Mario & Luigi: Brothership game test – An unexpected return not being the one desired

With the definitive closure of the AlphaDream studio, we could only come to one conclusion: Mario & Luigi was dead and buried. However, Nintendo surprised everyone earlier this year by bringing this series back to life. In more than ten years, Mario & Luigi: Brothership represents both the first original opus of the franchise and its first steps on a home console. Unfortunately, the absence of the know-how of the original studio prevents it from rising to the ranks of the best parts of the series.

Available on: Nintendo Switch
Price: $79.99 + txs

Reconnecting islands while being a little too hands-on

Mario & Luigi: Brothership starts off in a fairly classic and slow way. When one of the brothers loses his footing on the slope of a cliff, they are catapulted towards a parallel world in which they will be momentarily separated. Once reunited, they will realize that this universe which was once bathed in harmony is plunged into chaos. In fact, this world called Connexia has fractured into a series of islands drifting across a vast ocean. Mario and Luigi will have to go to the rescue of this universe in order to save its inhabitants and, above all, restore it to its past glory.

The charm of precedents Mario & Luigi is semi-present in this new opus. In fact, we attempted to reproduce the appeal of the series through a series of humorous sequences inspired by previous installments. If the animations of the brothers as well as their incomprehensible gibberish typical of the series make us smile, the same cannot be said of the forced humor in which the dialogues of the game are bathed. What’s more, even if the characters of the game are cute and endearing, we are far from the charm possessed by other onlookers that we encountered in the other adventures of the plumber brothers.

Added to this is a heaviness imparted by dialogues that are too long and omnipresent. Unlike Bowser’s Inside Story or Dream Team in which the exchanges between characters made it possible to explore story areas never before seen in a game Mariothe dialogues of Mario & Luigi: Brothership drag on and add little to the story. What’s more, the game holds our hand so much that it becomes irritating. At certain times, not only will a character explain a mechanic to you, but information sheets to read will duplicate these explanations. Expect to sigh and roll your eyes on multiple occasions during your 30-40 hour adventure.

Classic mechanics while sailing on the high seas

If you have played a game in the franchise in the past, you already know that it features puzzles using each of the brothers. The recipe has not changed for Brothership so that as you explore the different islands of Connexia, you will come across a whole series of puzzles and challenges in which Mario and Luigi will alternate their actions.

Once again, the brothers’ actions can be performed using a single button. For example, Mario can jump with A and hit the hammer with explore new areas of the Connexia Islands that were previously inaccessible.

The fundamental mechanics of the franchise have therefore not changed and that is for the better. In fact, just as in the past, Brothership is a very accessible game whose interest lies in its intuitive handling. Regardless of your age and experience, you will easily deduce which actions to perform, especially by seeing elements bearing the image of one of the brothers within the islands you will explore. The puzzles may not shine with their complexity, but their completion remains no less satisfying due to this ease of access.

Furthermore, the game uses a strange mechanic to progress through the islands. In fact, thanks to your island boat, you will have to discover sea currents, spot drifting islands and then catapult yourself there using a powerful golden cannon. What to do while waiting to go on a sea current or be near an island? You can always go to the shops to improve your equipment, revisit islands with your techniques to find all its secrets or complete one of the many secondary missions offered.

Luckily, while I was worried about having nothing to do while waiting for my next destination, the developers thought of everything to avoid those troughs of boredom. Beyond the activities previously mentioned, you will have access to shortcuts to navigate from island to island and return to your boat once a destination is within range. In addition, quite early in the adventure, you will be able to increase the speed of your boat tenfold at any time. Thus, the moments when there is really nothing more to do are rare and, above all, very short. We are far from the endless sea voyages of a certain The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker !

A brilliant Luigi distorting the series

One of the charms of the previous Mario & Luigi went through the control of each brother using the A and B buttons. To further facilitate the experience and remove certain irritants from the past, Nintendo decided to automate Luigi’s actions. Thus, the latter will automatically jump over crevices or certain platforms so that he will no longer get stuck like in previous games if you forget to press B.

