First off my 3 stars here really translates to 3.5 stars (really wish this site could add in a half star feature). A very solid follow-up to superstar saga. While I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as the first in the series, it was still an entertaining and consistent game that was worth my time. Here's my review.
The story here is once again pretty basic. Compared to other Mario games in the franchise, the RPG stories of course stick out as they're more story heavy. While the story is good, it's nothing crazy. I've heard people clam on about how this is one of the darkest stories in the Mario franchise, and while that may be true, it's still a Mario game. The time traveling focus of the story in this game works well, but it's pretty basic in terms of time travel shenanigans. I'm not really a huge fan of time travel in media as I feel like things become too convoluted and messy, but this time travel is pretty straight forward. It's almost like the "past" in this game is an alternate reality. That's usually how I choose to look at and approach time travel in media anyways. The main threat of the Shroob army is fine I guess. I think I prefer Cackletta and Fawful in the first game as I felt they had more personality, even if I still wasn't a huge fan of them. The shroobs are kind of just mindless drones/zombies, which I understand is their whole character trait. Princess Shroob isn't as strong of a villian imo as Cackletta, but she gets the job done. The surprise revelation of the elder shroob sister at the end works, but feels a bit rushed. The light-hearted humor is still present in this game and it works just as well as it did last time. Overall I think I prefer the story of the first game, but I wouldn't say the story here is bad or anything. From my now three experiences with Mario RPGs, I think I realize that the combat of these games is what really hooks me. The story is serviceable. I never felt bored during it, but I also didn't feel like "I had to see what happened next." Very average story-telling.
The combat here is similar to Superstar Saga, but has its own twist on things. First off the obvious, you control four characters instead of just two. I think the idea of having each of the 4 characters tied to a face button on the DS is genius. It works well, and makes for some fun combat encounters. It took a little getting used to having to use all 4 buttons simultaneously at points, but over time it grew on me. Next is the removal of Bros Attacks and the introduction of Bros Items. I think I prefer Bros Attacks and the bros points system in the first game, but I didn't hate Bros Items as much as I thought I would. Bros Items are pretty generously given to you throughout the game, and you can purchase more from the shop. The items themselves were unique and each provided a different level of input from the bros. I really like the copy flower ability, cannonball, and trampoline. Bros Items had pretty simple input commands compared to Bros Attacks, but since this game used more face buttons for its input commands I think it works. Overall I enjoyed the combat here. It was different enough from the first game and tried it's own thing and I respect that. I'm not sure if it's popular opinion to hate on Bros Items, but I really didn't mind them and thought they worked well for this game.
The last major point I want to discuss in this game is that of level progression. For some reason I didn't find it necessary to defeat every enemy in an area to level up. I didn't struggle with any of the boss fights in this game, so I didn't spend my time fighting smaller enemies. In fact, I'd often try to avoid combat encounters if I could. This worked fine, until the final boss. Imagine my dismay when I spent an hour fighting the three phase final boss fight, just to loose and start all over again. My bros were all at level 19, and while it was tough, I thought I'd be able to manage getting through the final boss at this level. Making it through the first two phases of the final boss and then dying on the third phase after an entire hour of gameplay was enough to make me realize I was under-leveled. No way was I going through that again. I went back through shroob castle and grinded all my bros up to level 30 as I had read online that was a more appropriate level. Entering the final boss fight again 11 levels higher made a huge difference. In fact, the entire three phases were over in about 10 mins. Those 11 levels made the final boss fight way too easy. I realize this is 100% my fault, however. I now know moving forward with the other games in this series that I won't be skipping over combat encounters so that I can be a more appropriate level for the endgame. I'm not sure why I got away with not doing combat encounters and not struggling on other bosses in the game, but the final boss made me realize that wasn't gonna fly. I wonder what my "true" level would have been in the end if I had done every combat encounter possible. Level 30 seems too high, but it made me spend an extra couple of hours with the game and I don't regret having to put in a little grind at the end. As already stated, I won't be skipping over combat encounters in Bowser's Inside Story or Dream Team.
Some small miscellaneous things here to wrap it up. The OST is good here. Maybe even better than Superstar Saga's. HolliJolli village and Toadtown's themes were some of my favorites. I also liked the music in Star Hill's area. Good final boss theme too. The atmosphere and locations in this game very also just well done. The sprite-work is great and a joy to look at. I do have to mention the weird lag I experienced at times though. I'm not sure if it's because I was playing an emulated copy (please don't tell the Nintendo Ninjas) or what but when there were a ton of enemies on screen or when the babies were separated, my frames dropped like crazy. I'm not sure if this is something others experienced as well, but it happened a decent amount of times throughout my gameplay. Not enough to make me stop playing, but noticeable enough to write about here.
Anyways, I think that's it for Partners in Time. It would've been nice to have seen this one get the remake treatment like Superstar Saga and Bower's Inside Story, but it's still cherished by many I'm sure. I put this on par if not slightly behind Superstar Saga for me. A very respectable sequel that tried to expand upon the first game and spice things up in a fun way. Like with the previous entry in this series, there's little to no replay value here outside of experiencing the main story again, so I don't see myself coming back here anytime soon. Looking forward to Bowser's Inside Story as I hear that's a lot of people's favorite. Not sure if I should play the original or the 3ds remake, kind of debating between the two right now. I really did enjoy the Bowser's Minions mode in the Superstar Saga remake, and I know a similar mode exists in the 3ds version. If anyone wants to sway me one way or the other feel free to make your arguments under this post!
