(GAME REVIEW) Mario + Rabbids - Kingdom Battle: Complexity In Cuteness #3

Hello Steemian .. !! Good afternoon steemian wherever you are. May his condition always and always and be in the protection of Almighty God. Reunite with @harfatzlitamvan, on this saturday saturday i will be back for review review review same game with previous series. Well ,, on this occasion I will review the game Mario + Rabbids with the title of the post is Mario + Rabbids - Kingdom Battle: Complexity In Cuteness. Want to know what I will discuss, let's look directly steemian?

If we talked about 5 or 10 years ago about the possible collaboration between two giant franchises, the concept offered by Ubisoft and Nintendo via Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle released for the Nintendo Switch is likely to be one of the most unthinkable concepts . That when rumors about his existence first surfaced in cyberspace, not a few who see it no more than just a joke. Moreover, Nintendo itself, famous rarely collaborate their super-franchise franchise into other games, except for products that they racik own. But who would have thought that this could happen. The good news again? It ended up being a fantastic product. You who read our previous preview seems to have a pretty clear picture of what Mario + Rabbids offers: Kingdom Battle is, at least from the visual approach and what kind of gameplay he is stretcher. Instead of a platformer or adventure like what we know from Mario, its combination with rabid bunnies - Rabbids was translated by Ubisoft as the main developer as a strategy game with elements that will make you remember the XCOM series from Firaxis. A game that may look cute on the outside, but be ready to make you end up frustrated if you do not plan things well. So, what is actually offered by Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle this? Why do we call it a game that offers complexity in anxiety? This review will discuss it more deeply for you.

Plot

Certainly not an easy matter to combine two big franchises in the same space without a reasonable explanation. Ubisoft certainly can not just do it without a solid background. Collaboration like this needs a foundation that although fictitious, but still rational. Something they execute pretty well in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Through a CGI movie at the beginning, you will meet a super-clever research girl who, when viewed from the interior design of her room, is definitely a fan of the Mario franchise. He is trying to complete a new gadget called SupaMerge Helmet - which will be able to combine two objects into a new object that contains both identities. He was accompanied by an assistant robot named Beep-O. In the middle of his break, his room was suddenly visited by the Rabbids who appeared with their time machine. Iseng and craze, these Rabbids accidentally use SupaMerge Helmet. The rest? You seem to have guessed what happened.

That's right, SupaMerge was inadvertently about the time machine of the Rabbids who threw them into Mushroom Kingdom. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi were at the time attending a ceremony for the newly-arrived Peach statue sucked into a mysterious swirl in the sky. Suddenly, both worlds are melting. Shuffling to restore the condition of Mushroom Kingdom back to normal, Mario et al found the fact that SupaMerge Helmet itself also carried along with a Rabbids who wore it. These Rabbids called "Spawny" became the key to separating the two worlds again. But the bad news, Spawny itself is now in the influence of Bowser Jr. who continue to use his ability to create a variety of new monster variants to block the action of Mario et al. Assisted by the AI-Beep-O robot, their journeys to cross different areas of Mushroom Kingdom began to search and find Spawny. Strangely again? Beep-O himself continues to get a mysterious e-mail from unknown sources that continue to help him during the trip. These e-mails not only cast clues, but also provided the first weapons used by Mario et al to fight the Rabbids who threatened their mission. So, what kind of challenges must be passed by Mario and the Rabbids? Can they find Spawny and put things back to normal? Who is also the figure behind the e-mail misteirus that continues to help them? All the answers to that question can certainly be answered by playing Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle.

Mario As a Basic Presentation

With Mushroom Kingdom as the setting base for this one game, then the world that you will find in this one collaboration will be more attached to the figure of Mario as the franchise itself. Following a similar visual approach to the three-dimensional series of the past, especially the Super Mario 3D World, you will be adventuring with a colorful world. So like the Mario series in general anyway, it will be divided into several regions with different themes. There are deserts, snow, woods, and rocks with hot lava. The difference? Like the story she's holding, you'll meet so many Rabbids who now occupy her. It is a challenge to ensure that despite the fact that they are collaborating, Mario or Rabbids still have a significant portion of the story and the world it offers. Ubisoft countless managed to do it, especially for the figure of Rabbids itself. Apart from the Rabbids who took part in your adventure action as a major party member, you will also find so many other Rabbids now scattered in Mushroom Kingdom. Their madness is still emanating from the variety of hilarious acts they perform when you find them while exploring. There are Rabbids who are relaxing in the pool, fighting for no reason, or just being trapped in a pipe.

