Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was a genuine delight when it launched some five years ago. This Switch-exclusive title combined X-COM style tactical gameplay with beautiful graphics and animation. It was made by Ubisoft, but had all of the polish you’d expect from a Nintendo first-party title – and arrived just a few months after the Switch debuted.
Now, finally, the sequel is here, promising a substantially expanded scope alongside a reworked, more flexible combat system. Tech-wise, we’re looking at another outing for Ubisoft’s Snowdrop game engine, the toolset best-known for powering The Division and its sequel. Gameplay is solid, but it comes at a cost: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope lacks the same level of visual accomplishment as its predecessor.
It’s all about the gameplay enhancements with this one, which are substantial. Sparks of Hope radically reworks the first title’s combat. Gone are the movement grids, which have been replaced with a fully analogue traversal system. It’s less contemplative, and feels like a more natural fit for a console controller. Critically, you can move a character as much as you like within certain boundaries without using a turn, which makes lining up abilities less stressful. Other actions, like throwing bombs and executing team jumps, are now fully unmoored from turns as well and require a bit of real-time dexterity to pull off.
Source – eurogamer.net
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