LogFAQs > #961467207

49. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (2017) - Switch

There are some good things about this game, but there's a whole lot of meh stuff too. The basic concept is cool - Mario characters doing XCOM style battles. It's a bit silly that they all use guns (why not have them use fireballs, an actual Mario power?), but gameplay-wise it works. Most of the battles are fairly fun. The one weakness here is that they could use a little more variety. There are 36 levels in the main campaign, most of which have two battles, and there isn't a huge variety of objectives or opponents or level designs. Unfortunately, the other gameplay kind of sucks. XCOM gives us the fun base-building stuff between levels, while Kingdom Battle gives us... an isometric overworld you explore without any Mario powers? It's filled with basic, uninteresting block puzzles. I enjoyed it more early on, where you'd basically run around a minute or two seeing the (pretty) sights between battles, but these interludes get much longer as the game goes on.

The other elements are a bit of a mixed bag. The Rabbids are sometimes funny and sometimes annoying - Rabbid Mario was my favorite of the bunch, for his dry sense of humor rather than being crazy. I like how he looks like a porn star. The game has a weird start where it begins on Earth, and never goes back to that. Most of the villains aren't particularly exciting, except for the Phantom, the only character in the main game with voice acting, who sings and disses you during the boss battle with him. His fight kinda made the whole game worth it and is glorious. Too bad the game didn't have more stuff like him.

Next game hint: I haven't played a Pokemon game in years, but I have played this!