Mario & Luigi: Brothership Review

Mario & Luigi: Brothership

Release: November 7, 2024
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer:
Genre: Switch Reviews
PEGI: 3
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If you had the chance to read our preview of Mario & Luigi: Brothership, you will know that our early time with the game was incredibly pleasant. While we noted there were some frame rate issues and a little too much dialogue, we praised the game for an engaging and accessible set of controls, some great writing, and a beautiful new setting to explore. As we trudged deeper and deeper into the 30+ hour story, I’d forgive you if you assumed some of those earlier issues began to bog down the experience. While we can confirm the amount of dialogue and frame rate issues didn’t decrease, it also didn’t take away from our overall enjoyment of the experience.

Connecting the islands of Concordia is the ultimate goal of Mario & Luigi, but a sinister group of thugs is creating issues for the brothers around every corner. The early moments of the game were very much tutorial levels – I was actually a bit shocked at how easy it was to move through the first 4-6 islands as I made my way to the various lighthouses and reconnected them to Shipshape Island. By now, I’m assuming you have a relative understanding of what is happening in Mario & Luigi: Brothership, and if not, go ahead and read our preview.

During the portion of the game we were allowed to play for our preview coverage, I had a third gripe that never actually made it’s way into our preview content – I was finding the game just a bit to easy. That was likely do to the fact that I completed every side mission as it came up, and returning to islands a second and third time meant I was padding my stats with just a bit more XP. Or perhaps, the ease of play came because I choose to get extra XP with my first major character ability when I reached level 8. Either way, the game didn’t seem to pose the challenge I remember past Mario & Luigi titles providing. Lochlan was having an equally easy time, and although that gap between “Who is the better gamer” is slowly closing, I think I still have a bit of an advantage over my 10 year old.

While I’m not sure the level of difficulty ever rose to what I had hoped as an adult gamer, I think it ultimately lands in a really great place that provides enough challenge for adults, while not becoming overly frustrating for younger players. Honestly, if I could be a fly-on-the-wall when this game was pitched at Nintendo HQ, it would not shock me in the slightest if one of the pillars of development was making this accessible to a younger audience.

When the challenge of the game wasn’t where I wanted it to be, however, the rest of the mechanics took over. Mario & Luigi titles have always been about working together, but that has never been more evident than now. Despite doing similar things battle-in and battle-out, I found that more often than not, those battles were really engaging as I used Mario and Luigi in tandem to take down increasingly more difficult enemies. Every jump and hammer attack has the brothers working together to deal as much damage as possible. They are constantly linked, with solo jumps only happening when one of the brothers is either incapacitated or knocked out. And once you begin to feel that may be your battle sequences need a bit more juice, you are introduced to the games Plugs system, little boosts that can be crafted using items you have found on islands. These boosts can create area-of-effect (AOE) damage, allow for easier timing for attacks and defence, and more. And there are SO many to craft and use, each with a number of charges (uses) that will then require a recharge. Interchanging these plugs depending on the situation was a lot of fun, and even the few times I got caught up in a fight I was not going to win, a few strategically used plugs later and I was onto the next thing.

The sense of exploration and discovery is what kept me going at times in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Even when an island or inlet I was exploring felt a bit easy, and some disappointment set in, the anticipation that something really interesting was on the horizon pushed me through one area and into the next. More often than not, that sense of exploration was rewarded with new and exciting places to visit. Writing this after other reviews have been posted as allowed me to rethink my own positions on a few things – while some outlets have indicated the Mario & Luigi: Brothership plays it too safe in it’s various environments, I strongly disagree. Games with worlds have been hammering home the typical stages for decades now, and while much of Mario & Luigi is built on the traditional grass, desert, snow, etc. concepts, the islands were different enough with unique mechanics. Those little things are what kept me exploring.

To be honest, if the fun and engaging battle system lets you down, and the sense of discover lets you down, then perhaps the gorgeous look of the game will be what pushes you forward. I don’t disagree with some critiques that the inhabitants of Concordia lack that sense of pizzaz we’ve found in previous Mario Games, but regardless of the character design choices, the artwork, music, and cutscenes are phenomenal. I try to think about what this game would look like with a more traditional Mario “look” and I’m not sure it would have the same charm. The way the world is designed, and the inhabitants of Concordia, benefit from this look in my opinion. The best use of the look, in my opinion, is that important items you need to solve puzzles seem to stand out a bit, instead of blending into the world around them. This is a huge benefits, especially for younger audiences.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is not without it’s faults. There are still some frame rate issues throughout, which I suppose at this point in the lifespan of the Nintendo Switch is to be expected. If we do get the next iteration of the Nintendo Switch in the next 8-12 months, I wouldn’t be shocked to see this get a solid update for that new system. I wouldn’t say any of the frame rate issues are ground breaking in any way, but I should note them none-the-less. The second major problem, one I highlighted in my preview, is the sheer amount of text and hand holding this game does. I get it, to appeal to a younger audience you need to direct players to what they need to accomplish, and in some situations, exactly how to accomplish it. It’s a bit much in my opinion. I found the game sometimes took that sense of exploration away from me when, at the moment I arrived at a new island, the camera panned through half of what I was about toe explore to show me where I was suppose to go.

The islands themselves are not that big, so it was a bit of a let down to have part of what I was just about to explore ruined for me because of a short cutscene where the camera panned the world. I do believe, however, that this is a minor gripe in the grand scheme of the game, since there is still so much to explore and find. There is one thing that is a bit less forgivable, however, and that is the sheer amount of dialogue. I’m not sure I’ve ever played a Mario title for the games story, and that probably isn’t about to change now. There is just too much talking happening. Talking before islands, talking after islands, talking for the sake of talking, and then a bit more talking on top of all of that. You can speed up this dialogue, and quickly click through a bunch of it if you want, but be ready for long sessions where you won’t be doing anything but reading.

Overall, this is a fantastic return to the Mario & Luigi series. Brothership takes all the best aspects of the series – Bros. Attacks, puzzles, quirky humour in scenes and conversations – and dumps them into a brand new experience in a world that was ultimately a lot of fun to explore. There are definitely areas of this game that some would call “safe” – yes, the sailing system seems to be something that could have been so much more. But when you take a step back and look at the game as a whole, you quickly realize that is such a small part of an otherwise fantastic experience that will delight any age of gamer.

A copy of the game was provided by Nintendo of Canada for this review.