Sound:  
Speaking of being out-dated, Nintendo really needs to drop the midi tracks in their games. I guess it's okay for Paper Mario, but if next year's realistic Zelda isn't fully orchestrated a lot of people will be upset.

The tunes all fit the style of what's going on, and to be honest a heavy orchestrated soundtrack would seem out of place in what looks on the surface to be a children's game. The problem is all the songs tend to run together. Throughout the game you'll hear tributes to previous Mario games with music that was so memorable, but I have a feeling if someone played music from Paper Mario 2 in an upcoming Mario game nobody would recognize it.

Gameplay:  
If you've played Mario RPG, Paper Mario, or Mario and Luigi, you'll recognize the gameplay instantly. Explore a Mario world of platform-jumping, solving puzzles and helping people, and then do battle in separate arenas in turn-based combat.

Just like in the previous outings, battles are more hands-on thanks to timing challenges and different ways of executing each move. You might have to line up two targets, or press a button combination, or press a button a second time at the right second for an extra hit.

New to Paper Mario 2 is an audience that affects battles. If you're good at attacking and even show off a little, you'll get extra cheers which let you use special moves. Obviously if you suck no one will watch you fight. The audience is filled with friends and foes, as some will throw items at you and some will throw rocks at you. Don't worry, you can go into the audience and smack 'em up a bit.

The boss battles are very engaging and force you to think of different ways of attacking. For example, SPOILER ALERT! Highlight to read:



and a monkey!

Okay, end of spoilers. It's clear that when writing this game Nintendo wanted to have fun with us. You won't be disappointed with the writing, both in terms of text and plot-points. The game even changes up its own style from time to time, letting you think you've finished a chapter when you're not even close to being finished.

One point I will make about this game is that it can be pretty frustrating at times. Townsfolk barely help you figure out what to do next or where to go. You can pay for a gypsy to tell you what to do, or go online and read a walkthrough, but that's not satisfying at all! It's always really stupid stuff too, stuff that's really easy once you read it but there's no way you could have known about it, like falling behind a random building to meet someone, and then finding out there was a much easier way to locate them in plain sight but was almost invisible.

Outside of a few rogue puzzles, most of the pacing is great and the game offers a good challenge for older players. In case you're wondering, this game clocks in at about 30 hours. There are also a bunch of Zelda-style puzzles, and nobody does those better than Nintendo.

Control:
There are different controls for different parts of the game. On the field, A is jump and B is hammer. You also learn a bunch of new moves during the game. R lets you turn sideways, R plus rotating the control stick lets you roll up into a piece of paper. X does a partner's ability (oh yeah, you get up to 7 partners to help you out, and usually puzzles are designed to use one or multiple partners. Pretend this part was in the gameplay section).

Y is context-sensitive, meaning if you find an airplane pad, Y turns you into a paper airplane. If you find a boat pad, Y turns you into a paper boat. If you find a pad for one of those elementary school paper fortune-teller games, you can learn that Luigi has cooties.

Multiplayer:
Paper Mario 2 is single-player only. Nintendo encourages you to play with yourself, especially with the DS "Touching is good" ad campaign.

OVERALL:
If you've enjoyed Mario RPG, Paper Mario, or Mario and Luigi, don't hesitate to pick up Paper Mario 2. If you haven't played any of those games, but are interested in a lighter RPG that's ultimately more well-rounded than most of the big ones, don't hesitate to pick up Paper Mario 2.

If you played the older games and didn't like them, then perhaps Metroid this week is more your style.

 

The Lowdown on  Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Aesthetics: Very Good Control: Awesome Gameplay: Awesome Multiplayer: Sound: Average Innovation: 5/6 Lasting Appeal: 6/6 Rating Explanation Overall: Awesome! "Top of the Genre"