Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle review
THERE’S a lot more to this Mario battleground combat game than first meets the eye.
MARIO the plumber has faced a lot of enemies in his time — turtles, gorillas, whatever Bowser is — and now he’s about to square off against a new and even more bizarre foe: crazed rabbits, better known as Rabbids.
Mario, as Nintendo’s iconic character, needs no introduction, but the most direct comparison for Rabbids — developed by Ubisoft — is the Minions of Despicable Me fame. However, Rabbids are rabbit-like, French, and predate the Minions by several years, having made their first appearance in the 2006 video game Rayman: Raving Rabbids.
Super Mario Brothers and the Rabbids are an unlikely and improbable mashup, but that’s exactly what Nintendo and Ubisoft have done for Ubisoft’s new title Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle — and incredibly it not only works, but works extremely well.
Speaking at E3 earlier this year, Nintendo creative director Shigeru Miyamoto said he felt the deep passion Ubisoft had for Nintendo and its characters, and counted himself among the Rabbids’ fans.
“I’ve known the Rabbids characters for many years and have Rabbids figures decorating my desk; I’m a fan of their humour,” he said.
Mr Miyamoto said was very excited to see what Ubisoft could bring to Nintendo’s characters, but he had an important request to make when the idea was first pitched to him.
“Whatever you do, don’t try to make a jump game; a Mario platformer — make a Mario game that hasn’t been done before,” he said.
And that’s exactly what Ubisoft have done in their new game for the Nintendo Switch console.
The premise behind Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is that the inter-dimensionally travelling Rabbids have ended up in Mario World and chaos is ensuing, with corrupted Rabbids wreaking havoc and some of the (comparatively) normal Rabbids deciding to help Mario.
Some of the Rabbids take cosplay to the next level by pretending to be Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Yoshi the Dinosaur respectively, which creates plenty of opportunities for humour — the Rabbid Princess Peach in particular is extremely funny and excessively fond of her smartphone.
Mario and his motley crew of friends and Rabbid cosplayers set off to fight the corrupt Rabbids and fix the disaster.
The “wandering around the world” mechanic of the game is well done, being bright, colourful and a nice mix of Mario’s world with the bizarreness of the Rabbids. Players select a party of three (one of whom must be Mario, and another must be a Rabbid) and set out to do battle.
All this aspect of things is similar to most well-known Japanese-inspired Roleplaying Games (JRPGs) but the real change is in the combat system.
Broadly, the combat system is a grid-based turn-based affair, with players having a certain number of moves and actions to complete before the focus swaps sides so the other team can do their thing.
If you’ve played XCOM, Jagged Alliance or the recent Shadowrun games, you’ll get the hang of the system very quickly.
Where Kingdom Battle differs though is the ability to chain attacks together and move after attacking, which creates some fascinating strategic options as well as some pleasant surprises, with Mario & Co also able to bounce off enemies, set off enemy-seeking bombs, and heal teammates. Cover is available, but can be destroyed, and some enemies have the ability to teleport themselves — or the player’s characters — around the map too.
There is far more depth to the game than would first appear — despite the colourful graphics and presence of Mario and Rabbids, there’s a very solid tactical game here that’s fairly straightforward to get the hang of but surprisingly complex as it progresses.
It’s also very challenging, so don’t let the bright colours, wacky Rabbids and Switch console exclusivity fool you; this is a well implemented strategy and combat game which is lots of fun and going to appeal to a lot of people.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said at E3 the company had always wondered what would happen if their Rabbids were launched on the world of Mario — and the results so far are impressive to say the least.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is out for the Nintendo Switch on August 29.
Originally published as Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle review