Publisher: Nintendo
Ages: six and up.
Parental
Advisory:
Cartoon combat
Daytrum Editor's Choice
It's literally a new page in the Mario saga. Nintendo's Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door offers a thoroughly entertaining role-play style game that appeals to players of all ages.
Once again, the notable Peach is missing and there's treasure to be found. To find Peach, Mario has to turn into paper form to uncover a mystery behind an ancient, legendary portal known as the Thousand-Year Door.
As 2D characters, Mario and his friends can manipulate their flat, 2-D bodies in various ways. For example, Mario can roll himself into a tube and bounce, slip sideways through narrow passages or fold himself into a paper airplane and sail away. All of these abilities are put to good and clever use throughout the game.
As a roleplay game, players get to explore various worlds, encounter other characters, fight with bad guys, collect items and earn new skills. The game features an amazing world with lots of humor and compelling characters. We were pleasantly surprised at the various subplots, and the game's considerable depth, which with its various secret areas and side quests can keep gamers entertained for hours.
The title deftly mixes classic Mario touches such as Koopas and invisible blocks with brilliant level design and intriguing, offbeat challenges that include baking a cake and exploring a giant house of mirrors. The graphics are excellent and there's lots of fighting and combat, but it's all in a light-hearted tone. The game is an inspired piece of work and it's gamers who benefit.
Anyone who loves Mario will enjoy Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. And anyone who simply loves a great game will have fun with this one.
11/9/04 www.daytrum.com
Editorial Staff
