In addition to the 2D platforming Mario games, one of the series that fans also love are the Paper Mario games. Several years following the release of the last Paper Mario game on the Nintendo Wii, a new one now comes to the Nintendo 3DS. In Paper Mario Sticker Star, Mario is back once again in an epic quest to stop the evil schemes of Bowser using the stickers from all around the world!
Compared to the previous Paper Mario games, what kind of new things fans can expect in Sticker Star? Let’s take a look at what’s HOT and what’s NOT in our review of Paper Mario: Sticker Star.
HOT
Colorful Visuals
The moment you start playing Paper Mario: Sticker Star, you will feel delighted right away to see such colorful visuals. The character design and the levels are animated well and they pop out beautifully in 3D. Familiar characters in the Mario universe such as the goombas, the bomb and the turtle will be having an appearance and all of them look phenomenal. In the various different worlds that you will visit, expect each world to have certain themes, equipped with unique level design and colorful environments that will be pleasing to the eye.
Great Sense of Humor
The story of Sticker Star might not be the strongest point (which is expected in a Mario games), but the script is well written and it contains a lot of moments that brings a smile to your face. The story takes place immediately after Bowser disrupts the Sticker Festival where he touches the mythical Sticker Comet. With pieces of the Sticker Star comet spread across the land as the Royal Stickers, most of his minions manages to get some of them, thus giving them supernatural powers. Now, it’s Mario’s job to collect the missing royal sticker pieces and stomp on whoever comes his way with the help of the stickers that he will be picking up throughout the game. A lot of humorous conversations can be expected throughout the game and it’s guaranteed that the majority of them will make you laugh, thus relieving some of your stress.
Back to Classic Paper Mario
When Super Paper Mario was released on the Wii several years ago, many were disappointed as the game was somewhat different to the traditional Paper Mario titles we’ve played back in the day. If you love the classic Paper Mario, then Sticker Star will be the game for you. Ditching the real-time battle system that was introduced in Super Paper Mario, Sticker Star goes back to the turn-based battle system where you have to time your button presses right to block and inflict more damage. The way you attack now depends on the stickers that you pick up or buy in stores. The stickers within the game correspond to the attack that you do. For example, if you get a Boot sticker, you can stomp the enemy. The are a lot of different stickers and some of them are even funny to use such as the scissors that cut enemies into pieces.
At the beginning of the battle, you are limited to one sticker for use and the effectiveness of your attack depends if you press the A button at the right time. Those who are wishing to use more than one sticker will have to spend coins to play a slot. For every matching pair, you will get two and if you manage to get all three images at once, you will then get three stickers use.
In Sticker Star, there are roughly six worlds that you will get into. These worlds are similar to the classic Mario games where each have levels for each world. As with all Mario games, each world corresponds to a specific theme, with the first world containing the theme of ‘forest’ while the second world has ‘desert’. Typically, for every five levels you clear comes the boss level.
