As a result of this new battle system, FP (Flower Points) and BP (Badge Points) have also been removed from the game. Certain items that used to take effect in the turn-based battles no longer exist and those that still do have different effects now, based upon "real-time". If that wasn't bad enough, even though you still have partners in this game, each one only has one ability - not like in past Paper Mario games where your partners could each learn four different attacks.
The RPG system hasn't been completely thrown out the window though. Mario still has HP (Heart Points) and the score displayed on the top of the screen doubles as an Experience Meter - the more enemies you defeat, the more experience you gain toward leveling up. When you gain a level, your HP increases by 5 and your attack damage increases as well.
But this isn't strategy at all - basically, by jumping on and hammering enemies, Mario can take and inflict more damage. There's no option like before, where by leveling up, you could increase either your HP, FP or BP, resulting in unique battle scenarios (for example, increasing your HP allowed Mario to take more damage, increasing his FP allowed him to deal more damage and increasing his BP allowed him to use more attacks).
To conclude, this "simplified" RPG system isn't really an RPG system at all. It's just been added so that the game could appear to have one, when it really doesn't. This is what hurts. But why did the company, Intelligent Systems, do this? I have one theory - simply look at the name of this game.
Super Paper Mario - a combination of Super Mario and Paper Mario. I believe Intelligent Systems was trying to "kill two birds with one stone", hypothetically speaking. Before this game, there were basically two types of Mario gamers - those who liked Paper Mario for its RPG strategy elements, and those who liked Super Mario for its first-person real-time action adventures. Intelligent Systems wanted gamers who liked the Super Mario franchise to be "converted" into the Paper Mario franchise, while still keeping the dedicated Paper Mario fans.
Unfortunately, this thought may have back-fired on the company. Traditional Paper Mario fans will be turned off because of the lack of a turn-based battle system and certain key features such as Flower Points and Badge Points, and Super Mario fans will be turned off by the ridiculous amount of text to read and the "flatness" of the characters and graphics.
Conclusion / Final Scores
Super Paper Mario has many new features which we've all been looking forward to the moment we saw what Wii was initially capable of when the system was first released in November of 2006. The action commands in the game are unique to the Wii Remote and the challenges presented are both puzzling and attractive. The storyline is incredibly funny, and as in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the dialogue between characters is hilarious.
Unfortunately, the lack of a turn-based battle system and key strategic RPG elements present in both of the previous Paper Mario games simply doesn't appeal to me, who happens to be a true Paper Mario fan.
Even though IGN, Gamespy and other game sites have given Super Paper Mario a high score, I have not. In my opinion, Intelligent Systems has made a huge mistake. They should've never combined the elements of Super Mario with the gameplay of Paper Mario. Each game should have remained separate, tailoring to the two different kinds of Mario fans.
Graphics: 8/10 - Same graphics as in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Sound/Music: 8/10 - Same type of sound and music as used in the previous two
Paper Mario games.
Gameplay: 5/10 - No turn-based battle system, as well as the lack of Flower Points
and Badge Points, eliminates what made the previous Paper
Mario games best-sellers.
Controls: 10/10 - Unique methods of performing Action Commands. Challenging
but ingenious puzzles on every level.
Lasting Appeal: 1/10 - After the completion of the storyline, there is nothing left to do
after the final boss, Count Bleck, has been defeated.
Final Score: 6.4/10 - Super Paper Mario no longer follows the same type of game-
play as in its predecessors. This game is not worth buying.
