Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

THE BAD:
Some Chapters can be frustrating and the dialogue sometimes for a bit too long.

SUMMARY:
At first RPGs were a little bit on the boring side. This game changed it all. You first enter the game seeing Mario's house. Exactly the same as the last Paper Mario game. However, there is a difference.

The graphics have had a HUGE improvement. It is also a charming scene.
In the game, there is a black chest. In the chest there is a spirit who thinks it is a bad thing that you can turn into a paper aeroplane. This is quite funny.

Basically, Princess Peach sends you a letter to meet her at Rogueport. (A location in the game) Accordingly, she has found a real, genuine treasure map. In a hurry, you travel to Rogueport. Only to find that the princess has been kidnapped. AGAIN.
By who, though? It isn't Bowser! So it leads you on a quest to rescue the princess.


Paper Mario. Paper. The backgrounds and graphics look amazingly paper-like. The use of abilities of paper boats and planes was very clever. Puzzles are cleverly put together. At one moment, you find a very large haystack. It is a dead end. So, you whip out one of your partners to blow away the haystack and viola! A pipe appears. Like I said, the puzzles are cleverly put together.

Nintendo must have put a lot of effort into the music in this game because it is VERY good. Amazing even.

When you fight, you fight on a stage. There is also an audience. You fight the enemies on the stage and get support from the audience. When the battle ends or you level up, the curtains fall just like in a real theater! Clever, eh?

Now for the frustrating bit. Sometimes when all you want to do is get on with the game. The dialogue can go on and on for a while, not letting you a piece of the action. One mission in the game features a married couple. The husband has to say that he loves the wife one hundred times.

While you might think it funny when you hear this, it is not. You have to keep pressing the A Button one hundred times before you can do anything. As you might of guessed, this is highly annoying and not a good bit to put in at all! Plus, sometimes the puzzles can be too frustrating.
Also, two Chapters includes having to trudge back and forth. Not very good because it makes the gamer bored and annoyed and will therefore not be happy.
However, the good points beat the bad points and that is what makes a satisfactory game!

Overall, Nintendo have produced an amazing game. It's satisfactory, highly addictive but most importantly FUN! You should get this game. It is quality!

THE BAD:
- Lame puns used often
- Bosses are too easy
- Backtracking

SUMMARY:
Paper Mario is back in a new adventure. As always in Paper Mario, everything is paper giving a new perspective in gameplay. Because it is paper it hides many secrets that normally you wouldn't see without blowing a page away, or blowing up cracks in the wall using the new partners. Each new partner displays techniques similar to the partners' in the original Paper Mario, yet though they are so alike, they are also very different. They returned with the tradition of your first to partners being a Goomba and a Koopa as well as the first chapter being at a castle too!

The new storyline is great, the places needed to visit were also very well setup too. A few of the places resemble places from Paper Mario 64, while others are completely new. The game starts off with Mario, receiving a letter at his house (like in Paper Mario 64), requesting his aid on an adventure. Peach had given him a map to find the location of Crystal Stars, each hidden in a diverse location, and each, once acquired, with a unique ability. You must defeat each boss by exploring the mysteries of each chapter and gaining new partners to help you on your journey. At the end of each chapter, you play a small, Super Mario World level using Paper Bowser, with his trademark firebreath. At the end of that you are Peach, and you must solve mysteries on the Moon Base that you are being held captive at. These chapters and intermissions last a while, and are a lot of fun too. There is quite a lot of backtracking in most of the chapters though, which can be boring at times.

Once you beat the main story mode, or while you are beating it but you feel like you need a break, there are a few sidequests you can complete. The Pit of 100 Trials, is one of the toughest. It is like the title implies, a seemingly endless pit, with 100 levels in it, every ten levels featuring a new supply of monsters to defeat. Every level that is a multiple of ten also features a special badge/item to add to your collection as well. Another sidequest would be the Trouble Center. Adapted as well from Paper Mario 64, you must help random people in places that you have defeated a boss at and completed the chapter to get a reward. Completing all of these troubles does take a while. On the menu screen, you can see your tattle log, Zess T.'s dishes, and badges that you have. Most likely, you will have more than half of these slots empty so filling them up is another sidequest that could take a while.

