Happy New Year Guys. So, Who Expected a Mario and Rabbids Crossover? That's right NOBODY, and Who Expected that a Mario and Rabbids Crossover would release before the Main Mario title has even been released? Again, NOBODY.
Many People actually Refuse to give this game a Chance just because of the Rabbids, which Today Im here to set the Record Straight and possibly sell you on a Pretty Good Tactical Shooter. Today Im Reviewing Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle for the Nintendo Switch
North American Box Art
PLOT
The Story begins in a Young Inventor's Basement, This Girl is inventing a Headset that can Fuse two Objects into one, After an Overheat Failure she leaves the Room(We Never see this Inventor Girl ever again so dont get used to ger), only for the Rabbids to come out of nowhere in a Time Traveling Washing Machine(Yes, im Serious) and Start a Crazed Party.
One of the Rabbids puts on the Headset and Starts to Fuse some of the Various Objects in the Room with the Rabbids, Including some Mario Merchandise Creating the Rabbids who are wearing Mario Character outfits. Eventually the Headsets Strikes the Time Washing Machine and Releases a ton of energy, Sucking in all of the Rabbids in the Room, and the Headset Energy and the Washing Machine power is used on a Mario poster then all of the Rabbids gets taken to the Mario Universe.
A Robot/Roomba helper, Named Beep-o, of the Inventor Girl was also sent to the Mario Universe. then the Rabbid Wearing the Headset gets Fused to the Headset itself. then the Robot was saved by Mario, Mario also meets Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Luigi. as it turns out, the Rabbid world and the Mario World are Fusing together, Caused by the Corrupted Energy from the Headset after traveling across worlds. Even Worse, the Rabbids fused to objects by the Headset after Traveling across worlds are Corrupted, turning them Violent and evil. Beep-o then Gives Mario, and his new Rabbid Friends, GUNS and Decides to Fight the Corrupted Rabbids, and Stop the Rabbid Fused with the Headset(this rabbid was Named Spawny by Bowser Jr.), and Bowser Jr. from creating more enemies and putting a Stop to the whole World Fusing Thing.
This was more complected then it Needed but ok.
GAMEPLAY
The Gameplay of Mario + Rabbids is an X-com Style Turn-based Tactical Shooter, Yea, Did not see that comin' did ya?
You take control of 3 Units, a Unit can do 3 things during their turn, Move, Attack, and use a Skill, And you are Not Limited to doing things in that Order, You can Attack then Move, you can Use a Skill then Attack, The Order of how you do things in up to you.
Your Other Units are also not Limited to just this either, What I mean by this is You can say, Move Mario somewhere, then Attack with Luigi, then attack with Mario then Move Luigi Somewhere.
Your Turns can get as Complex as you Please, and that Can Lead to some Complicated Turns. Note your Enemies follow the same rules as you do, They can Move, attack, or use Skills. In any Order they want with any of their Units as they Please.
Anyway this Game is a Much Simplified Version of X-com, While The cover System is in Play, The Cover Avoid Chance is Always either 50% or 100%. not the "37.6%" In X-com or something like that.
You get 8 Units in the Game in total, 4 Mario characters, and 4 Rabbids Cosplaying as Mario Characters and Each and Every one of them have a Unique Play Style Which can Lead to very Interesting Teams, Now you are Forced to use Mario in Every Single player Map(Kinda Like the Lord Characters in Fire Emblem) and You cannot Use 3 Mario Characters at once, you have to have at least 1 Rabbid on your team. So that Does Limit your Options but I thinks its Fine, otherwise if they didn't they would Make the Most Over Powered Team Combo Available in Single player(that Combo is Luigi and Peach). As I Said Above your Units have Different Styles of Play, Each of them are so in Depth I dont want to go over it. Just Note that Luigi is the Best Unit and you are going to use him often as soon as you Unlock him.
You Typically get a New unit once you beat a Mini boss(The Exception is Peach, who you get Right before the World 2 Boss Fight.
Each unit has a 2 Kinds of Weapons, Two element Statuses they can inflict, a Movement Skill, 2 Activation Skills, and their own Unique Upgrade Trees, To buy Upgrades in the Upgrade Tree you use Power Orbs, You get these for completing Maps, Completing Challenges, and Finding them in Chests. Chests can also hold Artwork, 3D Models, Music, Rabbid Tarot Cards(For some reason), and New Weapons that you can Buy.
Weapons are Bought with Coins, and Each Character gets a Primary and Secondary Weapon. and they get different Ones, For Example, Mario and Rabbid Mario both get Different Primary Weapons.
The Game has a Total of 4 Worlds with 9 Missions in Each With a Secret 10th Mission and some Bonus challenges after beating the World.
This game is SUPER Challenging, Dont Expect it to be an Easy game You will get your butt kicked, Especially if you are going after the Gold Trophies in every Mission.
Oh Yea, you are Ranked on How well you do in the missions, you got a gold Trophy and more coins by getting the bets Rank
I think thats about it, there was so much to talk about.
PRESENTATION
The Game looks Great, the Rabbids and Mario both look like they fit in the same world and the Environments fit with them too. The Enemy Designs look great too. there are a few Stinkers but overall, great enemies, I dont really Like how all of the enemies, with the Exception of the Final Boss are Rabbids.
The Music is fantastic, Grant Kirkhope did a Fantastic job on both the Original Music and the Remixes.
Overall, the Game Looks Great.
THE BAD
So. lets get to the Obvious, the Rabbids in General. While I dont think they are as Bad as people say they are. Many People Dont Like them, Its not Hard to see why, But I mostly Blame the Minions for the Rabbid's Bad Rep.
The Game can get Pretty Challenging, and the Main Story is a bit too Short for me.
OVERALL
This game is Better then People give it credit for. Its Fun, and Challenging with a Ton of Reward. the Game looks Great and Sounds great too, Plus its mobile thanks to the Switch's Main Feature.
Mario + Rabbids gets a 4.5/5
A Fantastic game Despite the Flaws.