Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope Review

Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

Release: January 1, 1970
Publisher:
Developer:
Genre: Action, Adventure, Family, Genres, Nintendo Switch Categories, Role-playing, Strategy, Switch Reviews, Tactical, Turn-Based
PEGI:
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Last week, we had our review-in-progress of Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and this week, we have our full review! Is Mario and Rabbids the next great Nintendo Switch game? Let’s find out!

Story and Gameplay

When a mysterious new enemy appears and Rosalina (from Super Mario Galaxy) disappears, Mario, Luigi, Peach, and their Rabbid friends jump into action to find out what’s going on. Their journey takes them across several planets where they meet new allies and face many menacing foes. This is Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope’s story. It isn’t a great story, however, its far better than we usually see in a Mario game. And that’s because Mario and Rabbids isn’t your usual Mario game.

Remember how we said that our heroes JUMP into action? Actually, there is no jumping whatsoever in this game. Instead, Mario and friends take part in action strategy battles! Check out our review-in-progress part 3 for information about how the games work.

Spark of Hope’s battles are really good. This game can be challenging, if you want it to be, or you can turn on an invincibility option to make it much easier. There is a lot of strategy be had either way. There’s plenty to do out of battle too!

The worlds of Mario and Rabbids are huge, and you’ll find plenty of puzzles, quests, Rabbids to talk to, and more. Your time in Sparks of Hope will be filled with exploration and battles. Mario and Rabbids is such a unique spinoff of the Mario franchise. Ubisoft did a great job with this game for the most part.

We did run into some occasional weird bugs in our journey. The game crashed once and the strangest bug of all was when there was a battle where Mario and friends couldn’t fight at all. Overall, though, the game runs great! It also looks wonderful.

Graphics and Sound

Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is a good-looking game. Each planet you visit is packed with details, interesting new areas to visit and unique enemies. There is a bit repetition to the enemies, but enough unique ones that things don’t get too stale. All of the heroes look great. Sparks of Hope looks like a game developed by Nintendo and that’s the best complaint we can give the graphics.

As for the sound, there is some voice acting and its good. It’s too bad there isn’t more. The music in the game is good but not on the same level as the game’s graphics.

Still, Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is a fantastic game. If you loved the first game, you’ll like this one even more. And if you’ve never played a Mario and Rabbids game before, then you’ll definitely want to check this game out anyway. It’s a lot of fun!

Conclusion

Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is even better than the first game in this unique franchise. Ubisoft crafted a beautiful game, with a fun, challenging battle system, and tons of other things to do too. The game isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty close. It is definitely better than the first game in this franchise. We can’t wait to see what Ubisoft will do with a third Mario and Rabbids game! Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is a must play, especially for strategy fans.

Thank you to Ubisoft Canada for providing a review code for this game. Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is now available via retail and on the Nintendo Switch eshop!

Overall: 9.0

Visuals: 9.5

Gameplay: 9.0

Sound: 9.0