Review for Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Game for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 29/08/2017
It's been about a year since Davide Soliani expressed in video at E3 2017 all the understandable emotion in representing Ubisoft Milan at the official presentation of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. A title that has entered history for being a very rare case in which Nintendo has entrusted its iconic characters to an external studio; the team headed by Soliani has returned this trust by creating a title of absolute value, truly worthy of the proverbial quality of Nintendo game design. An admirable experience, as profitable for the Japanese company (we hope also for the perspective towards third parties) as well as glorious for the Made in Italy video game.
Almost a year after the release of what is in effect one of the best exclusives of the Nintendo Switch title park (among other things awarded as Best Strategy Game at The Game Awards 2017), an expansion arrives with the second most famous protagonist Kyoto house platformer: Donkey Kong Adventure. An expansion that introduces a simian note to the lively tactical formula of the original, and which above all demonstrates once again the passion of the developers and their creative abilities.
Compared to the main adventure, Donkey Kong Adventure ranks immediately after completing the first game area. Demoralized by the burning defeat, Rabbid Kong takes it out on the Rabbid washer-shaped space-time machine, inadvertently triggering a reaction that catapults him, Rabbid Peach, and Beep-0 into the world of Donkey Kong, also shocked by the CombineAll with the arrival of the noisy screaming rabbits . As if that weren't enough, Rabbid Kong became more powerful by eating a Megabug-infected banana and taking over the island. It will obviously be up to us to bring things back to normal.
In aid of Rabbid Peach will come Donkey Kong in person, accompanied by Rabbid Cranky, the new character "hybridized" on the features of the elder Cranky Kong. The two characters will bring new life to the usual party we are used to, and during the adventure they will perform hilarious skits studded with pop references and obviously imbued with the demented humor typical of the Rabbids.
For this expansion it seems that Ubisoft Milan wanted maintain the backbone of the original game by introducing new game design that start with the new characters and spread to the type of levels and missions.
While Rabbid Peach remains the same as ever, Rabbid Cranky appears as a fusion of other characters from the original team with some interesting new features: the tough old man is equipped with a powerful shotgun-type weapon, with a cone range and vampire effect, as well as than of explosive grenades; once thrown by another companion, it can hit enemies in an area with a freezing shot; finally, as a typical tedious old man, he is able to put enemies in the vicinity to sleep with who knows what boring stories.
But it is in particular Donkey Kong that brings the real breath of novelty to the game dynamics with capabilities very different from all the other characters: the gorillone tie can in fact lift, carry and throw both the characters present in the arena (enemies or allies) and the covering blocks, including those with special effects. This ability (practically an exponential evolution of the Leap Team) opens the door to a series of previously impossible possibilities. We will now be able to throw an enemy against another to cause double damage, or throw a cover against the unfortunates that exploding will blow up their formation; if, on the other hand, you find yourself too far from your companions to face the enemies, you can always grab one and throw it in their direction, allowing them to reach it and hit it.
Donkey Kong also has the ability to lure enemies around him with his iconic bongos, and can hit even multiple enemies from a distance with a single throw, as long as they are on a common trajectory. Its size does not allow it to enter the tubes, but thanks to its athletic skills it can climb directly on the elevated platforms, as well as take advantage of the appropriate launching pads and giant floating shower heads to move from one part of the combat field to another. In short, our favorite ape is certainly a powerful and fun ally to use, even if perhaps his skills tend to lower the difficulty of the game than we were used to.
The level design of Donkey Kong Adventure has been studied and adapted well around the skills of the characters, and opens the way to new strategies that will force you to review the approach to battles matured in the main adventure. For the benefit of the variety of the game, some small diversifications have also been introduced to the types of missions, such as reaching specific areas before the opponents, destroying some infected bananas, chasing elusive and irritating enemy rabbids to defeat them and recover some pieces of the washing machine.
It must be said, however, that having to rely on the fixed team (however well balanced) of the three characters deprives the original formula of the strategic possibility of composing one's own team depending on the situation and the subjective taste of the player, one of the strongest points of the base game. Understandably, the new missions have been tailored to the new party and it would have been much more complex and less effective to adapt them to the inclusion of the other characters, with the risk of automatically weakening the expansion experience. But the absence of the other members and the consequent multiplicity of approaches is felt.
The only other note that we feel we can express concerns the rather small variety of enemies encountered, which in the long run invalidates the experience and can make battles repetitive; to avoid this eventuality, we recommend not tackling the adventure in one go. Finally, even some boss battles lack bite or particular originality.
It should be noted that the aforementioned uncertainties do not heavily affect the general quality, and that in reality they are felt in relation to the good longevity of the adventure, which will keep you busy for about 7-8 hours of play, or even more in the case you decide to collect all the items and challenges. Once again to break the rhythm of the battles you will come across optional puzzles, which will reward your observation and reasoning skills with useful rewards for battles or various collectibles.
The four areas of the world of Donkey Kong Adventure are once again pleasant to see and littered with fun details. The atmosphere is always cheerful thanks to the recurring presence of hilarious rabbids, while our journey is accompanied by the energetic soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope (former composer of titles such as Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64 and Yooka-Laylee).
Donkey Kong Adventure is definitely good content that complements the already great Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Although the basic formula was already valid on its own, the developers decided to go beyond the easy more of the same, packaging an adventure with renewed and interesting dynamics. Although the initiative to focus on new skills came at the cost of some flexibility, we found ourselves pleasantly entangled in hours of wholesome tactical fun, peppered with the enthralling madness of the rabbids. With this expansion, the Ubisoft Milan team has once again demonstrated their creativity and passion, which we can't wait to see again in the studio's future projects.
► Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is an RPG-Tactical game developed and published by Ubisoft for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 29/08/2017
