Date played: August 29th
Platform: Switch
My history with turn-based strategy games is a long and complicated one, starting with the original Civilization, back in the DOS days. Later, I learned about RPG elements with an little Japanese PS1 game, Kartia. This led many other adventures, including Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, XCOM, and many, many others. I really fucking love turn-based strategy games... including the best of them all, chess.
Anyway, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is the weirdest crossover game I've ever played. A young boy leaves a VR headset lying around in his room. His room is all decorated in Mario stuff... Then, out of nowhere, a bunch of Rabbids appear from a time traveling machine. Yep, this just might be one of the stupidest games I've ever played.
And the stupidity doesn't stop at the story! All the animations, characters and items are full of dumb humor. Somehow, the Rabbids use the VR headset to merge the worlds of Mario and Rabbids. Mario gets separated from Peach, Luigi and Yoshi and ends up with a pair of fucking wacko Rabbids. There's Rabbid Luigi and Rabbid Peach. Peach is particularly great, as she takes selfies all the time, uses her cell phone too much and seems incredibly dumb. Luigi is even worse, but in a less funny way.
The team gets some weapons and sets out to stop the Rabbid invasion and save Mario's friends. The world map is pretty cool, with lots of little exploration opportunities that reward me with collectibles and makes new weapons available for sale. It's simple, but it works well to change up the pace after lots of combat.
I'm not here for that non-sense though. I'm here for the portable, light-hearted, yet deep combat. There's a lot to like here. This is basically a mini XCOM, with no base management. Combat is ranged, so there is a big emphasis on cover and chance to hit. There's also a surprising amount of movement abilities, including a dash that can damage enemies while still allowing another action, and a team jump that allows for some really clever positioning battles.
Enemies are widely varied too, and have different types of attacks and movement patterns. I'm still really early on, having played only about 10 battles, but I'm really liking what I've played so far. There are a few minor problems, like not being able to see range and accuracy easily when moving around, and the camera isn't perfect. The character models are also a little bit off for the Nintendo characters, though they work well enough. I can't wait to get back into it!
Platform: Switch
My history with turn-based strategy games is a long and complicated one, starting with the original Civilization, back in the DOS days. Later, I learned about RPG elements with an little Japanese PS1 game, Kartia. This led many other adventures, including Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, XCOM, and many, many others. I really fucking love turn-based strategy games... including the best of them all, chess.
Anyway, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is the weirdest crossover game I've ever played. A young boy leaves a VR headset lying around in his room. His room is all decorated in Mario stuff... Then, out of nowhere, a bunch of Rabbids appear from a time traveling machine. Yep, this just might be one of the stupidest games I've ever played.
And the stupidity doesn't stop at the story! All the animations, characters and items are full of dumb humor. Somehow, the Rabbids use the VR headset to merge the worlds of Mario and Rabbids. Mario gets separated from Peach, Luigi and Yoshi and ends up with a pair of fucking wacko Rabbids. There's Rabbid Luigi and Rabbid Peach. Peach is particularly great, as she takes selfies all the time, uses her cell phone too much and seems incredibly dumb. Luigi is even worse, but in a less funny way.
 |
| Rabbid Peach is great |
The team gets some weapons and sets out to stop the Rabbid invasion and save Mario's friends. The world map is pretty cool, with lots of little exploration opportunities that reward me with collectibles and makes new weapons available for sale. It's simple, but it works well to change up the pace after lots of combat.
I'm not here for that non-sense though. I'm here for the portable, light-hearted, yet deep combat. There's a lot to like here. This is basically a mini XCOM, with no base management. Combat is ranged, so there is a big emphasis on cover and chance to hit. There's also a surprising amount of movement abilities, including a dash that can damage enemies while still allowing another action, and a team jump that allows for some really clever positioning battles.
Enemies are widely varied too, and have different types of attacks and movement patterns. I'm still really early on, having played only about 10 battles, but I'm really liking what I've played so far. There are a few minor problems, like not being able to see range and accuracy easily when moving around, and the camera isn't perfect. The character models are also a little bit off for the Nintendo characters, though they work well enough. I can't wait to get back into it!
