POSTED 18/10/16


PAPER MARIO: COLOR SPLASH

Nintendo

Oh you can colour my world with happiness all the way...

Why? Well, Prism Island has a touch of the drabs. It’s usually such a colourful place, but there’s been an outbreak of greyness. Forget Mulder and Scully, this looks more like a job for Mario... Paper Mario!

So, as many of you may have already deduced, you trundle about Prism Island fixing grey spots, in a fashion that would make the sadly forgotten de Blob as proud as a blob of paint with a facial features and limbs could possibly be (even if it is sloppier in execution). He doesn’t get a guernsey though, as instead you have a paint can pal named Huey. He’s hidden globs of various required colours all around Prism Island – or something like that. If only Mario had a hammer...

Actually he does, it may not be The Breeders’ divine one, but it’s perfect for smacking environmental objects about to yield useful Pantone-friendly results. As well as restoring colour to the world, Mario also resurrects fallen heroes – and many posing as villains, bringing on fairly yawny turn-based bouts that are, well, kinda yawny. Yes, these (plus too much reliance on backtracking) are the game’s weakest link, not only feeling superfluous, but also seemingly a way just to get the GamePad involved. You pick a card – most any card - engage it, colour it in, flick it, and hope that it takes out your foe before he has a bash at you. It mars the flow of what would otherwise be a superb platform adventure, if indeed it was just a platform adventure.

So, a stunningly gorgeous-looking platformer with rather jarring turn-based strategy outbreaks, PM:CS may have flattened our plumber-cum-hero Mario and friends such as Peach and Toad, but the humour never falls flat – it’s genuinely LOL funny at times, with a knowledgeable and in-joke bulgy line on Mario’s extensive history.

Oh, and Shy Guys suck...

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