Gabriel Plays... Super Paper Mario!

[Gabriel]

So, yesterday I got one of my periodic urges to play a Mario game. This is something akin to having a craving for extremely sour candy, and the best way to deal with it is to get it out of my system as soon as possible.

 

So, my options were simple. I could haul the NES out and play Super Mario. Nah, too much effort. I could haul the SNES out and play Super Mario. Nah, still too much effort. I could play New Super Mario on my DS. Nah, that's really pretty dull. I could download one of the Super Mario games to my Wii, since I have some points just sitting there doing nothing. Nah, I'd rather get something I'd play more. Hmmmm. The problem is that I crave a new experience, yet I crave the utter non-innovation of Mario. I guess the only thing to do is rent Super Paper Mario for the Wii.

 

I've heard that this game is more or less an action RPG. I've also heard it was about as mature as Barney the Dinosaur or Teletubbies. In fact, when I rented the game the girl at the counter asked, "Will you be renting anything else for your kids today?" Ahh yes, the all ages reputation of the Wii preceedes it. Anyway, I rented the game ($7 for 1 week, highway robbery!), and brought it home to put it to the test.

 

After sleeping through the LOOOONG and completely inane opening text, I eventually realized I had control of Mario. I quickly learned this was only so I could walk around and do nothing for a short bit before I was thrown into another pre-scripted event. After a while, I got to the actual game. I imagine all the tedious opening game busywork took about 15 minutes or so, but it felt like an hour of pressing through menus.

 

Maybe this will be offensive, but Nintendo games are kinda gay. And in this case I mean they have distinct homosexual innuendo. I'm not offended by that, but when a fairy who speaks in a rainbow colored speech balloon talks about taking you to the Flipside... well, I think it speaks for itself. One of your helpers is only a slight shade away from being a pink triangle. It doesn't bother me at all, but it really makes me wonder what was on the minds of the people responsible for this game.

 

So, after visiting the gay bar and showing how spectacular you are, Mario is declared the HERO and is given a grandiose stepinfetchit quest. OK, HERO is a rather grandiose title for an errand boy, but this is a Mario game after all. I wasn't expecting much. So away Mario runs, to the familiar blocks and platforms levels we've all seen before about a thousand times.

 

This is all done with the wiimote turned sideways and used as a NES controller. The Wiimote gimmick is used most often as a pointer where you aim it at an object on the screen and press a button to get information on that thing, or to reveal hidden things on the level. I've also seen a point where you have to shake it violently in order to escape something. Otherwise, the control is blessedly conventional. Oh, and the controller vibration function is put into overdrive for this game. It buzzes more than a porn set during a lesbian toy shoot.

 

The other gimmick is an example of how Mario should have migrated into 3D in the first place. Pressing A causes Mario to rotate into the mysterious third dimension. In this mode, you have a view from behind Mario and the length of the level is shown as depth. Hidden items outside of your original plane of view can now be seen, and you have some more latitude of movement. It's nothing overly impressive, but it preserves the traditional Mario gameplay in a way the Mario 64 descendants ignored.

 

Anyway, you wander the levels, occasionally meeting infrequent monsters and slapping your fat ass against them. This is all too frequently mixed up with "puzzles" which involve finding some NPC and sitting through his tortuously long and "colorful" speech balloons. It's worth mentioning that several characters have multiple pages of "...." in their speech balloons. Much of the dialogue is nonsense intended to be humorous. I suppose it would be funny to a 5 year old, but to anyone else many of the characters seem like they're retarded, have a speech impediment, or both. Other times the puzzles involve simply hunting around for secrets through trial and error.

 

Eventually you meet some bosses. I'll only comment on the dragon boss I encountered. The hint I got was that I should hit an antenna on top of this thing's head in order to defeat it. The hint also helpfully informed me I'd have to use my Pixel assistant who lets me grab things and throw them. OK, so far so good. Well, the dragon dives down, and no matter what, the antenna is always out of my reach. So, I think, "Maybe I need to hop on it's back or something." Incidentally, this is the correct move. Yet, when I did it the first two times, I got damaged.

