We've already had a fairly extensive hands-on with the latest in the long-running Mario & Luigi RPG series and, coming off the back of that two-level taster, we've been chomping at the bit to get our hands on the full thing. Luckily, having now taken in everything the first 10 hours or thereabouts has to offer, we're still full to the brim with enthusiasm for what the bros. have been cooking up for this dose of high-seas hijinks.
As detailed in our first hands-on, it's approaching 10 years (!) since we last hooked up with Mario and Luigi in this format, and therefore Mario & Luigi: Brothership has its work cut out in sailing this franchise into more modern waters as the plucky plumbers take on the challenge of piecing back together the land of Concordia, which has been split into separate islands by...well, that would be spoiling things.
Cue lots of island-hopping via the game's very cool hub area, the great big floating chunk of earth that is Shipshape Island, and some of the modern touches are apparent immediately in just how quick and easy it is to bounce from island to island, unlocking and hopping down a multitude of coloured fast-travel pipes as you explore. There are some slight loading times, most annoyingly a short one after every encounter with enemies but, for a game that looks this great — and plays this smoothly for the most part — we have to expect these concessions on Nintendo's Ageing Hardware™.
A spot of Brother
Now, coming off the back of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, with its fancy hobbycraft stylings, it's hard not to feel a little deflated when initially booting into Brothership, as good as it all looks. This game doesn't have the immediate wow factor or the same promise of ingenuity in its puzzles that having your protagonists made of paper naturally brings. However, give it a bit of time and Brothership's aesthetic grows on you.
The animation style infuses cutscenes with a manic energy that suits the pair really well — we're sure you've seen some of the OTT anime expressions in the trailers — and it also works from the point of view of allowing for smooth transitions between throwaway cutscenes, special move animations, and just general battle and exploration. This then all feeds into combat and exploration sequences that see the brothers at their physical-comedy best.
As in previous Mario & Luigi joints, each bro has their own command button, enabling you to jump or interact with objects individually, which of course opens up lots of clever possibilities for puzzling and exploring later down the line, as well giving us combo attacks that, if not pulled off with the correct rhythm, lead to a tangle of limbs, many painful landings, and a whole lot of dusting yourselves off and trying again.
We've been really impressed, actually, at just how many animations there are here, making for lots of different ways to fail as the pair attempt to juggle and boost each other during battles. The brothers can also join forces in multiple ways, with your first unlockable duo move allowing you to span large gaps by spinning around together in UFO form!
Pulling rank
It makes for a highly involving and characterful bit of RPG goodness that also brings a clever assortment of enemies that's impressed us thus far. This game may not be aimed at the hardcore faithful, but there's something to be said for the rhythmic guessing games that make up so much of defending enemy assaults in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Every type of creature we've fought thus far has its own set of attack patterns which force you to watch for how they approach, and then adapt to time a jump or dodge or counterattack of your own.
Stay calm, even when a boss is getting set to attack, and there's usually some scope to get clever, timing a jump out of the way so that you smash them for some extra damage and so on. It smooths away some of the inherent monotony — there's always a certain amount of monotony with so many random battle encounters, let's face it — when the defence side of things is just as much chaotic fun as dishing out punishment.
We've already seen how the all-new 'Rank-Up Bonuses' give you a stock of unlockable buffs and enhancements - with stuff like speed, health, and power upgrades the most common early in the game. Every eight levels you'll gain a new rank and a few new tricks to choose from. [Update: We've corrected a naming error in the previous paragraph — we had confused 'Rank-Up Bonuses' with 'Battle Plugs', a separate system later in the game which lets you craft combat abilities. Our apologies!]
Ranking up also has extra bonuses such as unlockable gear slots, and a whole bunch of other stuff that we haven't got anywhere near exploring yet, and when introduced to an improved combat system that mixes goofiness and violence together in equal measure, you've got a very solid base on which to build the battling side of things. Levelling up has also been kept mercifully simple, everything automated as you rise through the ranks, so you can instead concentrate on watching Luigi panic and fall over when anything remotely threatening happens. It's much better this way.
That is illogical, Captain
Finally with regards to combat at this juncture, and it's something you'll have already seen we're sure: Luigi's new ability to apply 'Luigi Logic' to certain situations. In our hands-on we mentioned how this can be used to do simple task such as gathering the game's shiny collectibles or smashing up crates, but it can also be employed in battles.
Whittle certain enemies (including bosses) down, and you can open up the opportunity to put Luigi's brainpower to work. As an example, the very first boss proper that you meet will eventually shake loose a pair of fans in the battle arena. Luigi can then select to use his Luigi Logic instead of a regular move and set the boss up to get pounded for extra damage before being swung around and thrown into the fans for a proper beatdown.
We are still early in the adventure, but we can see this ability being used to provide plenty of hilarious moments down the line, something that can't always be said for the combat in an RPG that's primarily aimed at kids.
Isle be back
So, with combat so far proving to be a fairly impressive evolution of what's come before, how does the exploration, mission structure and story hold up? Well, we ain't gonna spoil any story stuff here, that's not our style. However, the residents of Concordia that we've met across the first six or so islands have been a solid bunch of pals to get to know and there's more than enough lighthearted drama to keep things interesting between main story sorties.
Each island you visit has its own set of issues that its people are facing, so you'll need to prepare to run plenty of side missions as you work your way through enemies, platforming and breezy environmental puzzles to your target, which is always a great big plug atop each island that allows you to reconnect it to Shipshape. Once you've completed an island and connected it to the hub in this way, you can quickly return to it at any time to hoover up collectibles, explore new avenues that have opened up, or use new abilities to access areas you've yet to see. Yes, there's plenty of replayability here by the looks of things too.
We've also been enjoying how the actual sailing and discovery of islands — and other secrets — works. It's not exactly Sea of Thieves, to be sure, but setting Shipshape Island on a course and watching as it plods along in a little window in the top-right of your screen is enjoyable stuff, especially when you get an alert that some new landmass has been spotted. You've also got to give props to any game that has you shoot yourself out of a cannon to get anywhere you're headed.
Brothershipping forecast
We do have a handful of slight concerns as we prepare to sail ever further into this one.
Each island we've explored has its own theme and enemies to deal with, which is great, but so far there's not quite enough variety in what we've seen between each one beyond these colour and model swaps. We're hoping that new exploration mechanics and wrinkles to the base gameplay loop continue to reveal themselves so that things stay fresh. Again, we're still early in the game so there's nothing to say this won't be fully remedied.
There's also been a few instances where we've noted a little stutter here and there as you move around busier areas with multiple vendors — yes, there are vendors in this RPG (shock!) — so let's hope these remain a slight niggle and not something that worsens as we go.
Aside from these two very minor issues thus far, though, Mario & Luigi: Brothership is pushing all the right buttons for us. It's bigger, bolder, funnier and more involving than ever, and the combat system has just enough goofiness and strategy mixed in to keep us excited for what's next for our Italian stallions.