I picked up Paper Jam recently, having only recently played and finished Dream Team with my niece. For those that are familiar with these series of spin-off games, Mario & Luigi follows an RPG-esque progression, whereby you enter turn-based battles with enemies and also choose attacks. Special attacks - aptly named Bros. Attacks, require good execution to be preformed correctly and achieve maximum damage. The plots of these games are normally pretty good, and Paper Jam was no different, albeit a bit fast-paced compared to the other titles.
While the previous games have had Mario and Luigi by themselves, Paper Jam changes this by adding Paper Mario to the mix from the Super Paper Mario and other Paper Mario games. This adds a new dynamic to the game itself in terms of gameplay and also in story, where the addition of Paper Mario is also met with an influx of a whole ton of Paper versions of enemies. Paper Bowser also makes an appearance. The plot itself is similar to most Mario games, Bowser & co. makes a plot to capture the princess and also take over the Mushroom Kingdom. I certainly won't spoil it here, but the game takes on a slightly different slant to that same story which was really interesting.
In terms of the battle system, it is almost identical to Dream Team/Bowser's Inside Story. The only difference is with the addition of Paper Mario. With the party now a trio, you can now preform Trio attacks, which involve smashing the enemy with a huge paper hammer to flatten them into paper and then following this by a variety of different attacks that unlock as you progress throughout the game. Another gimmick that Paper Mario and other Paper enemies can use is the Copy ability, whereby a number of Paper copies are made and overlay-ed over the original. These copies can increase your attack power, take damage for you and also change the behavior of enemies attacks. I found this addition really nice and it brought a bit of freshness to the game formula.
I won't go on any more but I'd encourage you to go out and play the game yourself! I had no need to grind of any sort throughout the game, only defeating enemies that I either wanted to defeat or accidentally ran into. My total game time ran up to about 25 hours, and that was constantly playing the game over a few days, so yours will probably be a slight bit longer for normal play. Even after completing the game, I still have a lot of Arcade challenges that I have to finish as well.
While the previous games have had Mario and Luigi by themselves, Paper Jam changes this by adding Paper Mario to the mix from the Super Paper Mario and other Paper Mario games. This adds a new dynamic to the game itself in terms of gameplay and also in story, where the addition of Paper Mario is also met with an influx of a whole ton of Paper versions of enemies. Paper Bowser also makes an appearance. The plot itself is similar to most Mario games, Bowser & co. makes a plot to capture the princess and also take over the Mushroom Kingdom. I certainly won't spoil it here, but the game takes on a slightly different slant to that same story which was really interesting.
In terms of the battle system, it is almost identical to Dream Team/Bowser's Inside Story. The only difference is with the addition of Paper Mario. With the party now a trio, you can now preform Trio attacks, which involve smashing the enemy with a huge paper hammer to flatten them into paper and then following this by a variety of different attacks that unlock as you progress throughout the game. Another gimmick that Paper Mario and other Paper enemies can use is the Copy ability, whereby a number of Paper copies are made and overlay-ed over the original. These copies can increase your attack power, take damage for you and also change the behavior of enemies attacks. I found this addition really nice and it brought a bit of freshness to the game formula.
I won't go on any more but I'd encourage you to go out and play the game yourself! I had no need to grind of any sort throughout the game, only defeating enemies that I either wanted to defeat or accidentally ran into. My total game time ran up to about 25 hours, and that was constantly playing the game over a few days, so yours will probably be a slight bit longer for normal play. Even after completing the game, I still have a lot of Arcade challenges that I have to finish as well.
