Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

Voices of: Charles Martinet, Samantha Kelly, Kenny James, Matthew Géczy, Laura Faye Smith, Kaycie Chase
Developer: Ubisoft
Directed by: Davide Soliani
Rating: E
Genre: Turn-based tactics
System: Nintendo Switch
2022

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Mario and friends are stunned when Rabbid-Luna hybrids (nicknamed Sparks) suddenly appear. Upon investigation, they learn a malevolent entity known as Cursa is spreading Darkmess across the galaxy.

Review:
Tim: After surprisingly loving Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, I was psyched to see Ubisoft return with a crossover sequel. Sparks of Hope takes the same concept as the original and delivers a more polished, streamlined effort. It still retains the turn-based adventure battle shenanigans, while delivering another epic game. I played through this one completely, including all the DLC. While some of the originality of this series came off in this long game, I still consider it a success and game well worth our time.

The play mechanics are very similar to Kingdom Battle, but the biggest shift is jettisoning the grid-based movement system. That is done away, giving players a less linear (but still similar) movement range. Each player has an area upon which they can move- no lines and boxes this time, although the set up is similar. I wouldn't say I loved or hated this change- it feels different, while staying very true to the original. I think it was a fine change, there's some pros and some cons to it. It certainly made this game "feel" a bit different. There were also some added real-time events- most notably, you can slide tackle a bob-omb, and then you have a few seconds to pick it up and throw it, before it explodes. I appreciated Ubisoft innovating new mechanics for this game- it certainly helped to keep things interesting.

The story is actually quite wonderful. I loved having Cursa as the antagonist here. The idea of Darkmess and the puddles, the monsters- it's all a compelling narrative and spurs the action forward. Narrative has always been an afterthought in the Mario franchise (mostly), so it was nice to see that play a bigger role here. I had a ton of fun playing through the different planets as you hop forward to the eventual showdown with Cursa. The game definitely throws a lot at you, and some of the levels were especially challenging. That was a nice shift- having some really difficult moments throughout a game that isn't always hard.

There's a lot of content here. It took me 37:53 to complete the main game. Honestly, this was cool, but a bit long. There's so much to do, that to 100% the game (or get close) takes a lot of playing. I have to be truthful, I did start to experience a sense of fatigue towards the end. The game throws a lot at you, but the reality is that the battles do become monotonous. Even with the unique twists, you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again. There's so many battles, so much Darkmess to clear up that it eventually wears you down a bit. This gets even worse with the DLC, of which I didn't universally love. For the main game, though, I 100% all 6 stages. I collected all 30 Sparks, all 5 Planet Keys, all 45 Weapon Skins, and all 72 Memories. I got the characters to level 30. I upgraded all Sparks to Level 5. So, I did 100% the game. As far as the DLC, The Last Spark Hunter was great. I put in 8:32 into this DLC, Collecting all 5 Sparks, all 14 Memories, and all 9 Weapon Skins, 100%ing it. It was a lot of fun, adding a new world to the main story. That felt like great DLC and I had an enjoyable time playing through that additional story. I got the characters to level 39. On the other hand, I hated The Tower of Doooom DLC. It had no story component, putting you in repetitive battles for no real reason. It felt like total filler content. Yes, it was especially challenging at times- I found that more annoying than anything- as you're severely limited by who and what you have for those battles. I'm sure some gamers loved this additional challenge. However, for me, I spent all this time building my team up and then I couldn't even use them for this. It was beyond annoying. I still logged 5:30 into this DLC, progressing the game to 60% Completion. I had zero desire to continue, though, as I just wasn't having fun. As I've gotten older, I've certainly become more comfortable with choosing not to finish everything in games. Tower of Doooom is bad DLC, in my mind. I feel like I at least experienced it, but wasn't interested in the slog to do everything in it. I'll review the Rayman DLC separately- it doesn't feature any Mario characters and it honestly feels like a separate game to me. That may not be kosher in the video game world, but I'm driven more by characters and narrative, and that felt separate.

So, That's about 61 hours to finish the game and 2 DLCs (it was another 6 for the Rayman one). That's just a long time to put into a game like this. Obviously, I mostly loved it, or I wouldn't have played it. I did have some issues with it, but more on the DLC than the main game. I have to say, I did love the narrative, loved Cursa, loved the inclusion of Rosalina. I'm still surprised that I have any interest in the Rabbids, but if they're partnered with Mario & friends, I'm in. I don't know that this game sold especially well, so we may never see a third game. I still hold out hope, though. This was a worthy sequel that did some things differently and while it might have had TOO much content, it still afforded me a terrific time.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Super Mario RPG, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope