Paper Mario: Color Splash review or something... · 5:37pm Oct 18th, 2016
I am a huge fan of the first three "Paper Mario"-games. They are among the Best the Mario-series has to offer.
And I completely deny the existence of "Paper Mario: Sticker Star" and see it as one of Miyamoto's biggest mistakes. But because (unlike me) most people didn't do their homework on this game, it still sold good enough to support Miyamoto in his decision, what finally resulted in "Paper Mario: Color Splash".
But unlike StickerStar I decided to give this game a chance to prove itself because of the rather positive reviews. And now I have finally finished it and am ready to talk about it in a review/impression/opinion blog here, because I feel the urge to voice my thoughts. Maybe it's fun and I'll do more
So, is this game a step back into the right direction? Is it StickerStar2.0? Was it worth searching seven stores, because Germany received only a few copies. At least to the last one I can say "probably not".
Story and Writing
The game has (sadly) a very basic Mario-story. You get a letter, which turns out to be a color-drained Toad, travel to Port Prism and find it also color-drained, meet the talking bucket Huey, a black Bowser kidnaps Peach and you have to find the six Paintstars to save her. Not much else. Very basic. As I said.
Do at least the worlds have their own storylines? Some. The game’s world is divided into six sections (which I’ll just call Worlds), each representing one of the six colors of the rainbow (Dash). For the better half of the game (Worlds Red, Yellow, Blue and Green) you’ll go back and forth between the first three worlds making as much progress as you can until you stumble upon the levels with the big stars and their bosses, which causes the worlds to feel disjointed. Only Worlds Purple(4) and Orange(5) are mostly done in order and tell own little stories (pirate journey and trainride).
The writing itself is great, though. The whole game is filled to the brim with jokes, puns, fourth-wall-breaks and pop-culture references. They even referenced the “Luigi Death Stare”!
You know what the game is also filled with? Toads. Lots and lots of Toads, who mostly look the same. Why is Nintendo suddenly so obsessed with Toads? At least most of them have at least basic personalities and often contribute to the games humor. My favourite would be the Train Driver-Toad, who actually helps you in a boss fight.
But the main focus is your “partner”, Huey the paintbucket. Surprisingly, I really liked him. He’s nice, supportive and funny, though more character would have been possible.
Also the Koopalings are back as main-bosses of the game, but I think “Mario&Luigi: Paper Jam” did more for their characters. Most of them only appear right before the battle and disappear right after it. I’d say Morton, Larry and Lemmy got the most screentime and the most character.
Presentation
It’s a cartoon-style game on a HD-console. Of course it looks gorgeous. The levels are lively and very much effort has been put into the details. Yes, there are some generic level-themes you would expect from a Mario-game. But grassland, beach, forest and volcano aside, it also includes a coliseum, circus, train, a reverse world, the first levels of SMB3 and the infiltration of a MetalGear-like base.
The music is even more gorgeous. The game’s soundtrack is a great mix of electronic and orchestral music. The songs usually fit perfectly to the current situations. Just listen to the catchy as hell “Normal Battle” theme. It’s the track you’ll hear throughout the whole game and it doesn’t even get slightly old or annoying. For me personally the highlights of the soundtrack are the Koopalings’ boss battle themes. Again, perfectly describing the battle, the character and the world you ventured through on your way to it.
Gameplay
I’m not sure if it this game is an Adventure or a RPG. Well, it has both, so let’s start with the first. In the adventure portions you’re traversing with your basic jump and run-abilities through the game's levels to find the mini paint stars. The world map may be from StickerStar, but structure of the levels is more like “Super Paper Mario” as you often have to help certain Toads to reach the end.
With the new Color-hammer you can, well, color things. Fill all paintless spots in a level, which feels oddly satisfying, and you get the themes for the gallery (some are very well hidden). You can also at certain points cut out the environment to reach new areas and use things for puzzles. Puzzles are usually very easy and straightforward, but if you should have problems, there are Toads in the main town, which’ll give you hints. One thing I criticize is that the level hazards often do high amounts of damage and you’re sometimes actually forced to take it.
And then there’s the battle. You’re using cards, that represent different attacks, to attack. You can color the cards with your paint to raise the damage (they do nearly nothing without). Getting cards is pretty easy, as the game often throws them at you. Also they stopped showing the enemy’s HP, altogether. The enemy’s color gives you an indication, but it’s not enough for strategic gameplay like in the first two games. On a side note, you’re pretty strong in this game. You’ll defeat enemy hordes before they can even attack you. The only times you’ll lose is, when the game decides to go unfair on you. This time combat is not completely pointless. Winning battles will give you hammer exp, which will increase your max paint. At the beginning very useful, but later the actual increases get to small to really care about.
Of course I’ll also talk about the bosses. The Koopaling battles are… a mixed bag. The first parts are usually very unique and innovative, like Ludwig’s battleship or Wendy’s rhythm attacks. But then comes the point, where they get invulnerable and start an insta-kill attack, which can only be avoided with the right Thing-card. The biggest problem is, that half of the times the game misses to tell you the right card BEFORE the battle, forcing you to flee or give up. Other mini-bosses… exist. Two big versions of generic enemies that come out of nowhere, Kamek, Petea Piranha (that’s not a typo) and a steak.
I should also mention the roshambo temples in which you play rock-paper-scissor for money. The first two are great to farm coins, because there they’ll always use the same cards. I reached max coins before the third boss (without much effort).
Final Thoughts
I may not have played Sticker Star, but I can still say that Color Splash is way better. Writing, music and the graphics of the world are great and the game is worth playing just for them. These parts are exactly how I’d imagine an HD-remake of “The 100-year-door”. Other parts like the characters or the boss battles may show great potential, but fall flat because the game doesn’t use it.
As a final rating I’d give the game:
‘A 3/4-full bucket of paint‘ out of 10
Very enjoyable on its own, but something is just missing.
So, this was actually pretty fun to make. Tell me in the comments, what you think of the game and if I should do this again. 
This has been Marwile, who’s still hoping for a “1000-year-door”-remake.
