“Nintendo’s Mario + Ubisoft’s Rabbids + tactical strategy.”
It came off as such an odd combination when it was announced this week. And yet, it works. It works well. It works well on just about every aspect. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is charming as heck, and surprisingly strong in game mechanic.
My twenty minutes of time with the game at E3 let me navigate an overworld, fight on an obstacle-littered battlefield, and ogle the characters. Immediately upon the start of the demo, the visual style reminds me of the Wii U’s Super Mario 3D World and Wind Waker HD games with tilt shifting camera effects. It’s not a texture monster, instead choosing to be bright, quirky and delightful, and extremely polished. Mario looks great, the Rabbids looks great, and Beep-O the robot looks great.
Beep-O, a sort of Roomba with bunny ears, is our guide for the game. Beep-O is our cypher; it is the reason that Mario & pals do what they do, following it around the map and its orders in battles. Yes, it’s essentially just a glorified mouse pointer, but Ubisoft managed to make it an integral part of the narrative, complete with a personality and story. This comes off very Nintendo-like, which becomes a common thread throughout the rest of game. Attention to detail is immaculate. In fact, thanks to the slightly isometric camera angle, it carries some resemblance to Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
When the demo kicks off in an early portion of the game, our team consists of Mario, a Luigi Rabbid and a Peach Rabbid. In our very first battle against the game’s evil Rabbids (rabid Rabbids?) we discover that teammates can jump off each other, attack as they run by, use character specific special moves, and take cover behind obstacles. They each have a specific action areas depending on their stats, but can do a lot within those, chaining together commands in a variety of ways. I can command my Luigi Rabbid to use Mario as a launch board, attack, head down a warp pipe and run to a block obstacle after I reappear. We have a lot to do, but it’s accessible and easy to control (surprisingly well with the Joy-Cons, to be honest).
It’s turn based, so that once our actions are completed, our enemies can attack or defend. It’s not a complex system — not nearly as deep or flushed out as something like a PC tactical RPG — but it’s enough to feel like it’s not made for toddlers. The early battles go by quickly, but they do manage to get chaotic enough to warrant thinking ahead before we blindly punch forward. And with excellent animations and the promise of more customizations and character advancement (it’s a lite RPG, after all) I’m suddenly looking forward to discovering more.
What’s most interesting about M+R is that it feels and functions like the Western developed game that it is, yet it captures enough of the basics of a Nintendo game. It’s clearly a divergence from what we’ve seen of Mario in the past, but it still feels like an actual Mario game, and that’s a testament to the developers. With both Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle and Super Mario Odyssey releasing this Fall, this year could bring us some of the freshest takes on the character we’ve seen in a while.
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