Paper Mario games used to be better. Not to say the newer ones are bad,
but they aren’t as good as the first three. After Super Paper Mario, the series just went
downhill with the 2012 installment Paper Mario: Sticker Star. That game had a shallow
plot (especially for an RPG), pointless and unfun battles, confusing puzzles that
required sites like GameFAQs to find out, no characterization at all, and it was just a
bad game to play. Thus, when Paper Mario: Color Splash was announced and shown,
people were horrified. Why, you may ask? That is because everything in the game
looked like a rehash of Sticker Star. So since it looked like Sticker Star 2, most people
were not interested in Color Splash.
Now the game is finally out (even though the whole game was leaked by Nintendo on accident 2 weeks earlier), and the verdicts are finally in. Surprisingly, the game got a good verdict, with a 78% on Metacritic and a 7.3 on IGN. Some people liked it, while others despised it. What do I think? I think it’s pretty good! No joke, I’m actually having a good time with it.
The story is pretty basic. Peach and a Toad bring Mario a letter on a dark and stormy night, which turns out to be a colorless Toad. Mario notices on the Toad’s head that it has the symbol for Port Prisma, and thus, Mario and company (except Luigi, unfortunately) embark on another quest. It is a tiny bit more complicated, but that’s the basic gist of it. Mario also befriends a... talking paint can. Yeah, a paint can, who gives Mario the power to paint with his hammer. But this character is actually fleshed out as a character, unlike Kersti from Sticker Star, who was (pardon the pun) a flat character, and was boring. So at least there is more character in the characters. The graphics are amazing. You can see all the fabric and materials on the characters and objects. Probably some of the best on a Nintendo console to date. The gameplay is basically the same as Sticker Star’s, but there are changes made to make it miles better. These include: rewarding you with hammer scraps, which fills up a meter that increases your total paint supply, a lot more cards to use than stickers from the previous game, having boss battles not be completely reliant on using a certain Thing card to beat it solely, and having a battle spinner which gives you a card in case you run out. These changes make the battle system infinitely better than Sticker Star’s. Also, the overworld and regular levels are more varied and have much to do than Sticker Star’s levels and overworld. Even the puzzles aren’t as bad, as not only are the spots where you have to cut out more obvious, but the Thing objects are easier to claim and if you’re stuck, you can talk to the Know-It-All Toad, who knows what Things to use in bosses or levels, which is a lot better than Sticker Star’s intrusive, confusing puzzles. The music is excellent, and the sound effects complement the game’s style well. The difficulty level is pretty good so far; not too easy, but not too hard.
Now the game is finally out (even though the whole game was leaked by Nintendo on accident 2 weeks earlier), and the verdicts are finally in. Surprisingly, the game got a good verdict, with a 78% on Metacritic and a 7.3 on IGN. Some people liked it, while others despised it. What do I think? I think it’s pretty good! No joke, I’m actually having a good time with it.
The story is pretty basic. Peach and a Toad bring Mario a letter on a dark and stormy night, which turns out to be a colorless Toad. Mario notices on the Toad’s head that it has the symbol for Port Prisma, and thus, Mario and company (except Luigi, unfortunately) embark on another quest. It is a tiny bit more complicated, but that’s the basic gist of it. Mario also befriends a... talking paint can. Yeah, a paint can, who gives Mario the power to paint with his hammer. But this character is actually fleshed out as a character, unlike Kersti from Sticker Star, who was (pardon the pun) a flat character, and was boring. So at least there is more character in the characters. The graphics are amazing. You can see all the fabric and materials on the characters and objects. Probably some of the best on a Nintendo console to date. The gameplay is basically the same as Sticker Star’s, but there are changes made to make it miles better. These include: rewarding you with hammer scraps, which fills up a meter that increases your total paint supply, a lot more cards to use than stickers from the previous game, having boss battles not be completely reliant on using a certain Thing card to beat it solely, and having a battle spinner which gives you a card in case you run out. These changes make the battle system infinitely better than Sticker Star’s. Also, the overworld and regular levels are more varied and have much to do than Sticker Star’s levels and overworld. Even the puzzles aren’t as bad, as not only are the spots where you have to cut out more obvious, but the Thing objects are easier to claim and if you’re stuck, you can talk to the Know-It-All Toad, who knows what Things to use in bosses or levels, which is a lot better than Sticker Star’s intrusive, confusing puzzles. The music is excellent, and the sound effects complement the game’s style well. The difficulty level is pretty good so far; not too easy, but not too hard.
However, the game’s not perfect. There’s a level, Kiwano Temple, which is very
tedious and dull to play, and that for me lowers the score of any game that has it by
some points because it’s a pace breaker. Also, the game could’ve been better if it had
a better story, and a battle system akin to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
In conclusion, Paper Mario: Color Splash is an enjoyable time to play, even though the story isn’t as good as the first three installments, and the gameplay is refined to make it better than Sticker Star’s gameplay. So, on a scale of one to ten, I would give it a 9/10, which is a high recommendation.
9/10
High Recommendation
In conclusion, Paper Mario: Color Splash is an enjoyable time to play, even though the story isn’t as good as the first three installments, and the gameplay is refined to make it better than Sticker Star’s gameplay. So, on a scale of one to ten, I would give it a 9/10, which is a high recommendation.
9/10
High Recommendation
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