Platform: Nintendo Switch
Price: $59.99
Genre: Action-Adventure, Puzzle
FOLDING HOME
Paper Mario: The Origami King is the sixth installment in the Paper Mario series. Originally, the Paper Mario games were fun, easygoing turn-based RPGS. Origami King still retains much of that DNA, but has many wrinkles of its own. Gone are the traditional battle mechanics in favor of a ring based system. It was irritating at first, but by the end of the game…it was still irritating. Full disclosure: this is the only Paper Mario I’ve completed. Although I enjoyed this game, there were times it frustrated me to end. Think how lucky you are to be the recipient of my thoughts and frustration with this game.
BOWSER, PEACH COBBLAH-BLAH-BLAH
Origami King’s story is as paper thin(…might as well get used to these) as you’d expect from a Nintendo game; a shallow save the princess story wrapped up in some comic relief and zany antics. I will give credit where it is due; the game can be laugh out loud funny.
What frustrates me to no end is the fact that you cannot skip cutscenes or speed up dialogue. Why is this still a thing? It’s not charming or cute, it just wastes the player’s time and keeps us away from the gameplay; the meat and potatoes of any Nintendo game.
R.I.N.G./ PUZZLE PLEASE!
Origami King innovates with a ring-based battle system. Simply put, I wasn’t a fan of this system at all. While I will give it credit for being fairly easy to use, it isn’t fun outside of bosses. Enemies appear in the overworld, and you enter battle when you and the enemy make contact. Mario can get the jump(haha haha… -5 to Cool factor) on his enemies with a press of the A button or by whacking them with your trusty hammer by pressing B. Doing either of these things nets you a damage bonus and the privilege of going first in battle. If the enemy wacks you first, they get the damage and speed privileges. Combat takes place on a four-layer ring. You can shift one or multiple enemies between rings, but you only have a set number of moves. Lining the enemies up neatly nets you a further damage bonus.
Winning in battle nets you coins and confetti; which are used to purchase accessories and items and fill not-bottomless holes, respectively. By the end game I amassed well over 60K coins. If you are stuck on a particular boss, you can use coins to get Toads to cheer for you in combat. What? Did you think that you’d use coins for something else?
The star of this show is the puzzles. In between rounds of ring combat, Mario and his companions explore the overworld. From time to time, you be faced with a roadblock. This is where Olivia comes in.
Olivia is one of Mario’s paper companions. Through the use of bewildering magic, she can manipulate any number of objects or creatures in the surrounding environment. Her powers are scant at first, but through dungeon raiding, she acquires more powers. Unfortunately, they’re of the basic elemental variety. I would have loved to see some more off-the-cuff type of powers. It would have been cool if she could fold into a vehicle of sorts. She also can’t fight in combat either.
MUSIC MACHE
I was actually delighted by the music here. Between the lush overtones, the snappy jazz-fueled Boss themes, there’s just about something for everyone.
FINAL CUT
I’m conflicted on how I feel about this game. It’s almost as if I played two different games. One game that keeps you on your toes and astounds with fresh content at nearly every turn. The other; a morose, overly talkative, boring time-waster. Honestly, I would recommend this game to Paper Mario fans and newcomers alike. Be warned though; this game will challenge your perceptions of Paper Mario. PEACE
P.S. R.I.N.G=Random Idiot Number Generator
Purveyors Of Pixels 