The new techniques are another thing that I really like. Not only do the new badges, items, and partners' abilities add to the excitement, but the techniques outside a battle are also very useful and fitting for the "Paper" theme. Along the way you can gain a few different abilities, among them are Paper Airplane mode, Paper Boat mode, Paper Tube mode, and Flat Mode, all of these are needed at multiple points in the game, and seem fitting that they can all be made by a five year old in real-life out of paper.

The graphics displayed in this game are remarkable even with keeping to the whole "Paper" theme. You can see everything clearly, and since it is a 3D world, but everything else is 2D, it is a little harder to miss anything if you are standing on or in front of it. The camera angle is just right featuring the best possible view of the screen for the graphics.

The controls are very simple, and really easy to learn. Some attacks do get annoying having to mash down on buttons though, press certain buttons in a sequence with the right timing. Your lifespan is also very good. Having the ability to level up and add on to your lifespan for when facing tougher enemies helps this feature.


Scores


Controls: 3. The controls were very easy to learn, with a few other harder combinations thrown in there, but still, a little too basic in my opinion.

Story: 4. The story is great, very easy to understand and clues you in on almost every detail.

Graphics: 4. The graphics were really good, some of the best for this type of game.

Sound: 3. The sound was really good. Everything was clear and easily understandable. As well some of the music was kind of cool too.

Lifespan: 4. Being able to level up and add on to your lifespan in the game is a real boost right here. Having to go throughout a game like this with the same lifespan just wouldn't be right.

Lasting Value: 4. This game is pretty long. It won't seem that way once you beat it, but adding in all of the sidequests and everything it is a lot longer than you think. Plus, the replay value is really good.

After looking at all of these scores, overall I give Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door a 4.5 for all of the new features added in, as well as almost all aspects of gameplay.

THE BAD:
Bad Storyline Needs to be longer Too easy

SUMMARY:
Great game, great game. Let's start off with the good stuff. Partners now have HP. A very more fun way than just losing partners turns. And get this, partners HP rises when they increase their power with shine sprites! Obviously when their HP runs out they can't do actions anymore. Also, while I'm on the partner subject, you can make partners go to the front and get hit more often than you. This will allow you to rest a little while and hopefully not die. The Pit of 100 Trials is available once you beat the game. You must go through 100 levels and throughout the Pit you will find nifty badges and items. You are also given the chance to get out of the pit every 10 levels. Once at the 100th level you face the toughest boss in the game. It gives some replay value to the game and is very challenging. The music in this game is great. You have your standard sounds put together with some great music! The music could have been better, Nintendo always goes for the sound effects and not the music, so the music could have been a lot better. It is still great to just sit and listen too though! The new badges in this game are great. Although some of them deem useless, most of them are pretty cool. Two of them can even change your appearance! And when put together they change your appearance again! Super guard is just a powered up guard! It is a lot harder to pull off, but if you do it correctly then you can take 0 damage and even hurt the enemy! To do this, you don't have to have a badge, you just push B right when the enemy hits you! It takes a while before you get the timing right, but once you do it is very helpful! Paper Mario can now turn into different things that will help him out in his journey. I won't list these you will have to figure them out for yourself. This is very cool that Nintendo put this in there. The bad well not much huh? The storyline in my opinion, sucks. I hate this X-naut thing, but overall it really isn't that bad. The game needs just a bit more chapters. I think it should've been longer than the first one. I mean 8 chapters is enough, but I think they could've thought of just 2 more chapters. Some of the chapters are awesome. Yet some of them are not good at all. The difficulty in this game sucks as well. It is way to easy. You can beat the game with ease even if you aren't very good at RPGs. Sound 8.9/10 Graphics 9/10 (I mean for paper graphics they were very good) Storyline 7/10 Difficulty 2/10 Replayability 9/10 Overall 7.7/10

THE BAD:
Weak undeveloped storyline
Too easy
Repetitive
Badly done graphics
Endless text
Boring Sidequests
Corny(and I mean VERY corny) text
Too much backtracking

SUMMARY:
I'll start with the good since there's hardly anything good about the game. Now the partners that join Mario are able to have HP. They also can die from enemies. I wasn't sure if I should put the music in the good or bad. The music in the game was ok. It wasn't annoying or high pitched. It's different from the regular Super Mario games. The old games are pixilated music. If you like the old music then you'll definitely HATE this music. If you hated it, you'll grow fond of this new music. I really hate the Attack FXY whatever badges. They change the sounds of Mario's attacks which is pretty pointless because you won't pay attention to the sounds while your fighting.

