Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is the sequel to the tactical, turn-based Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle released in 2017. They are a crossover between Nintendo' s Mario and Ubisoft' s Raving Rabbids.
Both games were developed by Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris and while you don't need to have played Kindom Battles to understand Sparks of Hope gameplay and story it will, of course, make it more enjoyable.
Mario, Luigi, and Peach as well as a team of their Rabbid counterparts take part in turn-based battles much like the previous game, and Sparks follows on from the events of Kingdom Battle, with Rabbids merged to create all kinds of creatures, items, and monsters.
The gameplay is tactical and turn-based like X-Com, Shin Megami Tensei, or Fire Emblem but it swaps out those darker settings with an emphasis on cartoony comedy and an homage to the Mario series.
Sparks of Hope continues the story with the Rabbids seemingly here to stay until Mario and his Rabbids friends discover a creature made from the Luma's from Mario Galaxy crossed with a Rabbid called sparks, fleeing for its life.
They are then attacked by a mysterious and malevolent Villain called Cursa, who corrupts everything and is after all the Sparks for their strange powers.
Cursa has been spreading black muck called Darkmess through the universe and sends a squad of dangerous assailants after you.
Later on a punky, edgy-looking badass Rabbid called Edge joins you to take down Cursa and fight her dastardly minions, but is there more to her than what she seems?
Sparks of Hope retains a lot of the bright, colorful, stylised look of the previous game that perfectly fits the Mario and Rabbids aesthetic, however, there are defiantly more flashy particle effects with some of the weird and wild moves and weapons you'll be using.
The looks great and runs at a decent 720p, 30 FPSin handheld mode while in docked resolution was 1080p, 30 FPS but sometimes when the action got a bit more hectic I did see some noticeable frame rate drops.
The animations of the characters feel like they feel a lot more alive and full of personality this time around and feel less static than in Kingdom Battle.
I was taken by surprise by some of the characters now being fully voiced, Instead of Rabbids just screaming, for example Rabbid Peach's Valley-girl voice, Rabbid Mario sounds like 90s, Captain Lou Albano and Beep-0 now has a campy C3PO style voice.
Some of the people you meet and bosses are also voiced which makes the story a little more captivating. Charles Martinet returns as the iconic voice of Mario and Luigi although as usual, he doesn't get to say much.
You select your team of three through a roster of nine characters including the cast of the previous game including Mario Peach and Luigi as well as their Rabbid counterparts.
You also recruit new characters on your journey including Bowser, Mario's long-time foe, Rabbid Rosalina, as well as Edge.
Your party level's up by collecting Skill Prisms to unlock more abilities and upgrade them from each character's Skill Tree. But you can also redistribute them at any time for free, allowing you to experiment a little.
Each character has a specialised role and their own number of prisms and they can be spent. There are four subsets of skill Tree, Health, Movement, Weapon, and Technique.
With the Galatic threat of Cursa you'll be flying to different, and varied planets, with different characters, environments, and enemies, which helps keep the game fresh.
There is a bigger emphasis on exploring, talking to the inhabitants of the planets, and completing quests and side missions for them, as well as finding secrets and solving puzzles.
Puzzles play a much more significant role as Beep-0 is now equipped with abilities that help you see paths or clues to solving the puzzles, they aren't too complicated but are just enough to offer a satisfying break from combat.
Planets you visit always have more to seek out even when you've completed the main objective and you can return to them later too to 100% them and pick up any items or Sparks you may have missed.
This openness makes the game feel less linear and means you not suffering from the repetitive nature of the last game in the series. You can also navigate using a map that includes unlocked fast travel options to save time.
While exploring you can find coins just like in Kingdom Battle, however, this time around they can be used to heal your team as well as buy healing items, weapons skins, and other consumables.
They have much more value because your team does not automatically heal after every encounter, so you'll need to keep an eye on the health and spend before big encounters with bosses, but thankfully you can do this anywhere.
