When I first heard that the Paper Mario that was to appear on the 3DS was indeed a new installment rather than a port of the original title, I was pretty excited. Now having gotten the chance to play it, I now find myself wishing it was latter rather than the former.
Paper Mario Sticker Star is the fourth title in the Paper Mario series and although it tries to regain the glory that was lost on Super Paper Mario it just ends up being the worst installment yet.
I remember thinking that in the last Paper Mario game, I was never encouraged to use items because why would I when the mechanics were a bit dodgy and the option to just run away from them or spam the jump attack till I’ve won was always present?
But in this game you pretty much have to use items because those are your primary attacks. Scattered all over the Mushroom Kingdom are stickers that act as your attacks. It’s an interesting idea since you can build your album with the right combo of attacks like you’re putting together a deck of cards.
It’s a hit and miss battle mechanic and trust me when I say you’ll never be hurting for stickers since they are literally everywhere. Money is very easy to come by, so you can just buy you’re preferred types like healing items or in my case, jump attacks since I was better at them then hammer attacks.
I disliked this because it makes it so you don’t want to fight anyone. Like me, you’ll probably comprise your album with a variety of stickers with equal parts attack and support classes but fighting an enemy, you’ll be forced to use them which is a waste when bosses are around the corner.
Since there is no leveling system, you’ll just to have find better versions of attack items and upgrades for your heart meter instead of earning them, so RPG elements are scaled back once again in favor of exploration which doesn’t really feel like Paper Mario.
Probably by biggest complaint with the entire game is it’s just boring. No support characters (or really any interesting characters at all) means you’re stuck with Mario. In previous titles, we got to see what other allies as well antagonist were doing but here it’s just all Mario all the time and it really gets old quick.
That and the overworld map has you go through different worlds entitled “W2-4” and every single one of them is the same. Keep going right till you get a comet fragment that‘ll let you get to the next boring world stage till you finally get a lack luster boss fight and a royal crown.
I remember in previous installments you were put in clever and interesting scenarios like having to enter a world wrestling style organization so you could be the heavyweight champ and get the champ’s belt only to uncover a sort of murder mystery plot.
There is some puzzle-solving here and there but it’s nothing compared to other Paper Mario games. In this game you get to put back together a centipede in order to travel to an island and beat up an octopus. In previous games, you got your body switched with a shadow demon and had to investigate his haunted castle to find a way to break his curse while getting help from a ghost lady who joins your side and helps you in getting back your friends.
Almost everything in this game just feels either padded out or underdeveloped. I played through this Paper Mario Sticker Star feeling no sense of accomplishment or that I was having fun. When Super Paper Mario came out, people thought that perhaps it was time to end the series and looking back, I now agree with them.
This game may look like a Paper Mario game, sound like a Paper Mario game, and on some occasions play like a Paper Mario game but overall it just doesn’t feel like a Paper Mario game.
Protips:
-Kill a lot of enemies to get more coins at the end of levels
-Aside from healing items, don’t spend money at the shops
-Buy door stickers to open hidden pathways to get upgrades and special stickers
-If you are stuck either press the “L” button for help or press “Y” to see if you missed something.
