REVIEW

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle Review

by Jake Stewart, September 14th, 2017

If somebody told me during the Switch Announcement that Nintendo would be partnering with Ubisoft for a Mario/Rabbids crossover game, I’d have called them crazy. Then, if they proceeded to tell me that it would be an XCOM-esque strategy game and a fantastic title, I’d probably have tuned you out at that point. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a surprisingly solid strategy game, one that rivals even XCOM in terms of entertainment value.

The story is fairly simple, the Rabbids have gotten their hands on a device that merges two things into one. Then proceed to merge themselves into the Super Mario universe, and wreak havoc upon the Mushroom Kingdom with their new device. The story has a few cameos and complications along the way but the premise is still simple to its core. A few of the Rabbids have merged with some iconic items, and have created Super Mario versions of the Rabbids. Throughout your journey you will be accompanied by other Super Mario characters, as well as Rabbids dawning classic Mario outfits.

The word XCOM is thrown around a lot when describing how Rabbids plays, and it is hard to find a better fitting word. Combat is turn-based, the characters are given a certain number of movements and abilities to perform each turn. Once you are through, the enemies perform their turn until one side is gone. The simplicity leads the way for some creative strategy however. For example, in one turn your character could dash into an enemy for a melee attack, team jump off an ally to a safe location, and then fire upon another enemy. Stringing together the attacks in this way feels very satisfying and allows the player to pull off some fantastic combos.

The weapon selection is fairly broad as well. Some weapons will push enemies away, some will glue them to the floor, and others will follow the enemies and detonate upon contact. After every battle, you are given the opportunity to spend coins on better weapons, and there is almost always something better than you currently have. Upgrading to a new and improved weapon is exciting, and the damage upgrade is always noticeable. There is quite a handful of team-members to choose from as well, adding even more weapon types and abilities to customize between encounters.

Expanding upon the customization, skills points can be found or earned to add some extra abilities and damage to your team. These skills add some extra levels of depth to the combat, and can drastically change your potential during a round. One of my favorite skills gives Mario the ability to jump off an ally and land on an enemy. This skill strings together the fluid movement with the ability to relocate and follow up with a shot. Kingdom Battle is filled to the brim with possibilities on stringing abilities together, and helps combat feel exciting every time.

The Mushroom Kingdom has never looked better, Kingdom Battle takes advantage over the hardware boost from the Wii U. Being as this is the first time the Mario gang has been displayed in a new experience on the Switch, it really shows how polished the graphics can be. Ubisoft has done a fantastic job at recreating the Mushroom Kingdom and no visuals (not even the Rabbids) look out of place in this title. The soundtrack matches the Nintendo vibe well. While it never tries anything too risky, it captures the Mario vibe spot-on.

For a modern Nintendo game, difficulty can be surprisingly high. Kingdom Battle isn’t easy enough to mindlessly play through and expect to skid by every time. Winning takes some real strategy, otherwise you’ll receive a quick and painful lesson from the enemy rabbids. When your health reaches 0, your character will knocked out for the remainder of battle. If all characters go down, game over. Unlike similar games, your character will be alive and well once the match ends. Boss battles are tough and have some sort of mechanic to coincide with them to add some extra problem-solving from the regular battles. The designs of these bosses are always neat as well. Rabbids will merge themselves with a fearsome enemy and create a powerful foe, such as Rabbid Kong.

Kingdom Battle has some decent length, somewhere around 16 hours of game play. Throughout the campaign, players will face TONS of encounters. The enemy type never changes from Rabbids, and the standard enemies are all fairly similar without too much to distinguish them from one another. This can leave a fairly repetitive feeling, and makes it somewhat hard to play for lengthy sessions. There is some easy puzzles in between battles to change up the pace a bit, but doesn’t make too huge of an impact. Kingdom Battle is easy to pick back up after a quick break, but the repetition definitely leaves a bit of a blemish on an otherwise fantastic experience.

Kingdom Battle is the most surprising hit of this year, far surpassing my expectations. The gameplay is much different from anything Nintendo regularly releases, and adds some much needed variety to the Switch lineup. Customization and strategy is required to succeed, making every upgrade feel like it actually counts towards making you better. Aesthetic matches perfectly to the Mario style we’ve come to expect, and has never looked better. Aside from the game feeling repetitive at times, there is very little negative things to be said. Kingdom Battle is a must-buy for Switch owners.