Praise deserves to be directed at Ubisoft who seems to understand the attractiveness of each of these franchises and is able to produce something different and interesting from it. Not just Rabbids problems that you can find craze throughout the game, but also from the design of the enemy you meet, especially from the boss fight that exists. You can feel that their creative process is not getting meaningful limitation here. From creating a Rabbids character like Donkey Kong who is ready to use your character to wipe his butt-pricked ass, until an opera singer Rabbids is ready to sing a song that pierces the fourth wall regarding Mario's popularity as a franchise. The concept is ready to make you smile wide to laugh freely. Personality disparities for Mario and Rabbids also generate their own unique dynamics. Rabbids act like Rabbids, and Mario still acts like Mario. It is also visible from some of your party members who are half of him, are indeed Rabbids who wear clothes from Mario characters. Princess Peach for example, is still a Princess of the Kingdom that is so calm, charismatic, and sweet. While on the other hand, Rabbids Peach is a daughter with an obsession with selfies who are constantly trying to photograph themselves on multiple occasions, even when she is under attack. More cool? These two worlds also interact in their unique ways. Undoubtedly, you will find many moments in the story that are so relaxed, adorable, and also fun at the same time.

Presentation from the audio side is also worth to get thumbs up. Comes with a variety of cool background music, which is also defined by the theme of the world you are visiting, it also follows the Mario-like style as well as the visual side that he usung. So like enjoying old Mario games anyway, these music will contribute to make your adventure will feel more epic. Audio design from Rabbids typical language to mere reactions of the voice of the characters Mario also remain present and fuse nicely in this one game. For the presentation business, there will be no criticism that can arise from the problem of presentations. On the other hand, it also proves Ubisoft - Snowdrop's engine capabilities that can be implemented to mix a game with this cartoon approach. That the same engine that was first implemented to build The Division has enough space to grow, at least for the library of Ubisoft games in the future.

XCOMario

In contrast to the expectations of most gamers when rumors about the collaboration of these two big franchises surfaced that led to the possibility of platformer or adventure open-world as the most rational choice of genre, Ubisoft actually mix Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle as a strategy game. This choice alone is one of Nintendo's requirements to live up to this project, that it must end up being something the "plumber" has never gone before. His own strategy genre approach is no joke, as he is closer to what XCOM has to offer, one of the high-complex game strategies in the gaming industry. You who had tasted XCOM series in the past seems to be immediately familiar with what is trying to be offered by this one game. For those of you who are not too familiar, one of the hallmarks of XCOM games is the need to take advantage of the existing battlefield terrain to your advantage. That does not just pick a character, determine where their direction moves, and then attack, you should also pay attention to how efficient the choice is if looking at existing terrain designs. Neither you nor the enemy can take cover behind walls or walls to minimize the possibility of receiving damage, or use various effects and skills for each class to gain a certain strategic advantage. The same is true in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle.

One of the highlights is the fact that it is not divided into certain phases. Each character will have three actions that can be done every turn: move, attack, and use existing cooldown-based skills. Cool? Mario + Rabbits will not regulate when you should do any of these moves, inviting so many potential strategies that can come up in the future. You can just move Mario to a certain position, switch to Luigi to move, ask Peach to attack, just return to Mario to take any further action. Believe it or not, maximizing this will greatly determine how effective your strategy is to attack or even, survive. There are various scenarios where such a system produces fantastic dynamics. Example? For example when Mario is your main damager, while Luigi is not very effective with damage it was using weapons that have a more destructive effect on the environment. Faced with the enemy who is taking cover behind the block for example, you can move Mario first to a more strategic place, move to Luigi to destroy the existing block, then move on to Mario again to throw an attack for damage to the enemy. Or when dealing with enemy types like "SMASHER" - melee fighters who will move closer as long as he is attacked. You can activate Hero Sight, Mario's ability to attack anything that moves without eating the first attack, and then switch to Peach for example, to "tease" the SMASHER with the initial attack to make it move. The result? In a short time, you can get two attacks instantly with just one turn. Given some types of weapons can also produce a status effect like Honey that makes the enemy can not move, Ink that will affect their ability to attack, or Freeze that function like Silence in the game Final Fantasy, this strategy can also weaken the enemy further.

Moreover, your own strategy is not always limited to attacking with weapons used by each hero, or existing skills. There are many other movements that can be used for certain strategic interests. You can, for example, use another character as a springboard to move to a farther place. In addition to using weapons, you can also do tackle while moving for extra damage, which you can follow with continued attacks or not, depending on your decision. And the level of such a strategy will also be greatly influenced by what kind of character you will carry. Because the characters of the party you bring will not be just different from the visual side, but also from the capabilities that are carried. From the types of weapons, skills, to a variety of maneuvers they can do. Luigi for example, can jump using two characters in a row for extra space further. Mario can use other characters as stepping stones, and then land on the enemy's head for damage. Up to characters like Peach Rabbids that can tackle up to 4 enemies in the same turn, resulting in more effective damage. Weapons for each of these characters also have different effects. When Luigi with his sniper can attack long distances with better focus, characters like Peach have shotgun-style weapons with great damage, but the scatter area that might end up hurting a friend's character if not positioned carefully. There is extra complexity there.

