Game Reviews

Ever wanted to know what your little brother dreams about?

Probably not… but Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, the latest entry in AlphaDream’s acclaimed series of handheld RPGs, givs Mario just that opportunity. Ostensibly, it’s an RPG with some platforming elements, but it's really a restless compendium, wrenching together so many different types of gameplay that it lacks overall focus and a steady rhythm. It continually offers up new experiences only to then put them to one side because it wants to show you something else, something new. And while this is one of its great strengths, it unbalances other aspects of the experience.

The story is cute and compelling, and like previous Mario RPGs by AlphaDream, it benefits from a wry, knowing approach to Nintendo’s flagship franchise; it’s not as broad as its now-distant ancestor, Superstar Saga, or as cheeky as Partners in Time, but there are just enough self-referential winks to make you smirk. This is all possible due to some brilliant localisation – the dialogue is a treat, poetic and silly in equal measure – Dreambert's diction is wonderfully portentous. And you’ll encounter endearingly eccentric characters wherever you go – fans of Bowser’s Inside Story will be please to know Broque Monsieu returns, dealing out advice with a thick French accent.

During the story you’ll explore every inch of Pi’illo Island, from verdant gardens to a bustling port, perilous deserts, and precipitous mountains. But it all gets off to a tedious start – the early hours are bogged down by too many tutorials and laboured explanations for simple mechanics. Even newcomers will find them patronising. The biggest thing to get your head around is that you control Mario and Luigi in tandem, a button assigned to each brother. As ever, this is surprisingly intuitive, with additional moves – the ability to wield hammers, shrink Mario – being introduced gradually, making those insistent tutorials all the more redundant.

Like Partners in Time or Bowser’s Inside Story, Dream Team is perhaps best described as a hybrid – a combination of an RPG and platform game, where elements from each genre collide and blend in weird and continually wonderful ways.

Whenever you jump on the head of an enemy the turn-based combat kicks in. Encounters become longer and slightly more complex over time, relying on special moves using both brothers and the odd item. The best part of combat is definitely working out how to avoid incoming attacks and sussing out your enemy’s weaknesses. Incoming attacks take on the form of a mini-game, specific to each enemy type. You’ll need a strong sense of rhythm to avoid taking damage. The margins of error are very slim, which can occasionally be frustrating but it never feels unfair. This aspect of the combat is always the most exciting and rewarding, though once you've face a particularly enemy type multiple times it loses a lot of its pull. Bosses are challenging, with some bouts lasting in excess of 20 minutes. Some make good use of this time, having multiple stages and varied attacks, giving these epic battles key beats and a distinctive tempo, yet other boss fights are no more than relentless slogs.

That’s the RPG part, but Dream Team is much more than that. Periodically, Mario and Luigi come across magical pillows that open up a portal between the real world and the world of dreams. These were always, by far, my favourite parts, containing the most inventive and exciting moments. So while Luigi snoozes (his slumbering face dominates the lower screen during these sections), Mario is free to negotiate the labyrinthine depths of Luigi’s unconscious, where everything switches to a side-on perspective. These dungeon-like areas – with multiple levels, interconnecting rooms, and network of pipes – have a distinctly drowsy quality to them, creating a strong visual style it otherwise lacks. Multiple layers of detail also make great use of the 3D effect.

These were always my favourite sections because it’s when you find the game at its most imaginative. Mario frequently calls on Dreamy Luigi for help. And since we’re inside Luigi’s mind, a place where logic holds no sway, he’s able to help out his older brother in some very weird ways, indeed. It’s called “Luigination”, an awkward term that covers a multitude of different mechanics. Sometimes Luigi takes on the form of an object: he sometimes appears as a clock, allowing the player to alter flow of time simply by tapping on Luigi’s moustache on the lower screen, or he might suddenly inhabit a palm tree, lowering its branches to hurl Mario to high-up places – again, this involves tugging on Luigi’s whiskers (useful things, moustaches).

It’s all as weird and wonderful as it sounds, making brilliant use of the touchscreen. I never tired of using these powers. So much so, I wanted to have these mechanics constantly at my disposal, but unfortunately they’re confined to very specific areas. There's no room for invention and improvisation – it just tells you which power to use and when. It feels a waste of some really fantastic mechanics.

But the invention isn’t limited to Luigi being squeezed into objects and having his facial hair tugged, though. There’s another dream moment, around 10 hours in, that is absolutely fantastic and unlike anything that comes before (I don’t want to spoil it here) – and how many games can boast that?

While playing Dream Team, I was always sad when Luigi woke up, and I had to return to the “real world” of Pi’illo Island – it just isn’t as interesting, beautiful, or stimulating. I wanted to stay in Luigi’s dreams, and to play around with my newfound powers; after a while, I wanted that to be the game's only reality.