Bad gameplay negates and overshadows the good graphics and soundtrack
Oh boy. Let's start with the positives. Up to this point, Paper Mario: Color Splash is the most beautiful Paper Mario game, in aesthetic and graphics. Everything in the world genuinely looks like paper or carboard, especially with the white border around all the characters (I know that's a hot take, but I think the white border really sells the paper aesthetic ). Someone might even think Nintendo found a way to make a stop motion video game. Nintendo knew if they want to make the focal point of this Paper Mario game colors, they had to bring the colors. Indeed, they truly brought the colors. All the colors in the game were bright and vibrant. I especially appreciate how they divided the game's world into 6 main colors, and the levels within the world all have shades of those colors. Also deserving praise is the soundtrack. Up to this point, Paper Mario: Color Splash has one of the most beautiful soundtracks. Koji Kondo has created one of the best soundtracks in his career. The soundtrack covers a wide array of genres, and none of them seem out of place. The game credits 29 musicians, each for their own instrument, and they deserve it. This game definitely needs to be played with television sound all the way up or wearing headphones or earbuds.
Then comes the gameplay, which negates or even overpowers the look and sound of the game. The primary gameplay loop from Paper Mario: Sticker Star returns to Paper Mario: Color Splash. The battle sequence is turn-based, but it is not a turn-based RPG, meaning no experience points and no levels, but time hits still reappear. This time, however, it's more complicated. Instead of stickers, Color Splash uses cards. First, the gamer has to select the card on the touch screen. Nintendo must have heard the complaints about the lack of space for stickers because Color Splash has room for 99 cards, and all cards are the same size, just taking up 1 slot. Rarely will the player run out of room for cards (that only happened once or twice for me). Second, the player has to paint the card. After all, it would not be a color splash without paint. Paint increases damage and likelihood of perfectly timed attacks. Players can use cards without paint, but it will do less damage, and it will less likely lead to multiple attacks. Third, gamers have to flick the card from the Wii U Game Pad to the TV. Yes, 3 moves to execute an attack (four if including pressing A/tapping the screen for timed attacks). It felt like a lot to execute an attack, especially next to Sticker Star, in which the player had to merely tap on the sticker. Furthermore, this new primary game loop requires the gamer to have both cards and paint in inventory to execute an attack. Again, yes, technically an attack does not need paint, but it will hinder without it. And yes, some cards come already painted. Furthermore, to be honest, the game provides plenty of opportunities to collect point, as I personally only ran out of paint once or twice. Nevertheless, it complicates the primary game loop. It has come a far way from merely pressing a button to select an attack, as seen in the first 2 Paper Mario games. The complication becomes even less worth it knowing it will not give experience points or leveling up (oh, more HP comes as a result of beating a world boss and recovering a big paint star).
As mention above, just like Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Paper Mario: Color Splash divides into 6 worlds. Since this Paper Mario game is subtitled Color Splash, all the worlds have color names. Furthermore, the levels within the world all the levels within the world all have shades of those colors. For example Cherry Lake & Crimson Tower in Red World, and Plum Park & Violet Passage in Purple World. Nintendo deserves praise for that creativity. On the flip side, however, Color Splash has no good reason why the divide the game into worlds and levels. Dividing into worlds and levels made sense for Sticker Star, for the 3DS may not have the power to handle a single, open world. The original Paper Mario had a single, open world on the Nintendo 64, and Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door had a single, open world on the GameCube. Surely, the Wii U could handle a single, open world. Just like Sticker Star, Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka supervised Color Splash, which explains a lot. If unfamiliar with Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka supervise the Super Mario series. Super Mario games always divide into worlds and levels, so naturally, Paper Mario: Color Splash has to divide into worlds and level to feel like a Super Mario game (perhaps to attract a wider audience?). What makes worlds and level so bad is that it makes apparent the pacing of the game. Splitting the game into worlds and levels made apparently the slow pacing of the game.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
