who are actually named Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Peach, Rabbid Yoshi, and Rabbid Luigi.
The bosses in the game are great, most of which are Rabbid themed.
My favorite out of all of them is this opera singing Rabbid who just makes fun of Mario throughout the entire fight, I laughed a lot throughout his battle in a good way (seriously, look it up, it's so good), the designs for the bosses are all really cool, I enjoyed almost everything to do with them, Ubisoft really knocked them out of the park.
Powers:
Each Character Has Power-Ups And They All Look Really Cool, with each character using a Gun that has a chance for hurting your enemy more and giving them a certain effect, kind of like certain attacks in the Mario and Luigi games, it's a really nice touch.
But there're also other powers too, like hammers, vehicles that explode when they get near a chosen target (or an enemy in general), and bombs that can be thrown at enemies, they all do a nice amount of damage, and the bombs are great for getting out of tough situations.
Throughout the whole game, you earn "Power Orbs", which essentially act like XP, the more you earn, the more power-ups and damage boosters you can purchase from a skill tree, however, one thing that annoyed me about the Power Orbs is that I believe whoever they go to is randomized, as in you never get to choose who they go to, which as someone who likes to do stuff like that, it kinda sucks, that would have been a nice feature in my opinion.
Also, the Coins from the Mario games are present here too, and in this game, they act as points to buy better weapons, I like this system a lot, it encourages exploring the world a lot more since coins can be hidden around certain corners, or are just invisible, and considering certain effects and damage that comes from the pricey/more powerful weapons, it's definitely worth it.
The Main Leader "Beep-B0t" also has some powers he unlocks throughout the adventure, however, you don't play as him during the battles, so I won't go into what they are.
Soundtrack:
The soundtrack is really nice, this game is composed by Grant Kirkhope (who composed the Banjo Kazooie series)
Collectibles:
There isn't really much to say here about collectibles, as it is just the normal concept art, sketches, and other stuff of which most modern games are known to do. Not criticizing the artists' work either, you can see that there is work put into it, and it would be really cool if said work was available to buy.
How do you get the artwork, however? by exploring throughout every world, and also main hub area, while looking for chests (which also contain weapons and power orbs), these are scattered everywhere, but feel so satisfying to find, especially after completing a puzzle or even doing some backtracking once Beep-B0t's powers have all been unlocked,
I like stuff like that in a game, it's a great way to enforce replayability, for which Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle has the potential.
Graphics:
So The Game Itself Does Look Beautiful, and it's very colourful too,
Although, I Think It Looks Too Bright at Times To The Point Where It's Distracting, and Kind of Unpleasant to Look at When It Is.
I also dislike the way Mario And Friends look in Ubisoft's Engine, they look very plasticy in my opinion, it's not as noticeable from above, which is how we view everything from, but in the non-CGI cutscenes when they're up close, something about it annoyed me.
That is all that really can be said at this point, if I was to criticize Ubisoft even more for the way this game looks, it would be unfair, it's not like they have the same materials and connections to look exactly like Mario Odyssey, or Luigi's Mansion 3,-
- That and also, everything looks great for the most part, so good job Ubisoft.
Before we get to the final part of the review, I have something important to say.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This'll be the last review for the Summer, the UK is entering a HUGE heatwave and in all do respect, I don't really wanna be stuck upstairs writing away (not to say I won't have games prepared to be reviewed for when I'm back).
With that said, thanks for the support with all the reviews I've done so far, especially the last one on The "Destroy All Humans!" remake (for which if you haven't seen, I recommend checking it out only if you want to. https://gamespot.com/destroy-all-humans/user-reviews/2200-12838199/) that one really seemed to take off and the feedback from it was incredible so thank you so much for that!
(Edit: This Is Also MY 10th Written Review!)
I enjoy making reviews, and I'm excited to talk about the ones I have planned to do, being "Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game" followed by "Red Dead Online"
If You'd Like To See ALL The Reviews I've Done So Far, Click Here. WARNING THOUGH: The Ones Before March 7th 2021, They Aren't That Good.
Now, ON WITH THE SHOW... I mean review... whatever, don't judge me...
Overall:
I find this strange to say, but I loved this game, it's such a fun experience.
"While this is basically "Kids First XCOM", Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is also a nice starting point for anyone looking to get into the worlds of Tactical-RPG's"
Again, this is a third-party game by Ubisoft, so this game is on sale a lot for a really great price and not the stupid prices Nintendo does with its first-party games.
I managed to get this game for about 7.99 on sale, down from its regular price of 29.99 (at least where I live).
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle Is an Incredibly Funny and Great Game, Not a Masterpiece, But It Is Worth The Money, And I Give It an 8/10.
- Pick It Up.
Thanks For Reading And I'll See You After The Summer :D