Author: Clark

Paper Mario is such an odd franchise. This feels like a series of games where Nintendo does whatever the hell it wants. You can’t even say they are consistently turn-based RPGs, because Super Paper Mario on Wii changed that up. And Origami King is only partially turn-based. Smaller enemies and boss battles are still turn-based, but there are several medium-sized enemies that you fight in real-time. I wish they’d just ditch the turn-based battles altogether, because this series has stopped doing them well since the Gamecube. The gimmick this time around is that you have to line up the battle field before you attack. Against smaller enemies, this becomes a tedious chore that I’d rather flee from (if fleeing didn’t have such a high failure rate).

The boss battles are actually pretty fun, though. Instead of lining up the enemies, you need to create a path for Mario to follow that will stop at useful power-ups along the way. Bosses also have different gotchas that make each encounter feel fresh, as opposed to the repetitive minion battles that boil down to “use hammer or jump.” I did appreciate that you could smash and kill an enemy in the overworld to prevent a turn-based battle, but it was never clear which enemies were susceptible to this trick. It’s supposed to be tied to how strong you are, but the only indicator of your strength is how much max HP you have. And since battles reward no experience points—hell, there are no experience points in this game—the only way to increase your health/power is to stumble across explicit upgrades in the overworld.

For me, the best thing about Paper Mario games now is simply exploring the world. Uncovering hidden Toads in Origami King was a fun side goal, and the environments were always fairly clever and visually stunning. I didn’t care for the “flat paper vs origami” storyline, but I will admit that the origami art style is cool. In typical Nintendo fashion, though, they hit you over the head with the story. Yeah, Paper Mario games are always on the wordy side, but didn’t they recently trim down the dialogue in Skyward Sword? Nintendo hasn’t learned its lesson here. Your travel companion will not shut up and has to comment on everything. This is when we need voice acting. It would have been great to listen to Olivia talk while you’re moving about. But being forced to stop and read her dialogue turns this into more of a slog than it needs to be.

This is a game I liked enough to beat, but I’m hesitant to give it a full-blown recommendation. Blue Fire has a lot of issues. It’s been touted as a cross between Hollow Knight (a game I couldn’t get into) and Zelda (a series I obviously love), so it’s no wonder my feelings are mixed. The main problem I have with the game is that the combat is clunky and pits you against unfair enemies. The second area of the game is particularly frustrating, because that’s when you fight floating ice monsters whose stun/freeze attacks do a huge amount of damage. Worse yet, it takes your character a full second to consume a healing item, and if you have to move before he’s finished, it cancels the healing. So you’re pretty much screwed in some boss battles that never leave you an opening to heal.

What takes the edge off is the fact that you can find/earn lots of upgrades. I’m a sucker for platforming and exploration, so I really enjoyed that aspect of the game. There are two towns with NPCs who dole out side quests, as well as several voids scattered throughout the world that feel like Super Mario challenge levels. These voids are the only way to get health upgrades, though, and some of them are pretty devious. I eventually had to accept that I wasn’t going to be able to max out my health meter. But you can also get upgrades like a double jump or double dash that allow you to cheese your way through parts of these voids. I appreciated that the platforming became easier over time instead of harder, as is usually tradition.

Unfortunately, it’s really easy to miss out on important upgrades due to the way the world is built. This is one big, interconnected castle a la Metroid, but you’re given no map to help you get your bearings. I walked right past the room with the projectile attack upgrade early on, which would have come in handy against those flying ice monsters in Part 2. I did go back and find it after fast travel was unlocked, but there was another early skill—a spin attack—that I never found. The loading screen hints frequently alluded to this spin attack, and yet I somehow beat the entire game without it. On one hand, I guess it’s nice to have a game that doesn’t force your path so much (ahem, Zelda), but that also really screws with the difficulty if you’re not careful.

The only other Red Faction game I’ve played was Guerrilla, but I really liked the mechanics of that game. Guerrilla’s open world was also pretty fun, though I didn’t necessarily need another open world going into Armageddon. I was totally okay with smaller, more linear levels as long as the same weapons and destruction were there. Unfortunately, they went too small and linear. The majority of the game takes place in dark, cramped, underground caves with not a lot of buildings you can tear down. Worse yet, the main enemies are generic aliens. What I liked about Guerrilla was infiltrating an enemy base and outsmarting the guards as I ripped apart the walls and floors. You don’t get much of that here. It feels like a huge waste of the game engine.

To be fair, there are still some fun moments of destruction. I liked using the plasma thrower to melt obstacles that were in my way or to quickly drop down a level. The new magnet gun is also fun to use; you can tear chunks of a building off with it and slam them into enemies. But, again, you’re rarely presented with larger buildings that require any thought in their demolition. Whenever the levels do open up, it’s because you’re piloting a (clunky) vehicle. There’s just so much more they could have done with this game. I’m sure budget constraints played a part, but even then… why go with generic aliens? Why make 80% of the game take place underground? At face value, this is an okay shooter with a few neat ideas, but knowing those neat ideas were the hallmark of a better game makes it harder to enjoy.