Paper Mario: Color Splash Reviews
Paper Mario: Color Splash is a charming, but paper-thin RPG
Although is not a perfect title (the fighting system is not entirely convincing in terms of balance and rhythm), Paper Mario Color Splash remains a work of undoubted quality; delicious to see, listen to and explore.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Paper Mario: Color Splash brings a delightfully funny plot to an involving and extraordinary adventure that can keep the player in front of the Wii U for over 50 hours of gameplay. With its lovely visual presentation, exquisite soundtrack and well implemented gameplay mechanics, Paper Mario: Color Splash is set to be one of the Wii U's most outstanding titles in the console's still growing catalogue.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Paper Mario: Color Splash is one of those games that works best if you play it a couple of hours each time. The graphical design is as wonderful as ever, and the adventure offers plenty of charming settings. Sadly the gameplay feels a little too monotonous, and the battles aren’t as dynamic as the previous games.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
Paper Mario: Color Splash is the Wii U game you shouldn’t write off. Though it has issues, its fun, funny and looks excellent. If you’re looking for a lighthearted, casual RPG-style experience then look no further, this is the best Paper Mario game in years.
Paper Mario: Color Splash is a beautiful game that leans on the classic paper aesthetic to deliver a funny, charming and virtually tactile experience.
Paper Mario Colour Splash might not be the Paper Mario game everyone wanted, but it's a game that oozes polish and manages to sit somewhere in a niche between RPG and adventure game. It's a memorable journey full of charm, craft, chuckles and a whole lot of paint.
While I’m still wishing the RPG elements of Thousand Year Door were back here, I still had a pretty great time with Color Splash. It looks amazing, plays great, and has some really great pacing that kept me coming back knowing I was just one more step away from another paint star. Wii U owners have been looking for a new game for a while now, well you just found a great one here and I highly suggest picking it up.
If you’re willing to accept the fact that Color Splash is more of an adventure platformer, and less of an RPG, then you’ll be in for an absolute treat of a game.
Paper Mario: Color Splash is the best looking installment in the series, offering the most immersive world to-date. Still, its battle system suffers in a misguided bid to innovate.
This artsy, pseudo-RPG’s bland combat is at least partially overcome by terrific visual style, a rich score, and great writing
Paper Mario Color Splash isn’t frustration-free, but compared to the Mario platforming games Color Splash is light and refreshing, an opportunity to have an adventure with Mario and his friends that doesn’t require lightning-quick reflexes and high frustration tolerance. You’d better be ready for some cringe worthy puns, however.
Once again Nintendo has delivered an overall enjoyable game that doesn't seem to deliver what fans may have initially expected. Putting aside expectations though, Paper Mario: Color Splash is a decidedly solid adventure-platformer, with some great storytelling and humor layered on top. The papercraft visuals are gorgeous, and the soundtrack will have you humming along in just a few minutes. The card-based battle system is a real downer though and the loss of deeper gameplay elements is still hard felt, dragging the whole experience down quite a bit.
Minor crinkles can’t stop Paper Mario from being a frankly excellent experience and one that you, yes you, should play.
Paper Mario: Color Splash is an engrossing journey and a funny and colorful game. It plays a lot like Sticker Star, but does everything better.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Paper Mario Color Splash is a delightful visual experience that keeps alive the series RPG style and offers new features thanks to the Wii U pad possibilities beside a great length.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Paper Mario: Color Splash is the kind of simple, lightly enjoyable experience that I might have willingly gotten lost in at one point in my life. It's mostly inoffensive, usually charming, and a visual treat. The battle system is a drag, but it's emblematic of a larger problem that is also reflected in the quests: it simply doesn't respect the player's time. With more aggressive story editing and less desire to reinvent the wheel, this may have been something truly special. Instead it's merely fine.
Paper Mario: Color Splash is a wonderfully realised game with plenty of humour to keep you smiling throughout. However, it’s hampered by some annoying design decisions and carries the legacy of Sticker Star – both good and bad – which many series’ fans may find problematic.
But that's it. That's the extent of my issues with this game, and for me, the positives far, far outweigh the negatives. If you didn't like Paper Mario: Sticker Star because it wasn't like the first two games in the series, I don't think you'll be satisfied here. For everyone else willing to give it a chance, Paper Mario: Color Splash is a charming journey that will delight your senses, your funny bone, and the part of your brain that houses your nostalgic feelings towards Nintendo.
Make no mistake: Some of Color Splash is best-in-class material. But some of it is just awful. As much as I'd like to be able to give it an unqualified endorsement, I really can't. The excellent visuals, music, structure, and writing sit at odds with the toilsome combat system and the addition of far too many gimmicks and gotchas. The game is as irritating as it is inspiring — and while there's much to love here, be aware that finding it requires slogging through some truly rocky moments.