 

Well, when you get hurt, you get the impression that's not the way to do things. I concluded the whole body of the dragon was lethal, and tried to figure out another way to get the antenna. Of course, there isn't one, so I was stuck there trying hundreds of things which would never work because the one thing which should have worked didn't, and had persuaded me not to try it again by depleteing my hit points. Eventually I checked Gamefaqs and found out that I had been right in the first place. I was supposed to jump on the dragon's back. So, I tried it again and... suddenly there was no damage and I transitioned to the next scene.

 

Now, my experience with the boss may or may not be a universal experience. I got the impression the damage I took from jumping on the dragon's back might have been a bug. But, it's a case of a distracting trend in the game of saying "No! No! Oh... by the way... YES!"

 

So, I get the Pure Heart (the doo-dad I'm trying to collect 7 of), and to celebrate I get a pastel colored scene with animated action lines of orgasmic bliss. Then I head back to the flipside and have the privledge of sitting through some more inane text.

 

If anyone read my Enchanted Arms rant from ages ago, then it should be known that I'll defend long screens of game text if they add color, progress the story, or show what is on the characters' minds. In Super Paper Mario's case, it breaks down as follows. 1) The dialogue only adds color inasmuch as showing you that all the inhabitants of the virtual world are severely mentally deficient. They are like 4 year olds, tossing out catchphrases left and right without even knowing the context of those phrases. They babble on and on in ways they think are "cool", but are actually just stupid. I know this sounds like an extremely odd complaint considering the length of this rant (not to mention my sentence structure). Just imagine if I had replaced this whole piece with something like "Woooo hooo hooo! You are so fresh! It's off the hook! Wanna be ripe like me? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7..." Just imagine a whole game with dialogue like that. Bleck. Count Bleck! 2) The dialogue only progresses the story in the most basic fashion. This is OK, since there isn't really much of a story anyway, but the sheer amount of the text makes you wonder why they wrote Barney's War and Peace for a Tom & Jerry tale. 3) The main character, Mario, never speaks, and only communicates through gestures and emotional noises. Most of the other characters are extremely vapid, and you know everything on their minds just from looking at their character design.

 

Anyway, back at town we get some more storyline involving Princess Peach and some turtle things. Unlike Mario, who we are never shown what he's supposed to be saying, the princess actually has dialogue. She's a welcome relief, because she's the most coherent character in the game so far. That isn't saying much, but I'll take what I can get. It all ends up with Peach joining Mario and her becoming a selectable character. The game helpfully selects her for you, and you're off again on a compelling stepinfetchit quest!

 

At this point, the first thing you need to do is use the ability to rotate to 3D to find something. Guess who doesn't have the ability to rotate to 3D? If you said "that pink bitch, Princess Peach!" you win the prize. The game very quickly drives home that blondie is just a chick, and may be useful in a couple of special circumstances, but this is MAN's work. You need to stick to Mario, occasionally switching to the silly girl briefly. Seldom have I ever played a game which gives you a new character and then actively dissuades them from using them.

 

I got almost to the end of the second world before I decided to quit for the night. While there are platforming and RPG elements, the game is really oriented around environmental puzzles. Search your environment and manipulate it to proceed. The Mario elements are just a pastel colored candy shell.

 

That's the game. How does it look? Well, the graphics look nice, but nothing here is going to wow you with graphical splendor. I'll be perfectly honest, when I first saw Paper Mario on the GameCube, I was somewhat impressed with the look. The paper cutout in a 3D world look still has a certain charm, but definitely comes across as old hat now. Meh. It's still pleasant enough. There is a lot of texture shimmer, though. I rank the graphics as pleasant and effective, which is what graphics need to be.

 

Gameplay is hard to define. There are some traditional Mario jumping bits, but they are extremely easy. Since I'm saying they're easy, then hardcore Mario fans could probably do them while asleep. The meat of the game are the environmental puzzles. It's really more of a graphical adventure akin to King's Quest. You mainly interact with the environment, occasionally doing action bits. Despite all the flaws listed above, it's solid enough. People who are horrible at Mario games, like myself, will probably find it a welcome change of pace.

