Behold the Power of Paper
When you think of paper what comes to mind? If its not a vibrant and colorful world, inhabited by bizarre and wacky characters then I’m afraid you don’t know anything about the wonders of paper.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is an RPG staring everyone’s favorite plumber, Mario. Are hero is once again on a quest to save the princess, whose goal in life is to hold the record for most consecutive abductions (at this rate poor Zelda will never catch up). This may seem to be an uninspired start, but fact of the matter is that The Thousand Year Door inspires to do much more than any other Mario game before it. This game aims not only to take you to colorful and wondrous world to explore, but to immerse you into it. The world is filled with bizarre characters all doing mundane and interesting things. It really is just a treat to spend time in this land of paper.
The game has a unique combat system to go along with the unique look. It is a turn base system that requires you to do action commands as well. From tapping the A button precisely, to spinning the analog stick. These commands make you feel more involved with the combat. This is particularly a good thing in this case since the combat itself can become rather boring. The one major flaw with Paper Mario is that the game is super easy. You become a juggernaut early on, with special moves and badges that simply decimate your enemies, and unlike most RPGs there is absolutely no grinding required. Even if the enemies start to give you trouble they drop so much gold that you can just stock up on mushrooms and fire flowers till you become practically invincible.
As great as the presentation is, it does have its share of problems as well. There is no spoken speech in the game. This really isn’t a problem though since all the dialog is really well written. Each character in the game has a clear and unique voice, which is all there own. The story is good, albeit by the numbers. The biggest disappointment however has to be the characters that join your party, all of whom are eccentric and filled with personality before joining your crusade, but once they do they all stop interacting with you and the world around them. It really is a shame that they become nothing more than extra moves for Mario in battle, rather than remaining the charming characters you met and helped out earlier in your quest.
Despite the few fold and cresses here and there this game is really close to being a masterpiece. The developers have crafted a world filled with things to do and places to discover and its all presented remarkably well. Unless you have no appreciation for the imaginative powers of paper there is no reason not to fall in love with this paper thin adventure, which ranks among Mario’s very best.
