Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

The Good
Once again, this game has the patented originality we've come to expect from Nintendo. A lot of the games out today are entertaining and many are amazingly mind blowing and artistic, they are usually variations on a theme. Realistic FPS’s set in either the streets, or on some distant planet or RPG’s involving swordplay, spells and orcs etc. are great, but I love the way Nintendo often goes in other directions with games.

They like to push the envelope and come out with titles like the Pikmin series and Chibi-Robo, which are not only fun but also odd and addictive.
Combine this with Nintendo’s amazing ability to continually make games centered on some of their oldest and beloved characters, and make them fresh and fun.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door combines all of these aspects and at first you think it’s a simple RPG/Fight game, but they give it not only a lot of interesting twists involving abilities, but new characters as well. This game is also surprisingly deep like in LOZ: TWW. Just when you think you’ve done most tasks, you discover MORE places and characters.
The graphics are cartoonish as with most NES games, but they are fully drawn, vibrant and with this game have an unusual look. It reminds me of an old pop-up book or a bit like South Park’s construction paper style of animation, albeit more detailed and much more animated.

This game is fun, and because of the unusual nature of the game play and it’s depth, it has excellent value. There is SO much to do and find, with many, many secrets and hidden aspects to the game.
It is not particularly difficult, and as you progress normally, you should be able to advance, but it does not allow you to simply rush through. You have to earn your “badges” so to speak. There are also quite a few well planned puzzles to figure out, and a few of them really test your thinking skills!

The fun thing is that it is so deep; you could replay it after a few months and still find it fun.
It has something for everyone. A fun and amusing RPG mystery and turn based "arena" fighting with some fun twists. They really thought a lot about this game.


The Bad
Not much to complain about.

Some of the fights got repetitious, especially when you began to be more powerful and had to fight a lot of lower characters over and over again.

It suffers a bit from what I call "LevelUp-itis", where you have to run around and fight over and over to become stronger in order to advance. All games have this to a certain extent, but at least they make it less painful by incorporating that aspect into the game via the "Championship" arena. You can fight your way to the top of a WWE type fight arena for money, fame, points and power-ups etc. It still is a bit tedious though.

Some of the cinematics/side stories, involving Princess Peach and/or Bowzer dragged the game down to a crawl, but thankfully it was only in a specific section. Their hearts were in the right place, trying to inject some humour into the game play.

The Bottom Line
A deep, addictive game with lots of puzzles, surprising game play with lots and lots of value.
A good game for the kids, with no gore or adult themes, although it is a bit too complex for kids under 10, involving lots of intricate strategies and ideas. Overall a fun and unusual game with excellent value. Will become a classic.