As for the bad, the storyline was quite simple except a little different but same weak storyline. Princess Peach gets kidnapped as usual, *yawn* Mario uses an old map to find a treasure before the bad guys do while trying to save Peach at the same time. As you can see there's nothing special about the storyline. It's pretty predictable about what will happen throughout the game. They tried to make the graphics 2D since of course it is called "Paper Mario" and they even tried to make the graphics cute. A little too cute if you ask me. The graphics were so bright that it blinded me.

The game was not challenging at all. Not even the slightest bit. It feels like the enemies were letting Mario get the treasure. It can easily take you 15 hours to pass it without seeing a "Game Over" screen. The game is too repetitive and backtracks too much for me. Mario always have to go back and forth to Rogue Port every time he finishes a chapter. You hardly see anything knew other then new enemies. Throughout the whole game your forced to read endless and endless of text.


They did tried to put some humor in the game but it turned out to be corny and pathetic. Someone slipping over a banana peel is more funny then any of the characters in this game. There is side quests in the game like every RPG has but there not very exciting. Most of them are found in the Trouble Center where you have to help stupid lazy villagers with their pointless problems. Not very cool is it?

Now you see how the new Paper Mario game isn't as good as it might seem to you. Don't bother wasting your money on this. If your truly desperate to try it out yourself, then borrow it from a stupid sap who actually bought the game, or rent it. I give it a 2/5.

THE BAD:
Very easy
And very repetitive
Same as the last game only crappier
Peach sections
Bowser sections
Lame jokes

SUMMARY:
Difficulty: Very Easy
Learning Curve: Half an Hour.
Time Spent: 15 hours


Detailed Summary: (WARNING: SPOILERS)

You are Mario. Except he feels funny. That's because he's paper. You need to find Paper Peach and some treasure she tells Mario about with a letter. You meet one of your enemies, Lord Crump (or Lord Chump) and you get to fight him. But it's all predictable! The battle system is turn based, like in Final Fantasy, but only crappier. It's Mario, then partner and then enemy, in this case, Crump after Mario since he has no partner yet. After the battle, you get your first partner. Does this remind you of a shortened Paper Mario? Goombella looks like Goombario, doesn't he? Remove the archaeologist hat and give her a cap and it's Goombario with some hair! Later along the track, you learn that you must collect the Crystal Stars using a Magical Map Peach gave you in the letter. Then you go further and get some more allies as you kill some of Crump's soldiers. Crump isn't exactly the leader either. The leader is a robot known as Grodus. He kidnaps Peach and you go through these Peach segments, which are actually a load of ass, even compared to the last game. Instead of Koopas, you have these things known as X-Nauts. And instead of having to do something different each time, you have to talk to TEC every freaking time, much like that of Twink from the first Paper Mario and then do some mindless chore where you don't get caught. And instead of pissing Bowser off, you're not pissing anyone off. Finally, after the myraid of chores, we have to do a myraid of chores as Bowser. As you can already tell, Bowser did not kidnap Peach (the last time he didn't was Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga) and he needs to kidnap Peach and steal the Crystal Stars. Okay, can we play as Mario yet? After the Bowser section, expect quite a bit of text to come flying at you. Can we move around as Mario yet? Okay, now you can after a minute or 2 of pressing B to move it along. That or you could spend 5 minutes reading what they're saying, but it'll only make this game easier.

There, I spoilt practically the whole game mechanics for you. Why? It's quite repetitive. Add the fact that half the time it's endless text, and it's just boring. I think they should be talking in the next Paper Mario. Come on, Intellegent Studios, get your act together, you've doen better than this. Fire Emblem and Paper Mario 1.

