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Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope - Review Thread

Plum

Plum

Member
May 31, 2018
17,734
OpenCritic: 86
MetaCritic: 86

Eurogamer - Recommended
Knockabout XCOM fun in a galaxy-hopping adventure that makes Mario's brother a true star.
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Polygon - Recommended
Who could have predicted that such an odd amalgamation could elicit such joy? With Sparks of Hope, Ubisofts Milan and Paris have turned one of gaming's strangest elevator pitches into one of Mario's greatest spinoffs.
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GamingTrend - 100/100
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope launches with a spark of life. There are improvements and expansion of the gameplay and performance of the first game. Three new heroes to the game including an original (non-Mushroom Kingdom related) Rabbid character named Edge. There are brand new unique weapons and special abilities for each character. Oh, and Sparks galore. This game is pumped full of "new tactical possibilities" for every kind of gamer.
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IGN - 9/10
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is a major leap forward from atop the shoulders of its surprisingly smart and charming predecessor, bringing a wonderful amount of flexibility to its turn-based tactical battles.
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GamesRadar - 4.5/5
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope captures everything that made the original so special, all while delivering a more complex and complete experience. It offers a new level of strategic depth, with world-building that makes it more of a Super Mario game than you might expect.
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Press Start - 9/10
While Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is a markedly different game than Kingdom Battle, it's a more than worthy sequel that successfully steps into its own space within the realm of turn-based strategy. It's undoubtedly one of the best games on the Switch, and one of the best showings from Ubisoft in recent years.
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Easy Allies - 9/10

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhY_itQqgGQ&ab_channel=EasyAllies

NintendoLife - 8/10
An extra couple of notches on the difficulty meter might have forced us to experiment and dig deeper to find winning strategies. However, Sparks of Hope shines in most aspects outside of these Darkmess bouts. Delightful little puzzles, quests, and memorable locales abound, which yet make this Rabbid-themed adventure a must-play for Mario and strategy game enthusiasts alike.
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VGC - 4/5
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is a fun-filled exploration that shows what can happen when Nintendo decides to share its toys. While it's not the biggest leap a sequel has ever made, an incredible soundtrack, great visuals and witty writing make it one of Switch's best games of the year.
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GamersHeroes - 8/10
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope improves on Kingdom Battle, but drags things out far too long near the end. Fans of the original – or tactical combat games in general – should still check it out.
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Trusted Reviews - 3.5/5
Mario and Rabbids Sparks of Hope provides the same enjoyable turn-based combat as its predecessor, with some minor tweaks to make it more accessible to a wider audience. A greater focus on the Rabbids opposed to the Mushroom Kingdom feels like a backwards step though, with the slapstick crossover comedy failing to sparkle this time around.
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SunBroDave

SunBroDave

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,946
Obligatory fuck Ubisoft leadership. I won't disparage anyone who doesn't want to support this company until real changes have been made at the executive and culture levels.

That said, review scores look great. Congrats to all the creatives and devs on the team who worked really hard to produce what seems like an awesome game.
 
BDrummer1606

BDrummer1606

Member
Oct 27, 2017
742
Can't wait! The first game was really good and this looks like it's an improvement in almost every way.
 
Vantair

Vantair

Member
Aug 2, 2022
459
Happy to see its being well received, I'm pretty damn excited for this one - it seems to be addressing most of my (relatively minor) issues with the first one.

And thanks for making the thread, OP!
 
Zookfoodle

Zookfoodle

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,271
ciddative said:
These scores are a surprise to be sure
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Why? The first game was great, and its sold a metric shitload of copies (according to game director on twitter, over 10 million players as of this august), which meant ubisoft probably just gave the team as much budget as they wanted to make a great sequel
They had a solid plan and executed on it
 
Classicrock78

Classicrock78

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,217
San Antonio
Didn't expect those reviews so decided to get the gold edition of this game over the borderlands game that's coming this month.
 
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Ravelle

Ravelle

Member
Oct 31, 2017
18,772
The first game was my game of the year and a welcome suprise, glad this one is going to be fantastic as well.
 
eso76

eso76

Prophet of Truth
Member
Dec 8, 2017
8,617
So happy for the team, bunch of talented and passionate guys.
 

QuigleyMcShine

Member
Jan 29, 2018
9,982
I'm into it. I believe Best Buy still has a $10 gift card with preorder so maybe I won't get the digital version for once.