In the previous game I often stuck to Mario, Luigi and Peach however, this time I was much more inclined to use more Rabbids teammates as a lot of their whacky weapons and moves actually served a purpose this time around, for example, Rabbid Peach's Tripple Troll rocket launcher can get to foes behind cover,
The cover-based system from the previous game return with you and enemies able to hide behind full cover to be protected from direct hits, and partial cover offers a 50% chance of landing hits, but remember, your cover is destructible so you can't remain hidden forever.
Instead of being led by Beep-o like in Kingdom battle this time around you can select which of your team you would like to lead the group and control them directly which feels a lot more natural.
Each character feels much more unique and individual this time around, with specific moves that only they have which can be perfect for some situations.
At first glance combat looks the same with you engaging enemies or completing specific objectives like escaping the map, protecting Toad, and gripping boss fights.
However, combat has seen some changes. This time around can see enemies in the overworld and can avoid them but if you are hit by one or attack them you enter into a battle map.
While I miss the fluidness of fighting on the same map it does allow for much more interesting and complex levels and sometimes it can be nice to just avoid unnecessary combat altogether, which is essential in some stealthy parts of the game.
Another huge change is movement in combat as you are now free to move within a limited range which is indicated and not stuck to the grid-based system from Kingdom Battle.
With this much more open movement and the ability to switch between on the fly, you can reposition yourself and lay the groundwork for some tactical masterpieces.
Every round each of your team has 2 actions in their turn, as well as movement, this can include an attack, a special ability, or using a Sparks special power too.
But within those rounds, you also can slide kick an enemy once for free, you can have another team member hurl you into the air, allowing you to fly for a limited time, which lets for reposition yourself.
If you have the move unlocked you can even get an extra attack in, by landing on and stomping on enemies.
When combined together this allows you to pull off some great attacks by dashing, repositioning, and performing team jumps then if you have an attack ready you can land several extra "free attacks" when chained together can devastate the enemy and are essential for handling bosses.
The adorable Sparks aren't just there for the story either, you can assign team members a Spark and use their special moves and abilities to give you an edge in combat, which if selected carefully can play off that character's move set or exploit particular enemies' weaknesses.
Some can bestow certain damage types on your weapons like fire or water damage, this is really handy if you have an ice foe who is weak to fire damage, etc.
But they can also do other crazy things like make you invisible, allow you to absorb or reflect damage, poisons adjacent opponents, or draw all your enemies out just to name a few. The Sparks add a whole extra layer of strategy to combat that's a welcome addition.
Sparks can also be leveled up, further increasing the effectiveness of their abilities by Starbits that were in Mario Galaxy, you find them while exploring and also awarded them after combat encounters.
Each character has a unique ability or moves and starts with just one but they can really turn the tide in a battle like Mario's "Hero Sight" this acts like X-Com's Overwatch, allowing Mario to automatically fire at a foe during their turn if they wander into his line of sign and range.
The game is also surprisingly tough and can really punish you if you don't pay attention to your placement or what attacks enemies are resistant to.
Sadly Sparks of Hope doesn't feature any form of Multiplayer, which while is a little disappointing, I much prefer a tighter single-player game.
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will come in two editions The standard version for £49.99 and the Gold edition for £74.99, which includes The season pass, containing all DLCs, and the Galactic Prestige Pack, which gives you some new weapon skins.
Three DLCs have already been announced for the game, with the first including a new game mode and the others will feature all-new story content, one of them will also include Ubisoft's 90s platform mascot Rayman.
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope: Verdict 5/5
While it doesn't revolutionise the gameplay, the Sparks system and free movement really do add so much to the combat that makes it much more engaging and allow you to create seemingly limitless combinations.
The bigger focus of exploration is a great move from Ubisoft with lots to see and do making Spark of Hope feel more like a Mario game instead of just a game with Mario in it.
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope seems to just nail the balance between complex tactical combat and a fun lighthearted romp that since playing the preview and reviewing, I've been dying to get back into.
Combined with the more in-depth story and greater emphasis on exploring and Sparks of hope acts as a perfect sequel keeping enough that works and is recognisable and that works from Kingdom battle, and expanding on it and adding some brilliant elements.
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will release exclusively for Nintendo Switch on October 20 and can be bought from the Nintendo eShop