The goods... Hmm... When you level up, which is 100 Star Points and it's quite achievable very quickly, you get to choose what you can level up. HP, which increases your overall HP by 5 and withstand the 5 damage you couldn't withstand before. FP, which increases by 5 and allows you to do special attacks and BP, which increases by 3 and allows you to wear more badges. Badges are special attacks that Mario or Ally can perform. As well as Mario, your allies can be leveled up by collecting 3 Shine Sprites. However, they can only be leveled up once and then again once you get a special item in Keehaul Key (where the 5th Star is). But where can we level our partners up? Rogueport, of course, the place you first fought Crump. And as far as Partners go, they no longer get stunned when they get hit. Instead, they have their own HP. So if they take damage, instead of missing a turn or 5, they take damage much like Mario does. If they die, nothing happens except that Partner is dead, however, it's game over if Mario dies. Just remember that your partners are very important, keep them alive. If they're weak like Yoshi and Goombella, put Mario in front. If they're big lugs like Bobbery or Flurrie, they go in front. But really, it depends on what enemy/boss you're facing.

If you listen closely to the musical score, you'll hear some of the better musics Mario games have had. Instead of pixelly like Super Mario RPG, it's actually just muffled, but sounds good. By muffled, I mean it gets too quiet. You can barely hear it, especially over the endless text, but if you manage to hear it, it actually doesn't sound like your ears are getting hit. No, it sounds good. Not great, but not horrible or pixelly. This isn't the best music Mario has ever had, but it's one of the better ones in my opinion.


As for the bads...

Believe me, the game gets easier after Chapter 4, so unless you just want to finish this, refrain from using Vivian if you want a challenge. Speaking of easy, this whole game is easy, even without Vivian. The bosses are extremely predictable with 1 or 2 attacks and they really just drag the story on. As far as the enemies go, they should be used for training purposes if you want to kick some ass, really. Regardless of level, the bosses are pitifully easy.

This game is also unforgivinly short. I clocked 15 hours, 23 minutes and 13 seconds, which is nothing compared to Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and the original Paper Mario. In that time, I had killed the last boss and owned Bonetail at the Pit of 100 Trials. Either I own at the game or Intellegent Studios need to get their act together and spice this game up with more challenging bosses. It was also very sickening. What a waste! There was hardly any backstory! Hardly any of the sidequests meant anything to the game other than to drag it on later. I hate it when games do that, but you have to remember that this is Mario, and it's an RPG made by beginners. Bullshit, Mario has done better than that, Intellegent Studios have created better and RPGs did not look as bad as this.



Gameplay: 4/10. RPGs done wrong.
Graphics: 5/10. Mario, friends, clones and newcomers paper thin.
Sounds: 5/10. Attack FX Badges sound very annoying and when Mario jumps, it sounds like he's booing you or something like that. However, the musical score isn't too bad, but not too good either.
Lastability: 3/10. 15 damn hours and still not satisfied. This game left me with an unfinished feeling, much like every short game excluding Shadow of the Colossus.
Funfactor: 3/10. Not only does this feel unfinished, but it was also boring as hell. With all the endless text and Peach sections, why wouldn't you be?
Final: 2/5

Final Comment: If you have a Cube, avoid this title and get Fire Emblem: Path to Radience as that is made by the same company.

THE BAD:
The game can get a little repetitive at times. Some of the enemies are the same as the last time around with the Mario RPG franchise. Although, this game features a Prologue plus eight new chapters full of surprises.

The game can also get difficult towards the end of your adventure. After you reach the Thousand Year Door, it could be considered a suicide mission for some players. Take caution before purchasing this game.

The game lacks sidequests. If you want something to focus on while this game lasts, try Kingdom Hearts 2 which has over one hundred plus hours of gameplay. Especially if you're into RPGs.

SUMMARY:
This game was spectacular. It was as great as the first Paper Mario, but it also lacks some of the qualities that Paper Mario had. I felt a warm feeling when playing the first one, now I feel an ice cold impact when I started playing.

Overall, this is a good game. Many other members agree. But if you want a professional response to this game, make sure it's a trustworthy source.