Shame about the load times going into and out of menus though (mentioned in the IGN review). Sounds like that could get annoying and encourage brute-forcing through encounters rather than really engaging with the Sparks.
 
julian

julian

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,733
SunBroDave said:
Obligatory fuck Ubisoft leadership. I won't disparage anyone who doesn't want to support this company until real changes have been made at the executive and culture levels.

That said, review scores look great. Congrats to all the creatives and devs on the team who worked really hard to produce what seems like an awesome game.
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I haven't bought a Ubisoft game since the scandals came out and this is the first release that really puts that to the test. It just feels like they've done nothing to improve. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia and Embracer (who I stopped buying from years ago) keep buying up anybody else making games I'm interested in….the industry fucking sucks right now.
 
dralla

dralla

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,026
First game was fun but it ran out of steam near the end since it didn't have the depth for a 30+ hour game. Hopefully this is addressed in the sequel
 
Nali

Nali

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,838
I dearly wish I had time for this right now, but it's absolutely the next game I pick up. The first one is such a gem.
 

giapel

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,809
FantasticMrFoxdie said:
really enjoyed the first game (but didn't finish it for some reason)


really looking forward to this one now.
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I don't think I did either. It was mostly down to the way the challenges were handled, forcing a retread of the same world before moving on. By the end of it I just wasn't feeling it.
I did finish the DLC though, that was fantastic throughout. Hard to see how they can top that with the new DLC character.
 
Dizzy Ukulele

Dizzy Ukulele

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,013
Yeah, I don't think I can buy this at launch. The previous one followed Ubisoft's laws of price drops rather than Nintendo's. Half price in November and I will eat.
 
Milennia

Milennia

Prophet of Truth - Community Resetter
Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,997
Florida
Another one for Nintendo this year

Will be on deep sale in 3 days since it's UBI
 
Bing147

Bing147

Member
Jun 13, 2018
3,865
I gave it a 4/5. It's very good, and I love most of the gameplay changes they made, but I was somewhat surprised by the lack of polish in a Mario game. I know Nintendo didn't publish it themselves but usually they keep a pretty tight handle on anything he stars in. I had the game crash on me, and 4 times during the game I had to either reset the game entirely (3 of those) or restart a battle (the other time) because of a bug that blocked progression. Never the end of the world, the game auto saves constantly, so I didn't lose that much progress, but it did get annoying at times and the times it happened in the overworld were especially annoying because they were all tied around puzzles, and it was impossible to know if it was a bug, or if I was just doing something wrong, especially the first couple of times it happened.

www.heypoorplayer.com

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Review (Switch) | Hey Poor Player

Despite some technical issues that feel strangely out of place in a Mario game, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope builds on its predecessor beautifully.
www.heypoorplayer.com www.heypoorplayer.com
 

Skyscourge

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 7, 2020
1,886
The EZA review is 8.5, not 9.

Game looks good! I really need to finish the first one.
 
OnanieBomb

OnanieBomb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,779
Very nice. First one was a gem, glad they're able to pull it off again. I was a bit worried about the new free movement system.
 
Bushido

Bushido

Senior Game Designer
Verified
Feb 6, 2018
1,870
Probably GOTY contender for me, love the first game so much. Can't wait to jump into this later this week.
 
Greywaren

Greywaren

Member
Jul 16, 2019
10,899
Spain
The first one is still one of my favorite games on Switch, so having a sequel that's bigger and better is such a blessing. I really, really can't wait to play it!
 

Werd

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
496
Not Keeping up with the Switch lately and thought this wasn't out until next year, nice surprise. First one was one of my favorites of that year, and on Switch in general other than the big two Odyssey/BotW.

Enjoyed the streamlined approach more than X-Com 2 at the time and the Rabbids didn't bother me like I thought they might. Definitely going to play this one.
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
113,210
I'm really not an SRPG, but post-Three Houses, maybe I could give this spinoff another try

Good review scores at any rate
 
Nucarn

Nucarn

Member
Jan 15, 2020
650
Belgium
Glad that the sequel is being as well received as the original. I thought I wouldn't like the rabbids in the original but they were not as annoying as I thought they would be, so definitely looking forward to the sequel it seems they expanded the scope a lot!
 
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