"The Defamation of Luigi, Part 2: Attack of the Shroobs"

Taking two world-famous plumbers and plotting them in a confused Role Playing Game, AlphaDream attempts to follow a SNES SquareSoft title, Super Mario RPG. Although the GBA Superstar Saga went off almost without a hitch, the DS-copy doesn't seem entirely capable of translating the formula. Licensing such lively characters as Mario and Luigi is obviously a huge risk, but the hit-and-miss storyline of Partners in Time isn't so over-bearing that it ruins the experience. Thankfully the enjoyable process of quick turn-based battles, mixed with often over-the-top humor is enough to save the title from it's own platforming perils.

As the brothers Mario discover time holes opening up all over Peach's Castle, After Prof. Elvin Gadd sends Princess Peach back into Past-Mushroom Kingdom and she returns with a swarm of the alien race, known as the Shroobs. Shroobs burrow their look from Toad, although they are of a purple tint. Mario & Luigi take a dip into one of the time holes which have spread about Princess Peach‘s castle, leading them to an interesting encounter with their younger selves.

Portrayed as a clumsy and nerving younger-sibling, Luigi is often in tears, or terrified of the Shroobs; this makes for humorous situations aplenty. With the comic suitcase known as Stuffwell along for the ride, Mario & Luigi get to hear quips pretentious in scale, large words littering the large suitcase's vocabulary, “BACK TO ADVENTURE”, being his personal favorite.

Centering the gameplay around four plumbers makes for interesting gameplay. Action buttons are used to gain access to new areas, for the elder bros. these actions include the Spin Jump and Bros. Ball. The younger siblings can use the Baby Drill, to drill themselves underground. Once conjoined, the Baby brothers Mario take to ridding piggyback on Mario & Luigi. The four partners are required to activate some 4-person panels. The babies can be thrown onto trampolines, to discover areas above-ground, and drop down in other locations, sometimes opening up further parts of the levels. In the midst of combat Mario & Luigi can only jump or use Bros. Items to overcome enemies, while their younger selves can jump, use hammers, or use Bros. Items. After each battle, combatants left standing are awarded with undivided experience points which leads to speedy Level-farming. One area of expertise the Bros. can add attributes to, once Leveling up, is their Stache, which gives them discounts in the Shroom Shop and much like real life, anyone with a good mustache deals out massive damage in battle.

Only a few glitches litter the Mushroom Kingdom this time around, though with the increase in technology, it would've been refreshing to see more of an increase in visual display. Although sharper and maybe a little easier on the eyes, the second screen only conflicts with the in-battle gameplay. The top screen is usually getting in the way when you're trying to time a jump in defense, or are trying to land a jump-attack, on a large enemy. Perhaps the touch-screen could've been used more effectively than it has been here; one instance of touch-screen control, late in the game, doesn't really justify the move from GBA-to-DS, the visuals look only a little cleaner than most GBA games anyway. Aside from technical shortcomings (some poor hit detection), the game doesn't often enough challenge gamers. There are only a few points where you'll need to restart and throughout the rest of the game, as long as you defeat each enemy which is actively pacing in their waypoint kind of way and stock up on numerous useful offensive and defensive items, Mario & Luigi is a breeze.

Attaching different kinds of pants to the plumbers can boost their stats to a fairly high degree. Each character can wield a badge of awesomeness. Somehow whatever pants and badges you're wearing changes performance in battle. If only my life were half as gratifying as that of Mario & Luigi's. But of course, every few days, when I feel the time is right for a shower, I'll eventually change into new clothing, which are essentially over-worn jeans and shirts with cigarette burns all over them. Perhaps if I applied a badge, life would be more enjoyable.

At times, Mario & Luigi actually does feel like a Nintendo game. Other times however, it feels loose and like a number of disenchanting NES-era RPGs, which will remain unnamed. There's only a single player mode and not a whole lot to do there, even once you jump in feet first, you'll likely end up exploring any part of the sub-world that has been opened to you through late expeditions. An addictive formula for a short romp, would've screamed failure, if it weren't for the name “Mario”. Without making any real note of Superstar Saga whatever, the action picks up in linear fashion, dragging itself through the mud of numerous occasions. Why the GameCube Paper Mario: The Thousand Year door was able to stay lively, while Partners in Time seems somewhat dead, is beyond me. My first guess would be that the source material has run itself dry and AlphaDream had to resort to humorous writing to pull me along through. My second guess would be based upon the fact that Mario doesn't translate well to double-screened RPG action.

Factors like difficulty seem subtle up until some of the late battles in the game, somewhat buried in everything else that's going on. You'll cruise right through every level and then crash right on the last one, realizing that you've breezed past an entire game without being challenged. Every concept is tired (aside from a few lame diversion mini-games.) It must've taken me more time to perform some of the platforming tasks in this title, than it had taken me to beat most of the bosses. Items feel cheap, and the types of enemies in the game seem kind of drained of personality and devoid of intellect. They choose the wrong moves, at the wrong time. About the worst AI I've seen in an RPG, in a long time.

At the very least, Partners in Time really nails it's comical portions, lacking in other, more important areas. It's unfortunate that most of the creatures dwelling in Mushroom Kingdom seem to be relapsed Shroom-obsessed prototypes of some of our favorite Nintendo characters. Though it has it's moments, the dashes of personality aren't quite worth fighting for. It's better that Princess Peach is left to her own devices, I'm tired of saving her sorry ass.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 09/18/06