Introduction
Today we are going to look at a Paper Mario game, to be exact, we’ll look at Paper Mario the Origami King. This is a game for the Nintendo Switch, does this game have fun gameplay? A good story? There is only one way to find out! I have not played any of the new Paper Mario’s I think the last one was Paper Mario Sticker Star, and I really disliked that one. Just give me damn experience points when I kill an enemy!
What did I think before playing Paper Mario the Origami King?
Now, it is time to be honest, I wanted to play another game instead of this one. Thus, my wife decided to play this game while I sat next to her and looked at her playing. It was a fun game to look at, but how did we get to, we want to review this game? Well, it looked very fun, and, either my wife or I got this game for our Birthday, about, four years ago, when it came out? No matter, now we finally reached this game in the backlog, time to check out the Nintendo Switch page.
The Nintendo Switch page
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/paper-mario-the-origami-king-switch/
It seems we are up for a grand adventure about origami versus paper. I wonder how that is going to unpack. I was unsure of what the combat would be like, or how the hub would work in this game. It was no question at all that I was very interested to see how this game would, unfold. You also have a new companion, I am genuinely interested in companions since these were critical back in the day.
Rating
I rated Paper Mario the Origami King with a 7.7 before playing.
I was a bit skeptical about this game being good, but, you know there is one way to find out, time to watch my wife play.
Story
The story starts simple with Mario and Luigi heading for Peach’s castle to enjoy an origami festival, off course this goes all kinds of wrong.
While I enjoyed the beginning of the story, it soon turned, really bad. Like, the ending was even worse, the character development horrible. Something I must spoil before you play this game. You have a Bob-omb companion named Bobby, he dies, he sacrifices himself. Then Mario and Olivia say they never want to see a bomb blow up like that again, skip ahead a few chapters, they end up in a cannon and kill the bombs themselves! Holy fuck, pardon my French, this is just, how did this pass everyone? Oh my god!
Rating
I rated the story of Paper Mario Origami King with a 1.
I am sorry, I can’t give it a higher rating, the story is that horrible. The pacing is all off, and, don’t let your kids play this game. There are horrible shadow hands who cut people into pieces, toads who will be defaced. I get they tried to be funny but, damn, that’s not funny for kids, what the hell Nintendo?
Gameplay
Now, we finally get to the gameplay, the most important part first, companions. There are no permanent companions, no ways to upgrade them, no ways to influence them. Moreover, They usually do nothing in combat. This is, I can’t comprehend why they scrapped the companions. Now the leveling up system, easy, there isn’t one.
You read that right, you only get coins after combat, and you find more by exploring. It’s better to just, avoid enemies completely if possible, because of the annoying combat system. Instead of a traditional combat, you fight with a ring around you. The enemies are scattered, and you have very limited time to put them in the right order. This is, really annoying. Then there are the bosses, you have the ring again. With arrows, and you need to make a path to the boss. Then you also need to figure out what the boss is weak against, since normal attacks do nothing.
There are many more mechanics which make no sense, sometimes a boss acts like an action RPG boss. Other times it is turn-based. Then there are the uncountable, insane, number of Toads. I get it, rescuing Toads is fun. I would rather not rescue like a zillion of them in every corner of every piece of land. They took everything that made Paper Mario good, and put it in the wood chipper and used those shreds to make this, abomination of a game.
Rating
I rated the gameplay of Paper Mario the Origami King with a 2.5
I, have no words, add some normal combat systems, instead of making it a puzzle game. Add decent progress, with or without a leveling system. Add normal companions, how hard can that be?
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics are something that this game did right, even if there are a few graphical bugs. There are many biomes, but a lot of the enemies are rehashed for later use with a color swap. Did I mention creepy cutout soldiers that stalk you and come out of the shadow to claim your soul and cut you into pieces? A giant chomp that shreds you into pieces? A stapler cutting into people? Yeah, great for kids, right?
Sound
The soundtracks are fun, so fun, in fact, that many of the people in this game randomly burst out in song or dance. Yep, and it is annoying. Despite that, the sound effects are fun too. There is even a boombox that changes the sounds to retro sounds.
Rating
I rated the sound and graphics of Paper Mario the Origami King with a 7.2
While the game tends to horrify you with defaced toads, and assault you with the stupidest bosses like pencils, staplers and other things you use for arts and crafts, it is, decent.
What did I think after playing Paper Mario the Origami King?
Then there is the action, you can kill all enemies in one turn if you solve the puzzle, if you keep your gear up to date, which there is not much off. Furthermore, it keeps breaking, which is annoying, since you have to five of the same items in your inventory. There are also accessories, they can add time for you to solve puzzles. Or even more defense, the enemies will either do no damage, or a lot, there is no balance at all.
Rating
I rated Paper Mario the Origami King with a 2.6 after playing.
Last Words
Pros
- The graphics and soundtracks are good in this game
- There are plenty of different areas to explore while collecting toads
Cons
- The story and character development are horrible
- The combat system is messed up and instead of a fun game, you have a puzzle game
- You can avoid all enemies since you get more coins from exploring
- Companions have been scrapped
- There is almost no gear to collect and it breaks
- Horrifying for children
- This game is very unbalanced
- There are too many different combat mechanics
- A tad too many toads to save
- Very annoying characters
- Too much handholding and tutorials
- The puzzles in combats become insane near the end
- A lot of enemies are color swaps
If you want to play a Paper Mario game, perhaps, try another one.
The Final Rating
4.2
Please let me know what you think of Paper Mario the Origami King in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends.
fano23
Never tried Paper Mario, other ones look pretty cool
DonCarlos
The battle system looked interesting initially, but if it's unrewarding and tedious to the point you avoid the battles, I really don't think there might be anything here I might enjoy.
supersven
The battles are a slog to get through.
rezonono
So thank you very much for this useful review. It's clearly a game I wouldn't have hesitated too much about, since I really like Mario games. Plus, I really like the paper-style graphics.
Your review has put the brakes on and I'm not sure I'll be investing in it for our console.
Twigas_Hobbes
thanks for the review. I loved paper mario on the snes ^^
twigalucie
so sad, cause I always thought that the paper mario games looked real interesting. I've never tried one though.
ibrahim
Looks nice
Alan
Bad story is a strict never-play-it as for me. Thanks for this review!
supersven
You are welcome, the story was very bad.
Alamar
Not for me definitely. But maybe for some big fans of puzzle genre? It was concept of intective book probably but failed 😉
EMPERORU
Maybe puzzle are annoying, but i actually like how its looks. Also the name is great