Mario & Luigi: Brothership Review Part 2

Just a little warning, this part isn’t gonna be nearly as well organized as the first one. A lot has happened, so I’m just gonna throw out what I think of the game since the last part.

The game has been really well made so far. I know that’s a pretty simple thing to say, but it’s honestly a surprise considering this entry is from a whole new studio (that and Paper Jam wasn’t the best send-off for the series, and the Inside Story remake was kinda iffy). The only parts I'd say were iffy were Lottacoins Island (since I didn't really like the puzzle-ish aspects) and the wedding subplot (since it kinda just felt like a fetch-quest). As of this part, I just defeated Bowser, and I gotta say it has been my favorite boss so far. The sheer amount of variety in his attacks, especially the ones that reference his moveset in Inside Story, made the fight really fun. It was also cool how his minions fought alongside him; which actually made you question whether to leave them alive and focus on Bowser, or take them out but deal less damage to the big man himself.

Bowser obviously isn’t the main antagonist though, that title goes to the Extension Corps (Zokket doesn’t count cause he barely does anything). Ecks, Ten, and Shun have a fun group dynamic, especially with how they never let Shun get a word in, and I think their more comedic tone makes them a lot more interesting than their leader. I especially like how Shun, while mostly talked over, gets to take the spotlight for the Pipegunk fight.

Speaking of the Pipegunk fight; holy shit was that fight difficult. I don’t know what it was about it, but it genuinely took me like 3 tries to beat the thing. Even then I still barely had any health remaining by the end of it. It wasn’t difficult in a bad way though, it was genuinely fun trying to figure out its attacks and play around its element-changing gimmick. That’s a thing with the fights in Brothership in general. Even the basic enemies are fun to fight, especially since their movesets have gotten more complex recently and they like to attack in varied groups. I especially like fighting the enemies in Bowser’s Castle. The way they worked together, especially in Bower’s fight, was really cool.

The expansions to Mario & Luigi’s moves are pretty cool too. The time-slowing bros. attack is really fun to use, and it was quite the surprise to see the Yoo-Hoo Cannon return from Inside Story since it is one of my favorite attacks in that game (I’m crossing my fingers for the magic windows one or whatever it’s called). The Ice/Fire Flower bros. move in the overworld is also neat. I like how this game has sorta focused around the ice/fire duo with this move and the Heatfreeze Island stuff.

And on a random note, I loved the cutscene of Bowser’s Army fighting Zokket’s in the SKY. Who doesn’t love a giant battle scene in the sky? Zokket still isn’t my favorite so far, though. He just kinda seems evil for the sake of it, rather than having any real motive (wanting the islands to be isolated doesn’t count as a motive). Another random note, I liked the addition of the rematch against Gobblick.

Look out for part 3 sometime in the future. I’d say soon but I genuinely don’t know when I’ll finish the game, since I’ve been trying to pace myself so I don’t burn out playing it. I'll try to make it more organized than this one, so it doesn't read as much like the random scrawlings of a madman.