I wrote a review of Paper Mario 64 out of plain boredom. I didn't have much else to do really. lol.
Paper Mario N64 review
The Good:
Stunning graphics, especially for the console - Simple, but very addictive combat system - Funny dialog which will keep you entertained - Interesting story which you will enjoy all the way to the end --Funny characters with some awesome characteristics.
The Bad:
Attack and block command timing is a bit off - Not much to do after the story’s finished - Everything doesn’t look all that ‘paper’
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Paper Mario is a very good (as I like to call it) un-official sequel to the great Super Mario RPG game on the SNES. It has introduced a lot of innovative features that have lived on in the sequels and improved over time. This also created a great sub-series of Mario & Luigi games, which are also plain outstanding.
Story:
The story is pretty basic. But it’s still pretty interesting to follow. The intro cutscene pretty much explains it all. There’s this LEEGENDAAAA-RY star-well thingy far up in the sky. “Far above the clouds, above the stars.” It said. Short version, Bowser raids the whole thing, steals the Star rod, lifts princess peach’s castle up in the sky, and Mario has to save all star spirits, The princess, which is kidnapped, and most importantly, TEH WOOORLD. Sorry. I mean, the world. Ah whatever. Play the game to find out.
Graphics:
Wow. Just wow. I couldn’t imagine how a N64 can create this good graphics. I mean, it dated so well, you can just put it on the market nowadays and think it’s a new title. The game has some pretty cool effects up it sleeve, if it had one. The lighting effects are very cool, and the characters are very well animated. My only problem with this is the characters and the world around them doesn’t look all that ‘paper’. Everything looks awesome, sure, but the only thing I could notice about paper, is how all characters are flat, and the houses and buildings fold in and out when you enter and leave them, which I liked. Everything reminds me of comic book cutouts, except they move. Everything looks a lot more like paper in the sequels though. There Mario can change into paper objects too. But enough about the sequels (WHICH ARE AWESOME TOO :3). Overall, the graphics make you pee pants of awe.
Sound:
Talk about tunes you’ll be humming through the day. Almost all tunes are very catchy, and some are very calming. It’s a very good balance. And the music fit’s the cartoony world just perfectly. The only thing that confused me was the music while all the (small spoiler alert!) are panicking about their baby yoshi’s.(Spoiler Finish.) The music is all fast in the beginning, but it gets all slowly after a while. I didn’t get it. :o But for the rest, the music is great and fit’s the game perfectly.
Controls:
Usually controls aren’t really that mentionable in RPG games. SO YOU THINK :3 Paper Mario has a really unique battle system with ‘Action commands’, where the power of each attack depends on your timing. When you use an jump attack, you have to press the A button just before you land on the enemy. You do a lot more damage if you do this correctly. More about this in the ‘Gameplay’ section. The controls work just as you would expect in the over world. Nothing special there.
Gameplay:
Two words: Action commands…and other RPG elements. The battle system is very simple, yet has a lot to offer. You have HP, FP, and Star power in battle. HP are your Health Points. Let it drop to zero, and your dead. Game over. ;-; So you better not let those points drop too much. Your FP is what you use for Special attacks which you put on with badges, that use your BP, which I’ll get to in a moment. Star power is a special bar which allows you to use attacks that makes use of the star spirits (which you saved). Some of them are pretty strong, some can save you from your death, some just won’t work when you need them, lol. The attack system lets you use Jump attacks, and Hammer attacks. They both do pretty much the same amount of damage, but you have to use the right one in the right situation. Is the enemy flying? Jump. Does he have a spike on his head, or is he pointing a spear upwards? Hammertime. Sounds simple, but it can get pretty complex when you get more attacks using badges. Lets talk about them. When you level up, you can choose to level up the maximum of your HP, FP, or BP. Your BP is what you use to activate badges you put on. Badges vary from giving you new attacks, to special stuff, like giving more coins after battle. Badges use BP to activate them. Usually, the more BP it uses, the better they do. Of course, before you can even activate your badges you need to find them, or buy them. It’s a very neat system. And I just think it’s amazing how they thought of all this stuff at the first game of the series. When you win a battle, you earn an amount of star points. Get 100 star points, and you level up. There is pretty much no grinding needed at all, since you level pretty fast, as long as you don’t run away too much, or avoid too many battles. Overall, it’s a simple battle system, and it’s very engaging, and most importantly, SO MUCH FUN. :D
Overall:
Paper Mario is simply a masterpiece. It has a great story to tell, an awesome battle system, and so much value. Not to mention, the graphics. My final problem is when you’ve beaten it, there isn’t much of a reason to go through it again. Of course, it’s a blast to replay this experience again, but there’s are no extra’s once you beat it. No ‘New game+’, no hard mode. Nothing! But it’s still fun to go for another round though.
PS : Don’t try to wait until the ending screen fades away. It doesn’t.. o_O
SCORE:
Story: 8/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Controls:8.5/10
Gameplay:9.5/10
Fun Factor:9.5/10
OVERALL SCORE: **95/100**
Comment please. I'd love to hear what people think of this.
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