Ironically, it does not stick much for a game focused on stickers
The whole game feels like a step backwards for the series in almost every aspect, starting with the story: during the night of the sticker fest, Bowser sneaks in, touches the Star Comet and gains unimaginable power and proceeds to take peach away, and its your job to gather the royal stickers, that thanks to Bowser, spread throughout the land.
The whole game is now divided into worlds, rather than chapters, unlike the other Paper Mario games, and each world can be beaten in random order (except the last one, of course). Each world also has the same theme used in games such as New Super Mario Bros: a forest, a desert, etc, rather than a toy box filled with Shy guys or a exciting train ride like in the previous games, just your occasional desert or snowy mountain, nothing new. Heck, even the character cast is dull, just a bunch of toads, toads as far as the eye can see, for every color you'll rarely come upon a friendly guy who isn't a toad, and the same goes for the enemies, most are re-used from previous games with a few new ones. Luckily, they are still as goofy as the ones in previous games, each packed with a lot of personality, making up for the little variety.
Its sad that the main element of the game, stickers, is also the major flaw. First, there are the battle stickers, the one's used for combat; you only have a limited supply though, and each sticker has a different ability, so there's room for a little strategy, but since you no longer gain xp, sometimes the combat feels pointless, so you'll probably skip most of the fights to save valuable stickers or time or whatever reason you got. The other sticker type are the Thing stickers, which are everyday objects such as scissors, which are needed to solve puzzles and to progress trough the game. Problem is, you don't get any hint at all as to which sticker you need to move on, and no clue as to where you can find it, proving incredibly stressful for the gamer that wants to figure the game on his/her own, *cough,cough me*. The other issue with the thing stickers is the fact you need them to beat each boss, and they are incredibly overpowered, often leaving the boss with half of its hp or immobilized, making the battles extremely easy, unless you tackle the bosses without the thing stickers, which proves fairly challenging, and that will at least please the gamer that loves challenging boss battles *cough, cough again, me*. Oh, you also get no hint as to which thing you need to defeat the boss, that is, unless you get trounced 2 times in a row, prompting your trusty partner, Kersti the sticker fairy, to finally give you a hint about something.
What will enrage the most those who have played each Paper Mario game in the series and have a deep love for the series *cough,cough for a 3rd time, me*, is the fact that the game is waaaaay too different from the classic and beloved formula fans are used to. Partners are gone this time, yep, all you get is a fairy called Kersti, who at least, is an incredibly lovable character, which at least makes up a little for this. Then there are the rpg elements, gone once again. BP, HP and FP, even leveling up, dont appear for a second time since the previous wii title,in which they also were not present, and so are badges. like I mentioned above, progression trough chapters is also gone, another aspect we fans have long gotten used to, even the secret superboss present in each of the other 3 games is gone!
To sum it all up, Sticker Star is way to different from the rest of the series, yet it still has that Paper Mario charm, which is the only reason that will keep most fans playing it, and its the only reason as to why the game will eventually grow on you, as it did on me. Its not what the fans want, a new thousand year door like experience with the same mechanics as the first 2 games, rather than a new adventure full of change which can barely live up to the Paper Mario name
The good stuff:
-Funny and full of charm as always
-Kersti is a truly lovable and hilarious partner, even if she is the only one you get
-The supporting cast has a lot of personality
What sucked about the game:
-short compared to the other 3 games
-Pointless combat
-Little character variety, just a bunch of toads and used up enemies
-dull worlds with predictable themes
- Almost all of the aspects which made the first 2 games unforgettable are gone
-sticker mechanics are all messed up