But if you have to say one positive thing that they execute better than XCOM is the consistency of percentage of shots you enter or not. If in XCOM there are so many indicators that affect the percentage that feels so random and unreliable, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle only contains three percentage types: 0%, 50%, and 100%. And that number really represents your shot-in opportunity, without any other nonsense. If the screen is written 100%, then regardless of the fact how strange the shooting angle is there or the various obstacles that may occur, it will still enter. The same is true of the active skill range for accessible damage. The ability of Hero Sight Mario to shoot automatically if the enemy moves, will 100% enter, regardless of the fact that the enemy is moving to a large wall though. Consistency like this allows more mature calculations. More cool, not all battles will end up asking you to destroy the enemies that go along with the progress of the story, will come with so many variants that each also needs to think about. From an ordinary enemy who likes to jump for further moves, enemies capable of teleporting, to enemies with giant shields that you will not be able to hurt by shooting them from the front.

Missions do not always revolve around them, because there are some who ask you to just move to a certain area, no matter what. You also will not easily feel monotonous and bored considering some missions also presents its own challenges when fighting. There is a battle area that contains Chain Chomp in it, which will bite any character with the nearest position with great damage. Or an area with Boo that will occupy a particular area point, haunt you if you accidentally move nearby, and then end up teleporting for your character to a random point of the map. The presence of extra characters like this results in the need to adapt. With all the missions, animations, and strategies you can take with a party of three characters each of which has a set of different primary, secondary, and skill weapons, Mario + Rabbids offers the complexity in an adorable presentation. A game that if you are sincere, will not be difficult to make you end up frutrasi. Especially considering that AI enemy who injected Ubisoft for him, counting brilliant.

Mario Exploration Side

The commitment to ensuring that you can find and feel the sensation of a Mario game in this collaborative project is another thing that deserves to be thumbs up. One of the most loyal sensations is the exploration side. Indeed, you can not now jump or eat mushrooms to enlarge Mario and the like, but Ubisoft manages to make familiar elements re-translated into concepts that are more suitable for the current strategy genre. Divided into several worlds with different themes, Mario is not just fighting in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. The exploration process becomes one of the key experiences of play, providing an opportunity for you to explore the existing world for extra rewards that deserve to be pursued. The red coin system is still present, but now presents Mario with extra weapons that can be used when fighting. There is also a separate space using a blue cannon that will contain special puzzles with super tempting rewards. That's right, puzzles. Because believe it or not, he plays an important role in this one game.

You do have a chance to ignore it, but you who decide to dedicate their own time to solve the existing side puzzle, will get rewards that sometimes, it is worth pursuing. These puzzles will require you to play a little brain, but will not leave you confused and frustrated, as long as you can find logical patterns of association. What's the prize? Although some end up with Collectibles, not a few will give you extra skill points to make your mainstay characters stronger. True, skill points. But unlike most RPG games that make this system strongly associated with levels, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle does not have a level system for characters. As a replacement? You will be rewarded with a resource that can be spent to open or strengthen the skill of the skill tree divided into different categories for each character. This resource can be obtained from the battles according to the progress of the story, or from your endeavor to solve the puzzles that exist when exploring. Ubisoft also makes backtracking to a world that you've solved before become more essential, considering you will also be rewarded with a special ability once you complete a World. For example? The ability to lift a statue to complete a new puzzle will be yours after completing World 2, where in World 2 itself, there are actually many puzzles that require this ability. Inevitably, for the sake of strengthening the character, you'll go back to explore it.

One other resource that is not less important is the money. You still remember the gold coins that are often associated with Mario? Now no longer associated with 1UP, this gold coin becomes an essential currency to strengthen your character. True, it can be used to buy the latest, primary or secondary weapons, for the characters you rely on. Not only can it be obtained by just getting it during exploration, a brilliant performance when fighting will also contribute to the amount of money you get afterwards. If none of the characters are killed and the turns you take to complete them are below those set by the game itself, you will get a worthy "award" with this abundant money. It's a stunning view that when a genre that has changed from what we know from Mario or Rabbids, it can still offer familiar elements and then, adapting it as part of the gameplay itself.

