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Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was a total surprise and one of Ubisoft’s best and most creative games from the last couple decades. It’s a fantastic foundation to work from, but a tough act for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, its sequel, to follow because its quality is no longer as shocking. That novelty was a key part of its appeal and even though Sparks of Hope is slightly inferior in that regard, it’s a great follow-up that builds upon its predecessor’s gripping tactical gameplay.
Sparks of Hope’s strategic battles play a little differently now because they’re no longer locked to a grid. Characters can move freely within a certain range and, excluding some status effects and special perks, can only stop moving once they’ve fired their weapon. This seemingly small change allows users to better visualize their moves since they can move their characters around like figurines on a war table before committing to a plan. It’s liberating and also means it is way less likely to accidentally plant in the wrong spot, which could happen in Kingdom Battle.
The combat itself is also a lot more open. Everyone has one permanent signature move, but they all also have two slots that can be customized with the titular Sparks. These little Rabbidized Lumas hold special abilities and perks that can wildly change how a character plays, especially once they are upgraded. Many revolve around status effects that can either be channeled through the character’s weapon or blasted out in a circular radius, while others yield different temporary perks like vampiric healing and damage buffs. And since everyone has their own exclusive weapon type this time — a thoughtful touch that makes them all more unique — the possibilities are even greater.
Being able to freely slot in more appropriate moves is a better system since it gives players more control over how fights play out, which is essential for a tactics game where choice is key. Exploiting enemy weaknesses and building synergies is pretty streamlined and works with the player, as does the upgrade system that offers free and easy respecs. It’s a lot of firepower to manage, but the game balances this by tying weapons and abilities to a meter that limits characters to two attacks per turn, meaning players have to choose wisely.
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Sparks of Hope’s combat excels because of how it manages all of these aspects and creates a cohesive loop that always encourages creative play. It even has more mission types that organically work with its mechanics without feeling out of place and is empowering no matter the objective. Some even force players to use specific characters, which encourages players to experiment with new strategies they might not have thought of otherwise.
However, it seems as though Ubisoft has tried to compensate for this power creep by ratcheting up everyone’s health around 10 times what they had in the last game. Enemies are often left with less than a percent of life after a barrage, meaning players have to waste one more full attack to knock out that last pixel. It’s bound to happen in any game like this, but the rate at which it happens here is staggering and quite tedious even if it is a rather minor shortcoming in an otherwise great system.
Traversal has also been overhauled and is a much bigger part of the experience. Its five main worlds all have numerous side missions to complete, secrets to search for, and puzzles to solve. These make the levels less like a string of battlefields and more like actual worlds that give players more to do. Sparks of Hope has strong enough combat to make these missions worth pursuing and the rewards (especially the new Sparks) mean there’s a good reason to complete them.
But Sparks of Hope sacrifices its predecessor’s tight structure in this endeavor. Since Kingdom Battle had little in the way of extra content, Ubisoft was able to know almost exactly how powerful players would be in any given area. This meant that fights were almost always flawlessly honed and really pushed players for all that they had. Being able to grind side missions and get better abilities in this sequel complicates that balance since it means missions can’t be as tightly focused. Sparks of Hope is still challenging enough for the most part (some later bosses can be easily cheesed with the right loadout) and there are upsides to its less restrictive structure, but it has lost a little bit of its tautness in the process.
Much more of Mario + Rabbids’ identity is lost in the actual worlds themselves since many parts of this game are entirely new. Kingdom Battle excelled partly because of how it mixed in elements of Mario’s world with the Rabbids, creating some intriguing and heinous fusions. That’s almost completely absent here since mostly everything is an original creation, which makes the stages and most enemies more forgettable, even though they are just fine in their own right. Seeing Rabbid Donkey Kong and Megadragon Bowser were some of the highlights in the last game, so it’s disappointing to see Ubisoft settle for something less interesting when there’s so much left to mine.
Ubisoft even turns harder into its own original lore by trying to tell a more cohesive story within this universe. Normally, an increased emphasis on narrative would be easy to overlook, but the new voice acting makes that a little harder. Making the Roomba-like robot Beep-O sassy is already a poor move since the writing is painfully unfunny, but it takes away from the animation and gives way for some truly annoying Rabbids.
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Thankfully, the Rabbids don’t speak much outside of combat, but these characters are worse off when voiced and demonstrates why a handful of voiceless, cinematically framed cutscenes are a better alternative than a glut of text-filled exchanges. The incoherent Rabbid screams of the last game worked because of the exaggerated animation that sold the joke better than any tacky one-liner could. Rabbid Mario is the stark exception here since his tough guy, “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” interpretation of Mario is so hilariously off-base that it actually works amazingly well. Rabbid Luigi, on the other hand, should be fed to a Piranha Plant.
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope expands on almost everything else Kingdom Battle did much more successfully. Its tactical combat is more open and customizable, which leads to engaging battles where player resourcefulness is always rewarded and rewarding. And even though side missions mean the game isn’t as perfectly balanced as the last title, they ensure that there’s always a battle around the corner and another opportunity to grow. Mario and the Rabbids simply should not work this well together, but Ubisoft has proven for the second time that the two make good partners.
SCORE: 8.5/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8.5 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
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