Mario Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

It's on the list. Will be getting it once I'm done with Gotham Knights. Loved Kingdom Battle.

I forgot about the co-op mode in that game! Good times. I guess it does equate to passing the pad, but those missions were well designed. A shame the sequel doesn't have it, but it will still make for a decent experience, I'm sure.

I've finally got this and it plays very nicely. The free movement feels very nice and along with the team jump makes everything feel very fluid.

I've enjoyed playing Mutant Year Zero in the interim, but this is already a more satisfying game to play.

I might have to increase the difficulty, however.

Grabbed this for my 8 year old for Xmas so I’ll have a blast of this myself at some point

I think the world battles stay pretty easy but the event ones get a bit harder. Not sure how much harder as I'm not too much further than you so you may find you want to knock it up one anyway. Would definitely wit for a bit of world 2 and see how it is though.

I've been swapping quite a bit to be honest, in the last one I always had Luigi in the team but this time around I've been using everyone. Both the peaches are really quite good as well.

Would grab them the first one as you can play it co-op with them. It's also a bit more basic in terms of strategy but still an excellent game.

Not yet, it may be added later I think they have said. You can pass the joycons for different characters but it's not really the best solution.

I dropped this after world 2, found it really dull unlike the first.

Think it's the battles dragging on when theres a lot of enemies, and the sparks kinda robbing characters of some of their individuality.

Also got this for Chrimbo (entirely for me, no children to pretend to get it for). Only really spent time with it this evening and have reached up to the unlocking Edge. Have been enjoying it so far, although there are definitely changes from the first game that I think I may end up not liking so much.

The design of the levels seems quite a bit less linear, with them taking a more 3D Mario approach. That should be fine, as long as the areas remain interesting to explore and there is plenty of things to uncover. It does also mean that battles are now on a separate map. Integrating the battles with the levels in the first game allowed everything to flow together nicely and it is shame that the battles now feel quite separate from the exploring.

Seems to be no weapon upgrades now, just skins. So far, the only character progression is the skill tree. I guess the weapon upgrades did mean you often ended up favouring certain characters because you had managed to upgrade them more, but this does feel like a step back for character customisation. Sparks are an interesting addition, but you can just switch them around as you please. I can see myself having my favourite sparks that I just put on whichever characters I happen to be using. Tying the sparks to certain characters or maybe some kind of option to bond a spark to a character to make them more powerful or unlock higher levels would have been interesting.

I do love the move away from grid based movement and being able to freely move a character within their area as I please is lovely. Doesn't stop me making a stupid action that I wish I could undo though. Still a game with a lot of character to it and really fun. Mario with a gun is still odd, but it some how works.

Something about the battle design and arena design just seems a bit off to me in this one. The overworld design is cool but I think something is lost having all the stages be random floating stuff instead of part of the world, they just seem to feel a bit thrown together and less carefully orchestrated than the predecessor. Less puzzle-boxy.

Sorry to keep on gushing about this game, but I'm obsessed with it now. I'm currently midway through the 3rd world and I've swapped up my team again.

I wont spoil anything, but for the first time ever I don't have a healer, which I would never have done in the previous game. Instead I'm focusing on disabling or weakening the enemies and playing chaotically(sp?).

I have Rabbid Luigi set up with invisibility, which combined with his 3 dashes and a weapon that can hit multiple enemies at once, is incredible. I've also got Edge, who has 4 dashes, set up with vamp, so she can jump right into the thick of it and heal her way out of trouble. Its something I used to do with Rabbid Mario, but she is even more effective due to her range.

I am torn between turning up the difficulty or saving that for a second playthrough, because I am having a blast experimenting with all the characters. They did a decent job in the first game, but this time around each character is genuinely unique. I can see myself replaying this game a few times over.

Also, I retract my comment about the stage design. It's getting better as the game goes on. More variety and some unique moments I also will not spoil. The first 'boss' battle was great fun.

I need to get back on with the second one. The lack of co-op made it a bit more awkward to play with the Mrs but it doesn't look like it's ever coming so I may as well crack on when I get a gap from the million other things I'm playing.

A shame, but there is still 2 chunks of DLC to arrive, so there is a slither of hope it may materialise. Either way it’s definitely worth finishing. The final world is probably my favourite of the lot.