{"id":306,"date":"2017-09-06T18:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T22:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=306"},"modified":"2018-01-13T21:42:08","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T02:42:08","slug":"game-ramblings-49-mario-rabbids-kingdom-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=306","title":{"rendered":"Game Ramblings #49 &#8211; Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rabbids.ubisoft.com\/portal\/en-us\/games\/mario-rabbids-kingdom-battle.aspx\">More Info from Ubisoft<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Genre<\/strong>: Turn-based Tactics<\/li>\n<li><strong>Platform<\/strong>: Switch<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope you&#8217;ll pardon my pun here, but Ubisoft has managed to pull a Rabbid out of a hat. \u00a0This game seamlessly blends the Mario and Rabbid IPs into a single game, throws it into a turn-based game with some fantastic use of the Mario universe for its move set, and popped out a game that is one of the best I&#8217;ve played this year. \u00a0While there&#8217;s a few things that I&#8217;d have liked to see improved in the overall mission structure, the end result is still a fine example of what developers can do with the Switch, and an interesting example of a team making a Nintendo quality experience, without being Nintendo themselves.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_309\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-309\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_desert.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-309\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_desert-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_desert-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_desert-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_desert-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_desert.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-309\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The visuals would be at home in any of the recent 3D Mario series titles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The biggest surprise to me is that this feels like a Mario title through and through. \u00a0While the gameplay is obviously different, the little details are all there. \u00a0It&#8217;s the sound of a coin when you pick it up. \u00a0It&#8217;s the vibrant and varied environments across four main worlds (and the Peach&#8217;s castle hub). \u00a0It&#8217;s the inclusion of red and blue coin challenges scattered throughout hidden areas. \u00a0It&#8217;s Mario&#8217;s jump attack straight out of the Mario series RPG titles. \u00a0Everywhere you look, there&#8217;s little details that make this feel extremely familiar, despite the huge differences in gameplay.<\/p>\n<p>The nice thing about all of that is that it&#8217;s worth exploring every corner. \u00a0Scattered throughout the environment are series of small challenges, puzzles, and hidden crates. \u00a0While most of them contain little bonus art or music pieces, a number of the crates also contain weapons or power orbs. \u00a0Make no mistake, the underlying systems of this game are very traditional to the tactics genre. \u00a0Weapon upgrades for primary and secondary weapons are here, giving you obvious damage upgrades, but also adding secondary hit effects, bonus damage to specific enemies, and more. \u00a0While there&#8217;s no direct XP for killing enemies, the power orbs you earn in battle or find throughout the environment act as a functional replacement, being used to purchase upgrades in character-specific skill trees. \u00a0These skill trees act as a way to build out each character&#8217;s skill set, as well as provide more obvious passive bonuses like increased health and damage.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_310\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-310\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_faces.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-310\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_faces-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_faces-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_faces-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_faces-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_faces.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-310\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The facial animations in cutscenes are universally good, and usually play up the more slapstick comedy aspect of both series.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>All of the skill upgrades compound into what ends up being a fantastic battle system. \u00a0The basics that are there are all solid, and work in a very XCOM-like fashion. \u00a0During your turn, you can run around and hide behind various pieces of the environment. \u00a0In a very Mario way, you can warp to different platforms via pipes, or hide behind blocks. \u00a0Also of note, brick-based blocks can be destroyed via friendly or enemy fire, and fans of the Mario series will know where not to hide if this is a concern. \u00a0However, where the battle system really shows its greatest potential is in its exploitation of movement mechanics, both as an offensive helper, and a defensive measure to keep enemies away.<\/p>\n<p>On the weapon side, the two main mechanics I ended up leaning heavily on were bounce and push. \u00a0Bounce does just that; when you hit an enemy, it causes them to bounce in the air, taking additional damage, and also giving them the potential to get thrown off the level for further damage. \u00a0Push on the other hand causes the enemy hit to ball up and start rolling around the level. \u00a0They can then rebound off walls, blocks, and other enemies to cause a chain reaction of bouncing chaos. \u00a0In both of these cases, I could take advantage of the damage increase, but more often than not I was using these mechanics to push the enemies backwards, and control the flow of their movement beyond them just moving towards me. \u00a0I could also use things like the rebound on push to cause enemies to be knocked out of cover, offering more opportunities for large damage.<\/p>\n<p>There were also some other traversal-based mechanics that were handy to use. \u00a0Each character could dash through enemies, causing damage. \u00a0However, each ally also had a special move for traversal. \u00a0Mario could also jump off an ally, and jump stomp enemies, giving both additional damage and travel distance on the hop. \u00a0Rabbid Luigi could dash and drop Vampire on an enemy, causing an HP siphon to be applied. \u00a0Peach could jump off an ally, and heal anyone within range of her landing location. \u00a0This all added up to each turn not just being about weapon damage, but in seeing how many things you could chain in one turn for maximum potential.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_312\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-312\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_ghost.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-312\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_ghost-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_ghost-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_ghost-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_ghost-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_ghost.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-312\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Even the ghost town still feels very Mario, with Boos replacing the normal lamps above houses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Given all that, the only real criticisms I had were involved in the occasional parts of the mission structure. \u00a0There were a handful of escort missions that work about as poorly here as in every other game that uses them. \u00a0The escorted units had no attack, and typically moved slower than the rest of the party, as well as spawned enemies. \u00a0These missions usually just devolved into running forward to wipe enemies, then running everyone back to act as a damage sponge for reinforcements flanking from behind. \u00a0The other main problem was in the mission chaining within each chapter. \u00a0Rather than allowing healing between missions, you could only heal at the end of each chapter, and had to fight with the HP pool you had through multiple battles. \u00a0There was healing to alleviate the problem, but I felt like they could have played up to higher difficulty within a single mission if they&#8217;d gone with a more typical heal in between battle setup. \u00a0As it is, quite a few of the missions in place were simply too easy due to the chaining being in place.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_311\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-311\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_opera.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-311\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_opera-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_opera-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_opera-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_opera-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mario_rabbids_opera.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-311\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You can never go wrong with an opera boss.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It speaks volumes to the skill of Ubisoft&#8217;s developers that they pulled this off. \u00a0They managed to seamlessly blend two franchises that have next to nothing in common, beyond a love of occasional slapstick comedy. \u00a0They put them into a genre that hadn&#8217;t been done for the two series, and yet made it feel like it belonged. \u00a0They turned what many gamers assumed was a joke, and made it one of the best games that has come out this year. \u00a0It also speaks volumes to Nintendo&#8217;s ongoing willingness to let external development teams have the keys to the kingdom, in a manner of speaking. \u00a0We&#8217;ve seen this with Metroid for years, Zelda with Hyrule Warriors, and a ton of great platformers out of the team at Good-Feel. \u00a0Is this worth buying a Switch for? I dunno, I&#8217;d save that for Breath of the Wild, but it certainly makes a good case for the console.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More Info from Ubisoft Genre: Turn-based Tactics Platform: Switch I hope you&#8217;ll pardon my pun here, but Ubisoft has managed to pull a Rabbid out of a hat. \u00a0This game seamlessly blends the Mario and Rabbid IPs into a single game, throws it into a turn-based game with some fantastic use of the Mario universe &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=306\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Game Ramblings #49 &#8211; Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,116],"tags":[65,117,84,118],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-switch","category-turn-based-tactics","tag-mario","tag-rabbids","tag-switch","tag-tactics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}