Paper Mario Sticker Star Review: A Fun RPG Game For The Nintendo 3DS

Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: RPG

Paper Mario is finally back and now in hands-free 3D for the very first time in the form of Paper Mario: Sticker Star. The game takes a slight detour within the RPG universe by throwing out experience points and adding stickers for items. The sticker RPG approach is a quite an interesting concept to experience. Does the game hold together or do the stickers fall flat?

Unlike previous Paper Mario games, this one takes the RPG approach a little differently. Instead of previous Paper Mario titles where you gain experience to level up and have normal attacks, this game takes a different approach. Normal attacks like a hammer or the jump action are now gone and now the game gives you stickers to use. These are found throughout the game and can be stored for later use in your book. You will have to manage your different stickers to use against enemies or in the world itself and as time goes on, you will receive additional pages to store more stickers. Occasionally you will find 3D real world items in the game that can be turned into stickers to be used against enemies or used to progress throughout the game. Also unlike previous games in the series, you don’t gain more health through experience but through finding little 5+ heart containers throughout the world. This becomes a bit of a double edge sword. On the one side, you can skip any non-boss enemies you see and just continue on without needing to needless experience grinding. But on the other hand, there is nearly no point to doing any of the smaller battles when you can just skip them. The sub-bosses and main bosses of the game are truly epic and require some planning on how you tackle each boss.

The paper thin style of the game really makes the game shine and pop in 3D. A great sense of depth is given to the world as you explore it with the 3D aspect turned on. Even without the 3D aspect, the game really looks quite good. Some of the real world fully 3D aspects fit naturally within the game’s 2D setting. The music as well does a good job of making it feel like you engulfed in the world.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is a pretty fun experience for anyone looking for a RPG for their Nintendo 3DS. If you have enjoyed previous Paper Mario titles in the series, you will likely enjoy this latest 3D version as well. Using stickers instead of normal attacks is a fun concept, though the lack of experience does hold back the need to really do battles. The game is as fun and energetic as ever and will surely give you a great time as you play it.

Rating: 8/10