Genre: Adventure
System: GameCube
In this sequel to one of the better Mario games from a few years ago, a Shadow Queen from 1,000 years ago awaits behind the legendary Thousand-Year Door. Seven Crystal Stars are needed to open this door. Grodus, an evil ruler bent on world domination, as well as his assistant, Lord Crump, assemble an army of robots known as X-Nauts to help Grodus acquire the Crystal Stars, as Grodus believes that if he joins forces with the Shadow Queen, nothing will be able to stop him from taking over the world. Mario must therefore try to stop him by getting the Crystal Stars himself, and then destroy the Shadow Queen inside somehow, as her powers are so strong as to be extremely dangerous. He receives help from a Professor Frankly, as well as several new party members.
Ratings are based on the usual 1 to 10 scale. 1 is zzzz… and 10 is… yawn… oh, you should know this!
Graphics: 6/10
The graphics are MUCH better than the N64 Paper Mario’s graphics. A lot more stuff looks in 3D, but unfortunately, it still isn’t quite up to the standards of the GameCube. Although seeing as this game is supposed to have “paper” graphics, this is to be expected. The graphics are in no way bad, just a little disappointing compared to some other games. A little more effort, Nintendo, just a little.
Sound/Music: 7/10
Some of the songs, particularly the chapter boss battle themes, are very good masterpieces. A couple of the songs are not great, but other than that, it’s good. The sound effects aren’t bad either. Above average.
Difficulty: 5/10
Here’s one of the downsides to the game: It really is quite easy. I’d say it’s about the same difficulty as Pokemon Coliseum’s Story Mode, the most difficult part is figuring out what to do in certain situations, and solving some of the puzzles, like the electric rooms in the X-Naut Fortress. The boss battles aren’t that difficult if you’re good with the Action Commands and come prepared with items, only a few Chapter bosses (*cough* Cortez *cough* Magnus Von Grapple 2.0) are actually a challenge to beat. I usually use Vivian, in my opinion, the best partner.
Gameplay: 7/10
I hate to say it, but battling in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is more fun than battling in Pokemon. This is largely due to all the stuff that happens. The Action Commands can be used to deal extra damage (press A at the right time to do 1 more point of damage and that sort of stuff), while a new type of action, the Stylish Move, appeals to your audience. Not all of it is good, though (see below), but it certainly makes battles a lot more fun. I also like the fact that party members have their own HP value, as in the past your party member would be disabled if he/she took any damage, but in this game, your party member remains active until his/her HP reaches 0. Watch out for the attacks that hit both Mario and his partner, though!
The Pit of 100 Trials is unbelievably similar to Pokemon Coliseum’s Mt. Battle VS 100 challenge (running out of ideas, Nintendo?), but it seems to take less time to get through (maybe two or three hours as opposed to four or five hours in Mt. Battle) since you can sometimes skip a few floors for a cost, plus the levels go by faster. But then at the end, just like in Mt. Battle, you fight an extremely hard boss, Bonetail. If you fail to beat him, any time you used in getting to him is wasted. It takes a long time for Bonetail’s HP to go down, and then he’ll heal 20HP, as well as induce annoying status effects with his breath attacks. I HAVE beaten him, though, but he’s pretty hard (not as hard as Culex from Super Mario RPG, though).
I also have to say, I kind of like the whole “audience” concept. Mario is so popular people gather round to watch him try to fight his enemies! It’s cool how Toads can give you items and recharge your Star Power gauge, but it is kind of annoying to be low on HP and have someone throw a can at you to hurt you, or to have one of those stupid Shy Guys run backstage and drop stuff that can induce status effects and/or cause damage. I also dislike the random objects that fall from the sky, and the scenery’s nasty habit of collapsing at any time during a battle, causing damage to whoever it falls upon. I’m sorry, but in real-world Plit, it’s probable that most of the trees and buildings are not so weak that they can fall over and hurt somebody at any second. If they are, Plit Maintenance Staff and Forest Management Dept. REALLY need to stop sleeping on the job!
I also took a point off for the “Paper Mario Gimmicks” that are used in the field to get around. The partner help skills are still there, but as everyone in Lemmy’s Land knows, Mario was not really made of paper during the Paper Mario adventures, but was altered to be that way to fit the adventure name by Nintendo. Things like the Paper Mario Airplane are in no way a bad idea, just a little annoying to us Lemmy’s Land fans, because in the actual adventure, the Paper Mario Airplane was probably just a floating long jump, the Paper Mario Boat was almost certainly just Mario swimming, etc. The treasure chests that “curse” Mario with the ability to do these things are annoying as well, grr…
Replay Value: 8/10
PM2 has a better replay value than PM1, that’s for sure. You can try to beat the Pit of 100 Trials (I recommend that you do so after beating the Shadow Queen, since the enemies on the lower floors are stronger than Palace of Shadow’s enemies and Bonetail is stronger than Shadow Queen, despite that he happens to be her strongest “pet”.) It’s also worth playing all over again with a new save file, just for the fun of it.
Size: 8/10
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is similar in size to the first Paper Mario… eight Chapters, seven Stars…only with Thousand-Year Door, the size has grown even bigger. Not quite Final Fantasy X big, but certainly very close behind in terms of sheer length. A lot happens to contribute to the story, and it’s good to send Mario into some completely new areas of Plit. Sidequests are somewhat limited compared to some other RPGs, but not enough to lower the score.
Fun Factor!: 9/10
Fun is something Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year-Door is definitely not lacking in. Battles are fun, wandering through the different areas is fun, talking to others is fun… Come on, this game really is a lot of fun!
Recommendation: 9/10
I’ll laugh at you if you played and liked the first Paper Mario and don’t get this. Even if you haven’t played the first Paper Mario, I’d still recommend this game to anyone who is a Mario fan, as it’s just such a fun experience. You’ll enjoy your life just that much more after you’ve played Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year- YEOW!
Overall: 8/10
Nintendo are on to a real winner with Thousand-Year-Door. It’s well designed, funny, and fun enough to make most people who play it very happy men (or women). However, a couple parts of the game are not impressive, but ignoring those, the game becomes an enjoyable experience altogether, and it should be easy enough for most people.
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