Challenge = For More Difficult Challenges

In addition to the opportunity to solve the puzzle with the new power you get, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle also injects an extra 1 extra thing that makes re-exploration of the world you've completed will be interesting tipping. Something called "Challenge". So as the name suggests, with every World having 10 for each of them, Challenge is an extra challenge you can play to earn extra rewards, from money to extra skill points that you can distribute. Divided into various difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Supa Hard which will be represented by the Toad colors you encounter in it, Challenge is designed to test your ability to think and master mechanics Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle to a new level. Of course, an increasing level of difficulty will determine what challenges you will face. It's not always about killing and killing enemies, not least from these Challenge levels that are designed like a puzzle.

So, what did you find? There is a Challenge level that asks you to reach a certain place, but everything should be done in the same 1st turn. If you need more than 1 turn, you fail. A design that requires you to think about the placement of characters you need to get where you need to be, or a more effective strategy to harness the effects of your enemy's attacks. There is a mission that asks you to kill 10 enemies with a pretty thick hp for example, in just 2 or 3 turns. A condition that will be enough to make you scratch your head in confusion. Unfortunately, this Challenge mission itself is not designed to be completed regardless of whatever strength your character is now. Being acknowledged or not, some of the existing Challenge missions do seem impossible if you do not strengthen your character first in some sectors. Like the case you have to kill 10 tankers for example, which of course, will be much more effective and easier when you have progressed the story further with weapons that have greater damage. Or when you have to arrive at one goal in one turn, which of course, it's easier if you focus on diverting all your Skill Points to enlarge and expand the character space first, before starting. Although in the latter case, you can always reset your Skill Tree and reallocate those skill points for various Challenge missions. You can easily find solutions to various Challenge mission in this virtual world, especially considering that each of them is carrying its own name. But we ourselves will advise you to "enjoy" in advance the frustration that may arise, before switching to the virtual world for a more definitive answer.

Conclusion

A tremendous surprise, there is no longer a more appropriate word to describe the experience that Mario + Rabbids has succeeded in: Kingdom Battle. That regardless of how absurd the collaboration between these two icons sounded in the beginning, Ubisoft's decision to incorporate them into an XCOM-style strategy game with the gameplay complexity above the adorable visuals came to an end. The special thing about it is the success to retain what is interesting about this franchise, even though the two worlds are now united. Rabbids is still crazy, Mario with his colorful visual world, and the battle of both are also filled with creative ideas that show a clear thing - the courage to experiment. But if you have to talk about one weakness that we found and deserve to be complained only from reward collectibles that we think, not interesting and inappropriate to pursue. It's a bit annoying to find that your action to solve a pretty challenging puzzle at the time of exploration turns out to be "paid" with artwork or a chance to play certain OSTs, instead of something that actually affects gameplay. It would be much more interesting if there is a certainty that the reward you find always ends in a variety of weapons, skill points, or even a number of gold coins rather than just collectibles that unfortunately, we never even touch at all. One other complaint is the enemy that all come from the world of Rabbids, and without Mario at all. Beyond that weakness, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle seems to be a clear proof that nothing is impossible in the gaming industry. And the impossibility embodied in the madness and the weirdness can end up being a quality game well above average, with presentations ready to make you fall in love at the same time. Games that we think are mandatory for all Nintendo Switch owners, especially for those of you who love the strategy genre.

Advantages

• An adorable visual presentation
• Characters remain faithful to the characteristic of each franchise
• Gameplay is a complex and challenging strategy
• Does not feel grindy
• Full of humor
• Each character offers a different set of skills and abilities
• Mission Challenge ready to frustrate you

Deficiency

• Reward collectibles are not interesting
• There are no enemies from Mario's world

Game Information

Developer: Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Milan

Publisher: Ubisoft

Director: Davide Soliani

Producer: Xavier Manzanares, Gian Marco Zanna

Designer: Damiano Moro

Programmer: Sylvain Glaize, Tiziano Sardone

Artist: Mauro Perini, Fabrizio Stibiel

Writer: Andrea Babich, Ed Kuehnel

Composer: Grant Kirkhope

Series: Mario, Raving Rabbids

Engine: Snowdrop

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Release: 29 August 2017

Genre: Turn-based tactical role-playing

Mode: Single-player, multiplayer

Source1,2,3,dan4

Writing By: @harfatzlitamvan 

A few reviews about the game Mario + Rabbids – Kingdom Battle is in lansir in steemit. if you want to continue to know many other game reviews. follow me, so keep an update on other horror game reviews.

Thank You I Speak to the Steemit Community of Indonesia Specifically to Curator @aiqabrago and @levycore, and Curator Gaming @jodipamungkas who has supported me to be able to channel my hobby to my friends Steemian in Indonesia.