Review of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope: an interplanetary journey
Our Verdict
Mario + Rabbids return is a ridiculous rocket-powered romp through a hybrid IP universe featuring the best of Mario world design alongside hilarious Rabbids hijinks. While the pacing meanders a little in the middle, and exploring feels a little weird with feet glued to this floor, Sparks of Hope is a masterclass in making turn-based battles feel fresher than ever, and should be praised as a comedy blockbuster of the tactical genre.
It's an unusual combo to combine Mario with rabbits. Ten years ago, when the moustachioed plumber was languishing towards the end of the Wii period and the Rabbids were nothing more than an irritation to most people, this is probably something you could not have imagined. Then Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle arrived on the Nintendo Switch, and all of a sudden it seemed like the blabbermouth bunnies had been living in the Mushroom Kingdom covertly all along.
Following Kingdom Battle's enormous success, the unusual team is back in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope to take on a cosmic menace.Like other Mario games, this one begins with our mustachioed protagonist welcoming the return of normalcy to the Mushroom Kingdom after the events of the previous adventure. Then, of course, problems arise. This time, it takes the shape of Cursa, a massive extraterrestrial creature that enhances its malevolent abilities across the solar system by harnessing the power of the Sparks, also referred to as Luma Rabbids. Before you know it, you're traveling across many explorable worlds to find Cursa and rescue the Sparks, all while avoiding the big villain.
Sparks of Hope is committed to making you happy from the beginning. The Rabbids' improved voice acting elevates the already amusing humor, and their little appearance makes them much less obnoxious than in previous Wii party games. This lightheartedness, along with worldbuilding that keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek and a central storyline that is ever-present but never intrusive, allows for a constantly entertaining diversion from the tactical gameplay's main event. I'll get back to you on it later, not that you need anything distracting.
The Rabbids are the main characters of the show, as you quickly discover. While the best of Mushroom Kingdom already have a nearly complete core cast thanks to over 25 years of games and unofficial mythology, the Rabbid characters are currently establishing themselves and are considerably more outspoken about it. The crew's relationships are masterfully scripted, and the introduction of new characters contributes to a dynamic that is appropriate for Mario's heroic space exploration. The ensemble cast also provides a wealth of opportunities for corny wordplay and cartoon comedy. Imagine if Looney Tunes were filled with jokes targeted for millennials and others who like good puns. Though Beep-O still has to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of setup, the punchlines are even better since he has a new robot buddy to assist him.
In the world of Sparks of Hope, the overworlds you bravely go to are a plethora of colorful, explorable spaces, restricted only by Mario's strange inability to leap. The more time you spend in Sparks of Hope, the more natural this strange limitation feels, especially for a character known as Jumpman, who is well-known for his amazing triple jumps. This is especially true if you replace Mario as the party leader with one of the Rabbid crew. The overworlds are, in my opinion, the most contentious part of the shared Sparks of Hope experience. While it is beneficial to explore every possible nook in order to gather every collectible, there is great disagreement as to whether or not it is really enjoyable.
You go into every new planet to aid in banishing the "darkmess," which is the universe's lasting manifestation of Cursa's malevolent force and takes the form of large yellow eyeballs and black, oozing tentacles. From a design perspective, here is where things become interesting. I went in expecting to feel, in some way, as I was in Mario Galaxy, but in spite of the interstellar location, Sparks of Hope's visual aesthetic strangely evoked the essence of Mario Sunshine. Similarly, individual planets seem more like static, explorable stages from Super Mario Sunshine, complete with mysteries to uncover, residents to meet, and collectibles to amass, rather than clusters of little planets drifting about as in Galaxy. That's not necessarily a negative thing; even if it does take away a bit from the space-age vibe that Ubisoft was going for, it also helps the game seem a lot more like a plausible Mario universe, even if it is playing it safe.
Naturally, the tactical turn-based strategy gameplay remains the main attraction, and I'm excited to say that this might be another high point for the genre in terms of pure mechanics. There are a ton of ways to take on Cursa and her space-age henchmen, including free movement throughout the battlefield, a new jumping mechanic that makes getting across the field of play an important part of your attacking strategy, a roster that allows for different playstyles through the gang's various weaponry choices, and Sparks powerups that provide effect boosts or battlefield support.
