Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story - Game Review

Mario and his brother Luigi may be the single most versatile characters in all of video games. From their start in 2-D platformers, they can be found in cart racers, puzzle games, and even tournament fighters. However no matter where they turn up they are almost always pitted against their perpetual foe, King Bowser. Big, bulky, scaley, unruly and often somewhat innept. However the latest handheld entry in the role-playing game (RPG) style Mario & Luigi series, Bowser's Inside Story, puts Mario's biggest villain in the role of hero... with a twist.

Welcome once more to the Mushroom Kingdom. The weather is great, the people are peaceful and everything is about to go horribly wrong (again.) The citizens of the kingdom have been hit by an epidemic of "The Blorbs" which cause those afflicted to bloat up to huge sizes. Prince Peach, the Mario Bros and the royal council meet at the palace to try to work out a solution. As would be expected the nasty King Bowser attempts to crash the gathering and kidnap the princess, only to be booted out by Mario and Luigi as usual. Bowser is then approached by a mysterious figure who offers him a "lucky mushroom" that will help him defeat the Mario Bros. Bowser returns to the palace and consumes the mushroom, but it turns out to be a "vacuum shroom" which causes Peach, Mario, Luigi and the entire royal council to be shrunk and inhaled into Bowser's body. Realizing he's been tricked Bowser soon discovers that his own castle has been taken over by one time evil side-kick Fawful (who was the one who gave him the mushroom as well.) Bowser must now set out to put things back the way they were, with some unexpected help from the Mario Bros. from inside his own body.

Much of the gameplay of Bowser's Inside Story is tried and true and very much in keeping with the handheld Mario & Luigi series. However the inclusion of Boswer as a playable character does just enough to keep things fresh. Bowser himself plays fundamentally differently than the Mario Bros, both in combat and even in exploration. For starters Bowser can't jump, instead he has to find a way to destroy the obsticles in his way since he's too lumbering to get around them. In combat Bowser is a powerhouse, taking apart most enemies in only a few hits. Mario and Luigi are weaker but more nimble, able to jump over enemy attacks and of course there's two of them while Bowser fights solo. They all overlap at points when the Mario Bros have to do something inside Bowser to help him out, such as stimulate his muscles to help him lift a heavy object or irritate his nose to make him sneeze. The action bounces from Boswer to the Bros at regular intervals so one never becomes too dull since a switch to the other is soon coming.

There is one notable fault to Bowser's Inside Story, however only those who've been with this series for a while will notice it: repetition. It's not repetition within the game itself (which as mentioned keeps things fairly fresh,) but rather within this game series. Any gamer that's played the previous entry Partners in Time or the original Superstar Saga already knows nearly all the abilities that the Mario Bros. are going to gain. So long time lovers of the series are forced to wait until the Bros inevitably the hammers, and then the spin jump, and then the drill move, and so on. Throwing Bowser into the mix does keep things fresh, but not completely. The locations are starting to become a bit stale as well as most of the areas (if not the actual map layouts) have been recycled now twice over. It's true that inside Bowser's body is a new location but it all feels very confined, and the world outside is just all too familiar. That said the game is still a blast to play, and only those expecting a more significant shift or upgrade from the previous entries would be disappointed.

Overall Bowser's Inside Story is another strong entry in an already shining series. Mario and his friends have been dipping into RPG territory since way back on the Super Nintendo and the aptly named Super Mario RPG. Since then the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario series have taken up the mantle and the balance of RPG elements and traditional platforming has really been nailed down. The humor of the series still works and is very family friendly (Fawful's dialogue alone is good for some serious laughs.) This game also makes great use of the DS, utilizing the two screens, the touch pad, and even the microphone in ways that are fun and not overly gimmicky. Another high point for Mario, Luigi and now Bowser.