TEST Mario + The Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, more open, more tactical, funnier

In 2017, Ubisoft released Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battlewhere the improbable encounter between the worlds of Mushroom Kingdom of nintendo and Rabbids from the Breton studio, with a gameplay reminding XCOM, giving pride of place to turn-based tactical combat. Five years later, Ubisoft do it again with Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, in order to refine the already very good recipe. Mission successful?

An adventure that devours thanks to its omnipresent humor.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope takes us to Mushroom Kingdomwhere the Rabbits settled after the end of the first installment. Everyone lives in perfect harmony, but now a little starry creature, a Sparkarrives asking for help from mario and his friends in order to save his mother, kidnapped by Cursaan antagonist who has trashed different worlds with her Confused-Shadow. Neither one nor two, the mustachioed plumber goes on an adventure with his friends and the Rabbids to defeat this new threat and save the Sparks. A very light scenario, nintendobut which offers its share of surprises. The player quickly understands that he will have to recover energy on each world explored to reach the next one, until the end of the game, meeting new characters along the way, whether they are known heads from nintendo or some Rabbits new, not so Morons finally.

The scenario remains quite basic, its depth is mostly hidden in tables scattered throughout the levels, but also with partially doubled cutscenes, the Rabbits being more talkative than the heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom. An adventure that devours, in particular thanks to its omnipresent humorits varied decors with amusing winks and its captivating music, composed by Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom HeartsGareth Coker (Immortals Fenyx Rising) and Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie). A feast for the eyes and ears, the artistic direction is in line with the first part and the games nintendoeven though technically, you have to count on somewhat long loading times, rare slowdowns and textures that sometimes lack detailespecially in fashion TV.

But Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is first and foremost a game with strategic turn-based battles, which have greatly evolved since the first opus. Forget the movement grid, here it is possible to move freely in a limited area (varying according to the character and his mobility), to propel himself into the air with trampolines on the map or thanks to his companions, or even to charge his enemies to inflict some damage on them without consuming an action point. Concretely, a round of a battle takes place in a fairly classic way if you have already touched a game of the same genre, the player moves his heroes on the map, tries to hide behind obstacles and launch his attack on an opponent. Simple, basic, but very complete and requiring a lot of thought.

Each character has a unique weapon, with obviously different effects. mario can fire twice from a distance with pistols, Luigi has a bow for shots from very far, Mario Rabbit strikes his enemies on contact with robotic fists, peach features an umbrella/shotgun shooting a wide area, Peach Rabbit has a rocket launcher to shoot over obstacles etc. It is up to the player to know his characters well and to compose his team at the start of the game according to his style of play, but also the opponents and the level. Under its cute looks, Mario + The Rabbids: Sparks of Hope remains a real tactical game with sometimes very present difficultyeven by changing the level in the options, and the PV characters can quickly go down to the Game Over after a few laps doing anything. Game Over which simply brings us back to the start of the fight, nothing too dramatic.

As if that weren’t enough, the heroes also all have an ability, a Super Effect to activate to strengthen his defense, counter-attack, shoot an enemy who moves in your field of vision, etc. Very useful powers that can change the course of a fight, but obviously impossible to use them every turn. And that’s not all !

There’s plenty to enjoy in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

New in this opus, characters can equip Sparksthese little creatures to save over the course of the adventure and offering effects again very practical during the fights. This ranges from elemental effects for weapons to boost from defense to zone attacks, the player must attach up to two Sparks to a hero and improve it in a dedicated menu, adding quite a bit of depth to the gameplay. Most enemies have weaknesses and resistances to certain elemental effects, it is up to the player to adapt using these Sparks to make the fight easier. In other words, depending on the characters and Sparks choose, no fight is alike, and the game offers varied objectives, such as eliminating all enemies, beating a certain number of special opponents, reaching an area (at the other end of the map) or simply surviving a certain number of rounds. This last objective is however far from being exciting, the player moves his characters a little gropingly, the rhythm takes a hit.

But Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hopeit’s not just fights! Ubisoft inspired by the games of nintendo and here letsfreely explore game worlds, in order to discover little secrets, collect coins (to buy items to use in combat or heal your characters), solve puzzles and embark on a few side quests. A semi-open world that diversifies the gameplay and allows you to breathe between two long fights, and which makes most confrontations optional. Yes, by cleverly dodging the enemies prowling the map, the mandatory fights are not legion, but the player still has an interest in fighting to gain experience, levels and therefore skill points, allowing him to Improve hero stats and powers through skill trees.

Whatever, there’s plenty to enjoy in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, open worlds are fun to explore, just like a real game nintendo, the challenge is there (especially by pushing the level of difficulty a little), but despite all this, the duration is not very high. Without making too many detours, the game ends between 10 and 15 hours, even if it is necessary to add between 5 and 10 additional hours to unearth all the secrets, carry out the secondary quests and solve the few optional puzzles. Unfortunately, no cooperative multiplayer mode here to extend the lifespan, Ubisoft made the choice to focus on the solo only.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope Isn’t Just a Beast Sequel, it takes the mechanics of the first game, tweaking and improving them, giving fans a refreshing experience. The tactic is still present, as is the humor, but the gameplay this time offers real depth with the Sparks and objects to use in combat, not to mention the colorful characters (who are only eight playable, too bad). Exploring the planets is also a good way to break the monotony, but we would have liked an additional world to lengthen the lifespan a little. Anyway, the recipe is evolving in the very good direction, no question of sulking his pleasure if you enjoyed the first opus.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is available exclusively on Nintendo Switch, as a Cosmic Edition at €54.99 on Amazon Where €59.99 at Micromania.

Clint008 Writer – Tester