Sparks powerups, in example, provide your turn-based combat in Sparks of Hope an added edge by either interrupting the opponent's strategy or doing damage to them. Even better, there are various built-in combinations between specific Sparks effects and the unique skills of each character. For example, I traveled a big portion of my interstellar voyage with the sharpshooting sniper Luigi, paired with the Spark Screech, who could scatter the foes in the area.
Luigi delivers more damage the further he is away from a player, so I could set up a sequence where I scare them off with Screech and then unleash the sharpshooter for a critical blow. Although Sparks of Hope alerts you to the possibility of spectacular combinations, discovering them on your own via trial and error and educated guessing is much more enjoyable and contributes a creative element that is sometimes absent from other games in the category.
Similar to the previous Mario + Rabbids adventure, each objective has a different set of foes who need to be defeated, each with its unique weaknesses and resistances. In the early going of the game, you can get away with a little trial and error, but by the halfway point, you'll need to understand how your enemies move, what weaknesses they have, and how much their movement affects your own positioning to ensure that you aren't taken by surprise in a single turn. Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Into The Breach seem mild in compared to Sparks of Hope, which is shockingly brutal and offers no means to go back in time except a hard reset to the beginning of the battle—a fact I discovered the hard way.
This time, there's a choice for difficulty, so if things become too hard, you can play the softer version. However, the medium difficulty level looks to be about right for the typical tactical turn-based warfare enthusiast, as long as you can tolerate a few losses before moving on to better strategies. In any case, just because the Rabbids are out in full force doesn't mean it will be a stroll in the park.
I have some concerns about the way the combat you encounter along your journey are paced, even if the fighting mechanics itself are almost flawless. I thought that several of the early boss fights, especially the fight against Midnite on the second planet, set things up for equally difficult trials that never truly materialize until much later on, after finishing the tale. It takes some time for things to really get up again after this one three-stage encounter, which is so epic in scope that the ones that follow feel a little bit like a step down. Thankfully, at the story's climax, things really begin to seem global in scope once again, and this adventure ends with a huge boom, exactly like the universe's creation.
The majority of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope's missions are enjoyable, with the exception of the rather disappointing mid-game huge boss encounters. These objectives include overworld puzzles, themed tactical battles, and the return of the familiar red, green, and blue coin quests for Mario's new journey. You may exchange these tokens for weapon skins or lore books in the store after completing each of these tasks, which are unique to the planet on which they are based. The weapon skins are pretty cool, and it's nice to know there's plenty of worldbuilding for those who fall in love with the Mario + Rabbids extended universe, even though the lore books aren't my thing and, to be honest, I think the game might be better served with an alternate collectable that doesn't feel like required reading.
There is no latency, jitter, or obvious glitches, and the basic turn-based combat experience runs as well as it did in Kingdom Battle. Unfortunately, I did notice some lag in a few cutscenes when playing in handheld mode, and there were also a few instances in the explorable overworld where the game lacked some lag. However, I'm going to give the developer the benefit of the doubt and assume that this will be fixed quickly, and even if it isn't, it won't have a significant impact on how the game plays.
In Sparks of Hope, I can't help but notice how much the game wants you to smile all the way through as you chase Cursa's wickedness around the globe. Sparks of Hope is a science fiction comedy blockbuster that stands out in a genre that often prides itself on its heavy subject matter. It is Nintendo's playable version of Space Jam in a gaming industry that is swiftly being overrun by turn-based tactical games.
Maybe the first comedy blockbuster of its kind, Sparks of Hope doesn't just rely on its cast of icons; instead, it produces content from beginning to end that would still be compelling if it were coming from a lesser-known IP rather than some of the biggest names in gaming. Examples of successful comedy blockbusters include Step Brothers, Dumb and Dumber, and Pineapple Express.
Overall, Sparks of Hope does what it sets out to do and then some. Is it a brilliant tactical turn-based game? Indeed. Is it the old-school Nintendo blend of being simple to learn yet difficult to master? Indeed. Is this the funniest game I've played since Bugsnax, maybe? You can guarantee that it is; this game keeps you interested and either on the edge of your seat thanks to its unique fighting techniques or laughing so hard you pass out. Together with a Mario universe that bursts with color at every turn, all of it creates a cosmic experience that is memorable and a genre high point that both Ubisoft and Nintendo can proudly look back on as the series keeps getting better and better.