System: GameCube
Genre: RPG
Players: 1

The categories are: story/plot, music, graphics, gameplay, Fun Factor!, replay value, difficulty, length, and overall.

I'm grading the game in letter grades from A+ to F.

A- to A+: Excellent!
B- to B+: Quite good!
C- to C+: Not bad, but nothing special.
D- to D+: Poor.
F: The worst there is.
 
Anyway, let the grading begin!

STORY/PLOT: ~~{A}~~

The story of the game is very in-depth. You start out in the game with Mario and Luigi in their house as usual, when they receive a letter from the princess. Sound familiar? Well, it turns out that the princess bought a map in a seedy harbor city called Rogueport. She wants Mario to help her find the treasure that the map leads to. The plot unfolds as many wacky characters join the crew. Each level is unique from the other; from fighting off an enormous dragon to searching to regain your identity to getting stranded on a faraway island, this game has much to offer. It was not rated A+ because it isn't PERFECT, but that plot is still great.

MUSIC: ~~{B+}~~

The music in this game is actually pretty good. All of the music matches the scene. In Hooktail's Castle, you hear classic Nintendo-style dungeon music, while in the last part of the game, you get to hear the all-popular underground music. Some of the music can get really repetitive, however, which is why it didn't get rated an A. When you fight a regular enemy, be wary, because you'll hear that same music for the rest of the game. Luckily, every boss has different music, so there's a bit of diversity in there as well.

GRAPHICS: ~~{A-}~~

Ah, yes, the much-debated graphics. In my honest opinion, I thought the graphics were absolutely awesome. Every corner of the game was polished to the finest detail. Trees swoop in the background in forests and meadows, while even scratches on the wall in Hooktail's Castle match everything perfectly. The Boggly Woods were probably the best of the bunch when it came to graphics. Like everyone else, of course, I find something wrong with the graphics, and it's that it looks a bit too 2D. Sorry! It's just that some characters look like they could've been drawn by an eight-year-old in fifteen minutes.

GAMEPLAY: ~~{A}~~

Gameplay is, expectedly, very good. Characters are deeply explained; you learn a LOT about your party members throughout the game and it's hard to forget them. Battles are a lot of fun, and the bosses are either funny or very interesting. The cutscenes at the end of each chapter are extremely amusing as well, especially when playing as Bowser through levels. The sequel focuses more on PAPER than the prequel; you learn many new paper-related moves in this game. The only reason why I gave gameplay an A instead of an A+ is because I felt something was missing. Don't ask.

FUN FACTOR!: ~~{A-}~~

I bet you're getting tired of my A scores, but Fun Factor is also very good. Many chapters will leave you dying to play more, especially Chapter 3, when you want to find out what happens and are kept in suspense. There is a LOT of text in this game, and a lot of it is humorous. I don't really have much to explain here. Besides a few boring moments when you have to cross towns (it's really annoying that you have to spend about half the game in Rogueport!), the Fun Factor is another great quality in this game.

REPLAY VALUE: ~~{C-}~~

Dun, dun, dunnn... Replay value kills some of the goodness of the game. Once you beat the game, there really isn't much to do. You can collect stuff and do TONS of sidequests, but those few things are what keeps the Replay Value category from falling into the D's and F's. It's fun to find out what your party members have done once you beat the game, but otherwise, it's like reading a book: once you finish it, there isn't much left to do with it besides read it again.

DIFFICULTY: ~~{C+}~~

Once again, like Replay Value, difficulty isn't really the strong point of the game. Some of the battles are genuinely hard, but it's nothing too tough after a bit of practice. Bosses shouldn't take more than once or twice to defeat, but occasionally, some battles may be on the tough side. Finding hidden items and the like are what makes the game a bit more difficult, but unfortunately, the difficulty is still pretty weak.

LENGTH: ~~{A+}~~

You weren't expecting me to give length such a good score, were you? Well, I am. The length of the game makes it so much better; once you beat the first chapter, you're glad that there are going to be about seven more. But that's not the reason why I gave length an A+. I gave it because of the enormous amount of text in the game. Seriously, have you seen how much text there is?! You'd have to play the game at least twelve times to be able to hear all the different text that characters have to offer, which is what makes it so much more lengthy and juicy.

OVERALL: ~~{B+}~~

This game is absolutely great. If the Replay Value wouldn't have killed it so badly, it would've definitely gotten into the A's. The average was 11.175, and, confusingly enough, B+ was 11 and A- was 12, so I had to give it a B+. I totally recommend you to play this game, even though you probably won't REplay it!
 
Quote of the Game:
 
"Oh, great... now I look like the great, big king of GUYS WHO TALK TO POSTERS!" ~Bowser

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