Mario & Luigi Paper Jam Reviews
Because creativity comes at the cost of cohesion, the whole adventure turns into one irritating mini-game.
Regardless of your inclination towards Nintendo's mascot, it's safe to say that you can avoid Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. It's a soulless crossover with a penchant for mission design that frustrates more than it should.
Paper Jam isn’t a bad game, but it’s hardly a series highlight.
Material and the diegetic real come into interesting conversations throughout Paper Jam, but that is the reach of the game's ambition. As with many Nintendo games of the last few years, its gameplay elements are immaculately designed but risk nothing.
Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam is a crumpled up discarded note, recycled into a paper-thin product. At its core, it's good. The dynamic combat system has never felt better, but the rest of the package is padded with poor mini games and excessive backtracking. As a die-hard fan of both series, this was a let down. Nintendo and AlphaDream played it too safely making Paper Jam feel like a reaction to Dream Team rather than an evolution. Based on this, one wonders if it's time to retire both franchises in the hopes of reinvigorating new RPG life into another classic Nintendo character. Again, it's good, bordering on great, but the issues, both big and small, keep Paper Jam from jumping any higher.
Mario & Luigi Paper Jam Bros. is a fun and enjoyable romp through the Mushroom Kingdom with dialogue that will genuinely make you chuckle. It is not a must but for veterans of the Mario RPG games, but it is not one to avoid either. This is a good introductory title for anyone interested in either franchise.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam excels at RPG combat, but is bogged down by tedious minigames and a disappointing story.
Paper Jam's cute and punchy moments are offset by its frustrating repetition
If you're a fan of the series, or just want to play a decent JRPG, then sure, this is it. Just don't expect anything you haven't seen before.
Without a doubt, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. is just as solid an RPG adventure as its predecessors, avoiding the pit that Partners in Time fell into with its multi-character approach. Paper Mario slots into this new romp perfectly well, although there are times where the 'Paper' world is not exploited as much as fans may have wanted. Nevertheless, the laughs are still there, as are the innovative 'Bros.' moves for battles, more than making up for the incessant mandatory 'Toad Hunt' mini-games included. This may not be Mario & Luigi at its best, but it still rises high above the recent Paper Mario entries and will keep fans of the series entertained until the end of the impressively lengthy adventure.
Mario RPGs continue to defy my expectations of them. These characters and universe that you would never expect to work once you apply a proper narrative to them do far better than many titles that aren't inhibited by a heritage in platformers. Satirical and self-referential, backed with some boundlessly creative combat systems and the endlessly bright Mario aesthetic, Paper Jam might not be a huge step forward from its predecessor on the Nintendo 3DS, but it is every bit as much fun.
It's certainly not a bad game by any means, it just doesn't do enough with the Mario and Luigi RPG or Paper Mario brands to really stand out.
Nobody could describe Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam Bros as an essential, but it's a fun, relaxed, thoroughly likable RPG that's as good for younger and more casual gamers as it is for Mario's more hardcore fans. It might not have much depth or complexity, but it has charm and personality to spare. If you're looking for a game to keep your 3DS busy over the holidays, this is it.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is a fun action-RPG that blends two Mario worlds without trying much new.
As a crossover between two of the more beloved alternative Mario adventures coming together as one, it truly feels like the paper mâché of the spin-off Mario RPG titles. Not all of its elements stick together entirely or fit nicely, but Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam still gets by with a lot of heart and humor to boot.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is just as wacky and enjoyable as any other past iteration of the series, but it fails to change things up in a meaningful way for longtime fans.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam can get a bit grindy at times and drag on at certain times, especially the first time where it looks like the game's end is at hand. But there's more than enough masterfully comedic writing to carry the day, between the sight gags, fourth-wall-breaking references, and Luigi's pratfalls. While that can be used to describe most Mario & Luigi RPGs, it's tough to maintain comedic consistency in video games, so Nintendo and AlphaDream definitely deserves some props for managing to wring out a few smiles.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is an odd game, a semi-successful title that achieves a lot of success in its different elements but fails to come together as a cohesive title. Where gameplay is good, it's got subtle strengths and intense engagement. Where it's bad it borders on game-breaking design, likesome of those Toad-capturing sections, and RPG-lite mediocrity. Hopefully, the game is representative of growing pains for the series.
There's a disappointing lack of invention in the paper thin story and characters, but the combat and witty dialogue is as good as the series has ever been.
But it turns what could have been just another fantasy storyline into something closer to a puppet show. We, rapt by these figures on sticks, know it's all malarkey but can't wait to see what happens next. Even if—especially because?—we know they're all just cardboard and glue.