I try my best to never pre-order games but I fell victim to the sweet allure of Nintendo's sexiest Italian plumber once again. I also made the mistake of pre-ordering this title through Amazon so it came two days later but it finally arrived. (I didn't see the pre-order shipping option if it was there at all) As much as I like to avoid reading reviews of games that I have bought and not already played this particular title seems to be doing well. Now it's my turn to take a look. I dusted off the old Zelda machine, relearned how to put a game into the Switch, started the clock and played one hour of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle by Ubisoft.
The Experience:
Intro Story Spoiler
The story begins in the room of a young inventress who has succeeded in creating goggles that can combine any two items. She is obviously a huge fan of Nintendo because when we get a glimpse of her room it can only be described as super fandom. She gets up and leaves the goggles behind and in comes our Rabbid friends with what is later described as a combo washer/time machine. (Who needs a dryer.) One of these little guys gets his hands on the goggles and starts combining everything around him until he combines what seems to be a clock and the washer time machine. This causes the Rabbids to be sucked back into the washer time machine, along with a poster of Mario and crew, which creates a rip in space in the Mushroom Kingdom pulling our heroes in and landing us in a warped version of the Kingdom.
This is definitely a turn-based tactics game. In combat, you control your hero by selecting where they move to and what they fire at. There are places where you can send them to gain cover, which will reduce the chance of your heroes being hit. The enemy also does this so character placement is key. One interesting thing in the early levels is a miss will hit the object that the target character is hiding behind causing the object to chip away. If you hit the object enough times it disappears leaving the once hidden character wide open. I am only an hour in so my move set is limited to moving and shooting with a primary weapon although in the Battle HQ there is a hint at a secondary weapon.
The graphics look pretty good for the Switch. We know that it is not a hardware titan and so not much can be expected. The first area I am in is simple but elegant and I have made it back to Peach's castle, which acts as the hub between worlds. It also houses the Battle HQ, a museum that holds collectible items, and several buildings under construction. I have seen the start of a few other areas connected to this hub that I cannot access yet so I know there is a lot of content to unpack. Along with the visual aesthetic, the music is good and you can hear hints of old songs that are well known in the Mario franchise. I did get a little kick of nostalgia hearing a hint of the early castle song from Mario 64.
Before I played a Rabbids game I was always turned off by how loud and obnoxious they seemed on the commercial but for some reason when you get into it the games they become endearing. My first experience was Raving Rabbids on the Wii. That same adorable idiot vibe is heavily present in this game from the beginning and it doesn't seem to clash with the Mario world. Their reflections of archtypes already have given me a few sensible chuckles and once again I don't feel annoyed with them at all.
I am enjoying what I have played so far but I feel with this title I have just scratched the surface. Right now I am ready to jump back into the game, finish it, then give a full review.
TL;DR:
So far so good. This feels like a Mario game and with combat and exploration that is fun. While the graphics aren't mindblowing, the aesthetics fit and the world has a lot to see. Really looking forward to playing this rest of this game and if all holds this will be a top pick of mine to buy.
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