It is good to be back Happy New Year everyone! I’m glad to start this year with a game that utterly disappointed me. While not the worst RPG I’ve played it does disappoint the fans who have been waiting for a continuation to this series. I like Mario RPGs I had nothing but praise for Legend of the Seven Stars, Bowsers Inside Story, and The Thousand Year Door. So while only one of those is part of this particular series it feels like steps back.

The Mario And Luigi RPG series is a reaction based rpg and while this game has the same roots gameplay feels off. The original company that worked on this series went out of business so it does feel the same, but oddly different. One thing these games always did was ensure that all party members were controlled through different buttons whether on the overworld or in combat, further when using one of the brothers unless it was a Bros. Attack you only needed to use the A button for Mario and the B button for Luigi. While the button layout seems simple that was intentional as gameplay often relied on timings depending on what the player does and if they react in time. A few things was traversal is more limited there are no new Bros. Moves and some that have been there forever are gone now this is extremely noticeable when everyone is locked in a jail cell in previous games you would have two options Mini Mario form or flat Bros even Paper Jam gave access to Paper Marios flat form. So while a character does reference how useful a skill like that would be likely trying to reference the Thousand Year Door Remake in this context doesn’t make sense. Writing is boring and falls flat I started skipping most dialogue because it just will end in a bad pun or takes forever to get to the point. Yes, previous games in this series had jokes and goofy writing, but this time it feels forced and the writing isn’t about really making fun of itself like it used to.

The new companion Snoutlet somehow does less than Starlow. Now functually they are the same through them you have your gear and tips, but Starlow really shined when helping understand the world as well as actually helping decipher Mario and Luigi’s gibberish or acting as a guide and their voice often adding to the humor. Snoutlet serves as a guide mostly, but unlike Starlow, Snoutlet does more complaining before doing anything I somehow found him more annoying than anything. This is in comparison to an annoying companion. Next the Sailing mechanic it is boring this isn’t Zelda the Wind Waker you can travel to any island after one visit at any time with little to no changes and it can take forever to get there. You can fish and get items, and materials, but no treasures or things to find just more islands and small challenges. Then there are charcaters like Bowser and Peach I know why they’re here, but they really don’t do anything especially Peach who even when given the choice really doesn’t matter. In fact there are several choices in this game that don’t mean anything sequences play out the same and nothing changes. Then there are side quests with the new and existing characters a lot of them are forgettable to unneeded.

Score: 6/10