Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS)

“Hmm... the third Mario & Luigi RPG in the GBA series (well, only the first was actually on the GBA but I think you know what I mean :D). Since the second left me rather disappointed I was hoping for this to be a return to glory and it honestly...”

“Hmm... the third Mario & Luigi RPG in the GBA series (well, only the first was actually on the GBA but I think you know what I mean :D). Since the second left me rather disappointed I was hoping for this to be a return to glory and it honestly started really well, adding some fun new twists and all.

+ Good ol' fun. Yes, this game is third in a series so yes, we've seen it all before. Is this bad? Not here! All the good stuff from the previous games is back in it's rightfull glory (... go read those reviews now! Superstar Saga and Partners in Time). For the record, this includes the graphics, battle system, humourous storyline, etc.
+ The concept is quite original: Mario Bros get sucked into Bowser and now they've got to face the bad guys together (possible thanks to the latters gullibility). Even better? The levels inside Bowser are nods to the old sidescrolling gameplay.
+ Exploration. The previous game was heavily criticized due to it's linear gameplay. This time The story is still pretty linear but one can revisit old areas with the Bros and open up new paths, discover extra sidequests, etc.
+ The battle system was already great but adding a new PC could have proven to be a huge error... thankfully they did it perfectly. Bowser plays like well... Bowser! His battle style relies less on dodging/dexterity/etc but more on inflicting pain (including his counters) :D He isn't as nimble like the Bros with all that fancy jumping but just chugs on like some unstoppable behemoth.
- Chippy/Starlow. "Hey guys, the Bros don't really talk so how should we solve this?" Their answer? Navi...
- The humour is starting to wear thin, not once did it crack me up and even Fawful seemed kinda bland.
- Fawful as big bad? Seriously? I prefered his sewer cameo in PiT.
- Why must the DS suffer from this "must implement lame touch screen minigames"-syndrome? Except for the Big Bowser battles the touch screen parts were awful.
- Resurrecting Bowser. He's a classic villain, they don't die! If they needed an excuse to initiate the Big Bowser moments they should've thought of something else, to me it just feels wrong <

BIS is a good NDS game, better than PiT but sadly not reaching SS level. It doesn't help that this is the third game in a series and inspiration seems to start running dry. If you like Action RPGs this is definitly a good game for you.”

“You know, if somebody had told me, that one of the first big bads you face is Lord Fawful, I would have ran (not walked) to the stores to buy this. I have not gotten far enough to know if somebody is influencing Lord Fawful or not--or if he is...”

“You know, if somebody had told me, that one of the first big bads you face is Lord Fawful, I would have ran (not walked) to the stores to buy this. I have not gotten far enough to know if somebody is influencing Lord Fawful or not--or if he is indeed the main big bad.. but damn, I love this game now XD

I mean, I just love listening to that hot and sexy way that Fawful speaks. You know, if somebody came up to me, and started picking me up for a date, much like how Fawful talks, I would prolly accept right away. That is, if they could pull it off.

I think I just found out why people find me weird o.o'”