Furthermore, while Luigi has always had the role of the cowardly and bumbling brother, Nintendo decided to make him particularly brilliant within Brothership. Regularly, Luigi will have flashes of genius allowing him to solve puzzles or find a way to inflict more damage on bosses. It’s nice, but again, it automates some of his actions. We can actually send Luigi to perform actions like digging up turnips giving us money or breaking crates without doing anything.

Anyway, you can guess that the game is more about controlling Mario than the brothers. During many sequences, we can automate the required actions and simply watch Luigi do the work. Of course, we can accompany him or perform several of these actions ourselves, but we can only deplore all these missed opportunities to integrate actions as well as cooperative puzzles between Mario and Luigi. Unfortunately, this type of puzzle only presents itself on too rare occasions, especially when comparing the game to its predecessors.

Excellent fast-paced combat

Combat has always had a very special place within Mario & Luigi. To our delight, the developers of Brothership have managed to reproduce the pleasure of combat from other games while integrating certain new features.

So, although the basic techniques as well as brother actions are similar to those of the past, the way of performing them differs. In Brothershipall basic actions are performed with both brothers, whether it is a simple jump or a hammer blow. You will need to alternate between the A and B buttons in order to make the brothers work together and maximize the damage inflicted on enemies. Don’t worry, everything is easy and the fast pace of the fights means that we take great pleasure in crashing into our opponents or sending them a good blow with a hammer in the face!

The parry and counterattack system also returns so that Mario and Luigi will be able to avoid and counterattack their opponents’ offensives using their respective action buttons. In addition, like other games, enemies will always give you a clue as to which brother they will target, in order to prepare you for the counter-offensive. So, whether you are on the offensive or defensive, the game will force you to constantly be attentive to what is happening, which is very interesting.

Nintendo has also included a new mechanic allowing you to unlock and then use special techniques using the small living bulbs that you collect on the islands. These techniques, which you can only use a limited number of times before having to recharge them, can notably increase your attack power, make counterattacks easier, heal you automatically, etc. This is an exciting new feature that allows you to play with new settings while using skills that suit your play style.

Furthermore, additional points are no longer awarded to a characteristic when you level up. In Brothershipeach level up automatically accentuates the characteristics of Mario and Luigi. At every seven levels, you will unlock a “class” for your character, which will allow you to choose a bonus such as greater attack power, additional space to equip an accessory, a better mustache, etc. This is a distinct way from other games in the series to improve the duo, which is not unpleasant.

That said, remember that Mario & Luigi: Brothership remains an easy-to-access game and, therefore, a fairly easy role-playing game. Overall, the game will pose little challenge to you and you will notice that despite excellent combat mechanics, you will always perform the same actions and always face the same types of enemies. However, bosses are in a class of their own, posing a much tougher challenge and offering a much more interesting variety of attacks than normal enemies. I just wish a little more of that originality had been incorporated into the overall combat, which would have made the game less redundant.

Creating a beautiful visual has a price

Looking at the images and videos of the game, you can easily guess that one of its strengths is its visuals. Basically, like any good Nintendo title, the game is ultra colorful. However, it is especially the character animations that stand out. Not only are they smooth, but they’re beautiful to look at, especially Mario and Luigi’s. It is not for nothing that Brothership has captured the attention of our eyes since its announcement, the Unreal Engine having made it possible to create a magnificent cartoon-style universe in which the most famous brothers on the planet venture.

On the other hand, this beauty comes at a price. Indeed, we repeat it ad nauseam for a few years, but the Nintendo Switch is an aging console having great difficulty supporting contemporary games. So, Mario & Luigi: Brothership doesn’t run at more than 30 frames per second and you’ll see that the frame rate tends to sag even more at several points in the adventure. What’s more, loading times are frequent. In fact, a simple fight results in a charge of five to six seconds.

Ultimately, if the visual is successful, we will come back for the performance.

Should you play it?

We no longer believed in a new Mario & Luigi since AlphaDream’s death. If Brothership is a nice surprise, it fails to stand at the top of the games in the franchise. The charm, the rhythmic combat and the magnificent visuals are there, but many flaws here and there prevent it from being an essential role-playing game like others were. Mario & Luigi. This is an interesting throwback that will no doubt please those who have never played a Mario & Luigibut which will also disappoint early fans of the latter as well as role-playing game enthusiasts.

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