THE BAD:
-SOME boss battles can tend to be too easy
-The game may even be too adictive, and you may complete it too quickly, this doesn't bother me though!
-When the game is finished, it is very hard to level up, as points are scarce to obtain in large quantaties

SUMMARY:
This is the first of the Paper Mario series to hit the Gamecube. You play as Mario called by Princess Peach to find treasure marked on an old map that Peach had sent to Mario. But, when you reach Roguepot (the place where Peach asked Mario to meet her at), she is nowhere to be found...
After rescuing a Goomba from the clutches of some thugs upon your arrival in Rogueport, Mario and Goombella (the Goomba) set off to find the treasure, and hopefully find Peach along the way...
This game is a role playing game (RPG) set in a 2D world with a rich plot. The game is interestingly laid out as there ARE levels that are intermingled with a deep RPG style of game-play.
Even though the graphics are 2D, this does not hinder the game's looks, a lot of work must have gone into the artwork and the animation, as they are very well done. Also, the fact that the environment is 2D actually opens up new dimensions of how the game is animated and can be played (e.g: Mario is able to fold up into a paper aeroplane to reach certain places).
There is also loads to do in this game; there are many items to collect, a log book to fill with enemy data, several characters that will join you as the game progresses, a great leveling up system that increases your power as you win battles, many secrets to find and loads more! It would be hard to find a dull moment!
The battle system is also very innovative and fun. Unlike the usual turn based battle style, there is never nothing to do in a Paper Mario battle. Whether it's pressing A at the right moment during a jump to deal a crushing blow to your enemies, or whatever else, the battles are very exciting and definitely action packed!
This is a well rounded game shrouded in mystery and suspense, it will be VERY hard to put down. This game should excite gamers and Mario-fans alike. My advice is, if you own a 'cube.....BUY THIS GAME!!!!!

THE BAD:
Too similar to the original in a few places.
GLITZVILLE!!!

SUMMARY:
The sequel to the Nintendo 64's amazing finale of Paper Mario, Paper Mario 2: The Thousand-Year Door is another amazing game with a brilliant Storyline.

However, Nintendo apparently assumed that they could get away with re-packaging much of the original Paper Mario, possibly because so few copies of the original were released in Europe (Great Britain in particular), so not many people over here would notice - but I own a copy of the original, and I can confirm that this game is certainly a re-packaging of the original game for much of the time.

The truth is that many non-Battle challenges in the game can be linked to the original game. Princess Peach's cooking mini-game returns, only now it involves chemicals in a mixing machine. There is another Toad chef, and her Cook-Book is still located in an area visited during Chapter 4. Chapter 5 still takes place on an island. Chapter 7 still involves going to a snowy place (although it ends somewhere much, MUCH colder...and without much breathable air, either!). Thankfully, more often than not, there are new elements to the game, too, such as the new and unique in-Battle Audience system.

The worst part of the game is unquestionably the painfully long and boring ordeal of the Glitzville Battle Arena (the "Glitz Pit") in Chapter 3. Quite how this ever made it into the game as a necessary part of the Storyline is entirely beyond me...

The Storyline is very interesting and effective, revealing little bits and pieces of the plot as you proceed through the game. There are numerous plot twists in the game - and the plot twist at the end of the game regarding the fate of the kidnapped Princess Peach is absolutely massive...

The game also provides an opportunity for Nintendo to strike back at SEGA by including major rip-offs of three of the main Characters of the Sonic Series (one of which was originally not a reference but was decided to become one when fans said that he resembled a particular Sonic Character, and the other two are definite and ironic references) - possibly for modifying almost duplicate parts of the F-ZERO, Kirby and Pokemon Storylines. This is nice, because it shows that while Nintendo can have a laugh at itself (it almost constantly refers to the fact that the game is played on a television in certain parts of the game for example), it can also have a laugh at other companies.

A highly-recommended game, but I would advise you to play Paper Mario first to keep up with and understand the Storyline references in this game.

THE BAD:
Boring.
Too short (for me anyway).
More of the same?
Audience just didn't save this.
Not many badges (there's that sidequest).
Sidequests (other than Pit of 100 Trials) sucked!

SUMMARY:
Overall, this game was not very good. For you guys who want to know how this goes, I'll tell you.
Peach gets taken by someone.
Mario has to save her, killing some bosses on the way.
Mario gets allies to help him.
Mario finds the {SPOILER} and kills Bowser, Kammy Koopa and cripple Peach's kidnapper.
Mario finds the real last boss and kills it.
Mario saves Peach. The end.

Battle system:
Mario, then Ally, then all the enemies.
It's turn-based. The gay kind.
Also, this game has lots and lots of gore. Nah, it doesn't so don't believe it.

Final note:
Good for the die-hards (and I ain't one of them).