Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

For all the classic - or "traditional" - Mario games that there have been over the years, there are also a lot of projects that are comparatively pretty out there. He's taught typing, he's painted, he's been paper, but to my knowledge he's never taken cover behind a block and used a gun to shoot his enemies. Well fear not, because now he has, and the world is the better for it. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is both a new avenue for Mario, as well as a new direction for the Rabbids of Ubisoft and formerly Rayman fame as well, combing two things that had no business together into one surprisingly fun and shockingly deep package. For something that I gave a chance to just to see what it could possibly be, I was left with an experience where for twenty or so hours I had a smile on my face ear to ear.

The comparison to the recent revitalization of XCOM is the most popular and apt way to describe what's going on in Mario + Rabbids, although the edges of the latter are sanded down considerably when really held up against the former. The difficulty isn't nearly as punishing, there is no perma-death for your units, and the accuracy of your weapons has been simplified down to three outcomes, but the skeleton is there. Mario and a squad of two others enter into combat arena full of environmental cover, either half or full, and use ranged weapons as well as melee in turn-based combat to clear each level and satisfy the objective of the mission. This on it's own would already be a pretty big diversion from the norm, but the addition of the Rabbids really makes this thing crazy. The set-up for this crossover is as brief and simple as most things involving Mario, but suffice to say the Rabbids showed up with their time-traveling washing machine in the home of young girl-genius, stole an experimental visor that can merge two things together, and accidentally merged themselves with the Mario universe that the girl is a big fan of. Honesty, it's alright if you forget what the overall plot of the game is, sometimes even the game itself didn't really seem to care.

This may be a little thin, but you aren't there for the story in most Mario games anyway, you're there for the gameplay. And the gameplay in Mario + Rabbids was addicting in a way I never would have guessed. Through the course of the game you'll gain control of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi, as well as Rabbid versions of those four characters, and form a three-character party to take out the enemy Rabbids in your way as you chase down the one Rabbid who managed to get himself merged with the visor that started this whole mess. There are some limits to your party making, specifically that Mario himself must always be in it, as well as at least one Rabbid, but this almost never got in my way. Battles start out for the most part being fights where you simply have to defeat all the enemies to win, but eventually start adding new win conditions like making it to certain area, escorting another defenseless character, or beating a certain amount of enemies in a more arena-like setting. This is done via turn-based combat where you use cover to try and outflank your opponents while still keeping yourself clear of enemy fire. Eschewing a more granular accuracy-based system of something like XCOM, there are really only a few ways your attacks can go down. If you have an enemy flanked, you'll hit them 100% of time, but if they are behind full cover, or have a shield, than your attack has a zero chance of hitting them (or vice-versa). As well, there is also half cover, where any attack against someone behind half-cover has a 50/50 chance of succeeding or failing, although most types of cover, half and full, can be destroyed if fired on enough.

All eight available characters each feel different with their own strengths and weaknesses, even though they all share similarities across the types of weapons and abilities they have. As you progress through the story, you'll gain experience points (you'll also occasionally find some in the overworld) which is used to upgrade your party members' skill trees, allowing for further customization with regards to how each character is built and played that is surprisingly deep. On your turn, all characters can perform up to three actions, in whatever order best suits you. All characters can move up to their allotted movement range (which can be extended by performing a team jump and spring-boarding off of another character even further), all characters have a primary and secondary weapon they may use one of per turn, and all characters have two different abilities they may activate one of per turn. With the exception of movement and primary weapons, all abilities and secondary weapons used have a cool down of one to four turns before they can be used again, which can be reduced via the skill tree. Movement around the field of battle involves not just running from cover to cover, but also the aforementioned jumps (which for some characters can double as attacks, or even as healing), as well as pipes that could be used to traverse chunks of the map quickly, although enemies can also use these pipes, as well as many enemy types being able to team jump. One final thing about movement (that enemies can also take advantage of) is dashing, where if you can make it to them in your range of movement, you can run into a enemy to do a little bonus damage before settling on a location to stop at. The range of available actions and smart party composition can allow for some really powerful combos that feel amazing when pulled off successfully, like triggering an enemy to chase you, only for another ally to open fire on them with their off turn "overwatch" ability.

These combat sections that are the bulk of the game start out very easy, and while never becoming truly frustrating or super challenging, do become harder by the time you're in the second of the game's four chapters. There were some times, however, where it almost felt too easy, especially when a new environmental hazard or enemy type was introduced. In these instances, it almost felt like the game was stacking the deck in your favor to get you comfortable with the new addition before really turning it loose on you. One such example would be the introduction of the sandstorms in the desert world, where in the first fight involving one, the sandstorm basically destroyed the entire enemy party in one turn, leaving me to easily pick up the scraps. This was never that easy again as far as that type of obstacle went, but it was enough the first time to make me raise my eyebrows in suspicion. This didn't happen too often, and like I said, there are definite challenges to be had, especially with the boss fights, but don't go into Mario + Rabbids looking to truly be put to the test.

The weakest part of the game involves the in-between fight sections. In the mostly linear overworld connecting the battles, you usually had to solve at least one puzzle to move forward, almost always involving pushing some kind of block onto some kind of switch. These puzzles felt like filler a lot of the time, and often involved a lot of trial and error, although there were bonus challenge rooms and other puzzles to engage in that would reward you with new weapons to buy at the shop. New weapons are few and far between when compared to the amount of concept art and 3D models you unlock from chests in the world, as well as some pretty cute Rabbid Tarot cards... for some reason. In these overworld section, the player controls Beep-O, the Roomba-like robot of the girl inventor responsible for the visor, and not Mario, the party leader who will always be first in the party following the little disc. This could sometimes be confusing in puzzles where time and execution were important, as you would naturally think you're controlling Mario when you're not.

The look and sound of the game is charming as hell, and even pretty funny from time to time. The Grant Kirkhope soundtrack is great mash-up of his usual whimsical style that also incorporates classic Mario tunes into it, and the Rabbids were actually fairly amusing most of the time. Really, at the end of the day, the Rabbids needed this more, and they definitely benefit from the game the most. For buffoonish cartoons meant primarily to entertain children, they really hadn't had a lot of success lately, and it had been a minute since there had even been a game featuring them outside of a cameo appearance, or released outside of the mobile space. Frankly, after this all I really want to see is the Rabbids mashed-up with another popular franchise to get another take on it like Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris have done here with Mario. It's still a little bit astounding that Nintendo let them use their most precious of properties for a game this bizarre, but I hope someone else can give it a go in the future.

Besides the solo campaign there are also co-op and PvP multiplayer challenges I only saw a little bit of to continue the fun. As well as eventual add-on content on the way, there are plenty of reasons for me to come back to Mario + Rabbids, which is great, because I was actually sorta sad when I finished it as I had been having so much fun. It's worth the time of anyone who likes one of or both Mario and strategy games, and may actually sell you on the Rabbids. if you haven't already. The "Mario, but he has a gun" game shouldn't have worked this well, but I'm glad it did.