Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (2022)

I downloaded the demo because I was bored and was pleasantly surprised by it and got caught in the story so I decided to buy the game. I have to admit it was far better than I expected, having never actually heard anyone talk about the game. It had a cool story, a lot of humour, a lot of playable characters -old and new ones- and nice graphics. The only thing I didn’t love was the end, as I thought it was too easy and rushed and was expecting more battles, and the fact the game had a few bugs. However, I enjoyed reaching 100% in the game and it took me roughly 50 hours to get it. It was overall a pleasant experience and I might end up buying the DLCs in the future.

Played the final DLC starring Rayman. It was a bit underwhelming, but it was still fun. My favorite boss from the first game, Phantom, makes a return and it is cool to see Rayman in something. Story is pretty entertaining and I was forced to use characters I completely ignored in the base game, so it was neat becoming familiar with them. Rayman's mechanics are interesting, but it wasn't such a big difference that it impressed me like the DK DLC in the first game did. Rayman can swing on hooks and transform, but there wasn't really a progression with unlocking new abilities to keep me excited. I was hoping to see Rayman and the Mario characters interact, but the party is limited to Rayman and Rabbids. Final thoughts: it's fun if you are really craving more Mario + Rabbids, but it isn't fun enough for me to give a full hearted endorsement. That being said, I really hope we see another 2D Rayman game and another entry in the Mario + Rabbid series again.

Beat wave 1 of the season pass and I found it disappointing. This felt like it could’ve been in the base game. I was expecting a new playable character or a story to follow, similar to the DK DLC in the first Mario+rabbids.

Gameplay: It seems like it’s just a challenge mode to add replayability to see if you can beat it in less turns.
Story: Spawny from the first game makes a cameo, but only for the intro and ending cutscenes. Spawny could’ve been completely removed from the narrative and it wouldn’t really change anything.

I unlocked a harder difficulty, so I plan on playing that later.

I prefer the first game, but this one was fun too. It’s been years since I’ve played the original, so I’m just going to be going off of vague recollections when making comparisons.

Pros
+Each character has different main weapons, making them feel more unique than in the first game where their main weapons would overlap with one another.
+Movement is even better. You can move and glide around freely, making it easier to position teammates.
+You are given much more freedom with team composition. In the first game, Mario always had to be in the party so you would only have 2 free slots. The sequel doesn’t have this restriction so you have 3 free slots to experiment with whatever team composition you’d like.
+Experience is shared equally between active and non-active party members, making it easy to switch members on the fly.

Cons
-Wish we were able to fill out the skill tree completely. There were a few characters that couldn’t fill their trees out in the first game, but it’s much worse in this game. You’ll probably only be able to fill out half of your tree.
-The game felt less charming overall. The rabbids in the first game were oozing with personality from their body language and interactions. In this game they just happen to be there.
-Enemies will always pursue you, even if you are a much higher level than them. This just makes it annoying to explore the world map when you’re trying to avoid combat.
-The AI for summoning sparks is horrendous. They will eventually stop moving and attacking, and you can’t summon another one until the summon on the field is eliminated, so you will basically have a wasted slot for that battle.

Miscellaneous
+-The weapon system is different. Damage and element are no longer linked to weapons. Damage is determined by character level and skill tree, while the elements are moved to sparks.
+-Game might be a bit more grindy overall with the inclusion of character levels and spark levels
+-World design is less linear and more about exploring an open area to find side quests
+-There are now items that can be used in and out of battle. I’ll be honest, I didn’t use them, so I don’t have anything to say about it, but wanted to acknowledge this as a change from the first game.
+-Being able to freely craft your party is awesome, but there’s no incentive to experiment once you find a composition you like. I went through the entire game as Mario, Luigi, and Peach. I felt like I cheated myself out of the full experience, but it was also comfortable to go with the safe route.
+-I feel like the game holds itself back a bit by staying with the three party system. The best parts of the game for me were the battles where it allowed the player to control more than 3 party members and it made me feel like the entire game could be played with 4+ members. I can’t really say it’s an issue with the game, but when I saw that it was possible to do more, I wanted the entire game to be like that.
+-Having enemies roam the field is great when grinding for exp, Star bits, and coins, but that also meant there’s an increase in smaller battles where you’ll see a lot of the same maps and enemy types.