Mario & Luigi: Brothership Reviews
Mario & Luigi: Brothership is far from the duo's best RPG outing, but that's not to say it is a bad one. The combat is engaging enough to remain entertaining throughout the 40+ hour adventure, even as it crawls along against the tide.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership falls into that odd zone of being fine but not exceptional. I think it's comfortably the third best Mario & Luigi game, but it's a distant third and a far cry from the franchise's heights. I had a lot of fun, and I don't regret playing it, but it lacks that certain special something that made the first and third games in the franchise really shine. It's still a fun RPG adventure with some fantastic combat, but it's the weakest of all the Mario RPGs released this year.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership is an excellent choice for those who love unique twists, dynamic combat, and a gorgeous world to explore.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership marks the return of a beloved saga many thought lost, highlighting that fan efforts to revive classics can sometimes pay off. It’s a testament to the impact of passionate communities on the gaming industry.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Mario & Luigi series began to grow stale over time, so I’m happy to say that Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a welcome refresher in several gameplay areas. When it’s fun, it’s very fun, and there are a lot of neat ideas and sections that make this game get generally better as you get more into it. The Plugs and some of the overworld abilities make those sections some of the most fun I’ve seen from the M&L series to date. It also made the leap from handheld to console quite well, with some really nice aesthetics and animations to its visual components. In some ways, Brothership feels like two steps forward and one step back for the series. While not quite the worst game in the series pacing-wise, Brothership still has its share of slow sections that drag on a fair bit more than I would have liked. This ultimately holds it back from being as tight and consistently great as it could have been. I also appreciate that the game’s attempts with its story are a touch more earnest rather than just being fully comedic, and the game still has its charm, but I found its narrative a touch too basic and lacking in interesting developments despite the amount of its runtime taken up by cutscenes. Ultimately though, there’s a lot to like with Brothership. If you want a generally upbeat and at times wacky RPG with a neat and skill-rewarding combat system and don’t mind something a bit simple on the story, it’s a pretty fun game.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a worthy successor and at the same time an attempt to modernize the series. The new mechanics such as the “Luigi Logic” and the “Battle Plug System” add interesting levels, while the proven gameplay of the predecessors is retained. There is criticism mainly on the technical side: performance problems on the Nintendo Switch and occasional backtracking tarnish the overall impression a little. Nevertheless, the strengths outweigh the drawbacks - especially the charming narrative, the creative characters and the captivating battles. Fans of the series and newcomers alike can look forward to an adventure that will leave them with a big smile on their face.
Review in German | Read full review
Apart from its great battle system, Mario & Luigi: Brothership is an incredibly disappointing revival that suffers from boring gameplay and dialogue, a bloated runtime, shockingly bad performance, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what made the series great.
A relatively minor instalment, but in a series this magical, that's still good news.
This is the first Mario & Luigi on Switch and it very much feels like the series’ first big-budget home console entry. It's so much bigger than any of the older games, not just in terms of play time, but in terms of ideas too. The only bad thing about Brothership is that it sets the bar so high there’s no going back to the originals now.
Despite a few lurches here and there and some so-so exploration, Mario & Luigi Brothership offers an enjoyable voyage with smooth sailing, and a punderful script that brings the laughs. It has a new developer and an extra dimension, but the same dedication to humor and brotherly love.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership tries to be a bigger, bolder version of the casual RPG series, but this top-heavy ship ultimately capsizes.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership succeeds at creating a loyal sequel to the previous installments in the franchise, but fails to successfully bring that franchise to the level of quality synonymous with Nintendo's console games. Slow progression, major quality-of-life issues and unbearably-boring lengths of dialogue and gameplay heavily bog down this fun and lighthearted turn-based RPG, with the final product ending up as a 50-50 split of soul-sucking boredom and family-friendly fun.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership takes this long-running RPG series to new heights in a high-seas adventure that's packed full of top-notch combat, inventive variety, a positive and thoughtful story, and lots signature comedy from the dynamic duo themselves. This is a big game, packed full of surprises and fun, and the all-new Battle Plug system, alongside lots of flashy specials, a fittingly emotive art-style, and a world that brimming with puzzles and challenges, make for a must-play in our book.
Brothership is a fun time, but has frustrating moments. It's not an easy recommendation like Paper Mario, but you'll have a good time nonetheless.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a colorful and exuberant new entry in the RPG series. It offers dynamic and fun combat, some decent humor, and a surprising amount of replay value in branching choices and side quests. Despite that, there are some poorly implemented features, such as the Battle Plugs and Power Tap, as well as the sometimes glacial pacing of the adventure. Still, fans of turn-based RPGs will absolutely find something worthwhile in this Switch exclusive.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership is an adventure RPG for Nintendo Switch that stands out for its snappy storytelling, charismatic characters and charming humour. Players explore different islands, solve puzzles and engage in turn-based combat that requires good timing.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Faithful to the spirit of previous installments and with some great ideas to keep it afloat, Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood Connection is a game that sails the ocean of RPGs with fun and variety as its flag.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Although the first few hours of gameplay were fun, Mario & Luigi: Brothership was a slightly disappointing experience. Despite good art direction and many exciting mechanics, especially the combat system, the gameplay seemed too repetitive and not up to the standards of other recent RPGs.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mario & Luigi: Brothership puts some creative new spins on an old formula to make for the duo’s biggest RPG to date. Though for all its inventive combat tweaks, Brothership finds the series getting even further away from the strengths that set the Mario & Luigi series apart from everything else in the Mushroom Kingdom. Even with some bright spots, it can’t escape a continued downslide for a series that can’t help but trade in clever writing for dull gimmicks.
A welcome return for the Mario & Luigi franchise, that proves to be a more involved role-player than expected, even if it lacks the consistent humour and weird gameplay flourishes of previous games.