Mario & Luigi: Brothership - Review In Progress
Due to some technical difficulties, review codes complications lead to a delay in getting started with Mario & Luigi: Brothership, hindering Paul’s ability to get the game completed . Stay tuned for a full, comprehensive review as Paul finishes the game.
I love a Mario RPG, and while I’m especially a sucker for a Paper Mario game, I’m also quite fond of the Mario & Luigi sub-franchise as well, and so it was a bit of a blow to the heart when the news emerged that long-term developer of the Mario & Luigi titles, AlphaDream, were to be closed down in 2019 due to bankruptcy. With their closure, my hopes that we would get a new entry in the Mario & Luigi RPG series took a significant hit, but much to my surprise though, hope sprung anew when in June 2024 a new title, Mario & Luigi: Brothership would be releasing quite imminently. Developed by Acquire in collaboration with Nintendo and some former AlphaDream developers, Mario & Luigi: Brothership shakes the formula up in some areas and remains right on target in others. I’m keen to see more, but my early impressions are extremely positive.
Mario & Luigi have found themselves on Shipshape Island, a rather curious piece of land since it’s made up of half physical land, and half ship. Together they find themselves out on the wide-open seas of Concordia looking to unite the islands, and having traversed several of them so far, I’m quickly finding myself invested in the plights of the various inhabitants and reasons to seek the connection of their island to the primary hub. There’s much more for me to see in this space, but I’m confident in my ability to have a good time with the game, given the way the story is being delivered so far.
As a game playing experience, Brothership contains many references to the past, leaning on reliable franchise pillars to guide the direction of the gameplay, while it includes a few new systems to spice things up. As with prior games, each half of the Mario Bros pairing can be independently controlled. While they travel together, each jumps with a different button, other interactions are independent of each other as well, making for unique puzzling scenarios, and brain-breaking platforming opportunities. Combat mechanics are also intertwined with these systems and whether you’re on the attack, defending or evading, or puzzling/platforming, there are plenty of ways for players to execute fun, rhythmic moves, but also lots of opportunities for clumsy, messy failures of execution. As the campaign continues, a number of skills can be unlocked which allow the brothers Mario to work together to traverse large distances, and more. Being an RPG, levelling systems exist, but it’s the ranking system that levelling is folded into that is most interesting. For every eight levels that you progress, players will increase by a rank, and with each rank you progress, players will enjoy new perks like additional gear slots.
There are a range of other systems like Luigi Logic which I want to see in more detail, and of course I’m eager to see the game reaches its conclusion as well to see how everything eventually comes together, but as of this point in time, it looks like Nintendo has another big winning Mario RPG on its hands.