 

The most damning thing about the game is that it strongly feels like a XBox Live Arcade game. A Live Arcade game probably wouldn't have all the text Super Paper Mario has, but the gameplay and look have a feel very similar to a $10 Live Arcade title.

 

Another point is applicable since this title is a RPG. This game hits every major complaint point leveled about RPGs. You have to sit through long, boring speech balloons. The plot is unoriginal and telegraphed hundreds of miles in advance. Much of the game requires tedious mucking around exploring every nook and cranny. The NPCs are paper cutouts (literally and figuratively).

 

The Nintendo propaganda engine is in full swing as well. If you look carefully you'll see Nintendo products subliminally hidden in the background. The NPCs spout Nintendo catchphrases of old. And I was expecting a NPC to show up any moment and provide an advertisement like "Woo woo!........................The Nintendo DS roxxorz my boxxorz! Do you like ham? RED!" Generally speaking, other companies's titles seem more broadly aware of geek culture with references to various geek sources. Nintendo titles have a narrow tunnel vision only on themselves. Self-referential humor is the only thing which gets the Nintendo Seal of Quality.

 

Overall, I'm happy I didn't impulsively buy it. It's decent enough, and I'll enjoy it for the remainder of my rental period. However, it definitely isn't worth $50. It would be an excellent downloadable title, or even a $20 disc.

[MCHufnagel]

Tell us again why you didn't sell your Wii after it was given to you?

[raindog151]

Tell us again why you didn't sell your Wii after it was given to you?

 

lol!

 

I personally was very very happy paying full price for the game, which is something I don't feel often lately. While there is a lot of text, this is one of maybe 3 games that had dialogue that made me chuckle or laugh out loud. Each of the characters have their own strength (arguably, I'd say Bowser is the worst character, weird eh?) and the controls were tight.

 

I don't know what to tell you about the game being so 'gay'. From what I've heard playing Halo on XBL, the nation is full of closet homosexuals aged between 9 and 35.

[Gabriel]

Tell us again why you didn't sell your Wii after it was given to you?

 

Because it's insulting to the gift giver to sell a gift they gave you, particularly if they work shit minimum wage jobs and even still felt that you were important enough to buy $350 worth of gift.

 

If you have a different opinion of the game, share it. I posted it because I personally see the Wii section as a forum dedicated entirely to talking about how awesome upcoming games will be, only to ignore them when they come out, and fanworshiping the Wii as the coming a a messiah. I wanted to post about actual gaming instead, which is something I've been focusing on for the past several months.

[Bivotar]

Welcome to the world of Paper Mario! I am playing through this right now and it sounds like I am almost exactly where you are at in terms of chapters.

 

I was originally concerned when I heard this was more like a Mario platformer game than a Paper Mario game. However, after having started it I really does still feel like a Paper Mario game. The biggest difference is they took out the turn-based battle system and everything happens real-time. But the dialog, gaining abilities through partners, and puzzle solving is still very much Paper Mario.

 

I can definitely see where the Paper Mario world could be annoying. The conversations can be long-winded. I do like some of the humor and almost inside-joke references, including occasionally referring to the player playing the game.

 

I do think the Wiimote works well for this game and like how you mainly use it like a traditional NES gamepad. I would not have enjoyed "giving the Wiimote a flip to jump, or something like that.

 

My biggest complaint is probably that I have needed to refer to GameFaqs a couple of times. I also was stuck on how to kill the dragon. There was another part where you had to jump in an area 10 times to make something appear. WTF???

 

If you have played and enjoyed previous Paper Mario games, this is more of the same but with some interesting new twists. If you are new to the Paper Mario "experience" it is probably a love it or hate it thing.

[Gabriel]

I don't know what to tell you about the game being so 'gay'. From what I've heard playing Halo on XBL, the nation is full of closet homosexuals aged between 9 and 35.

 

Halo is gay in that Ruthless 80s Action Review way. Big guns. Shooting... Shooting.... SHOOTING! And let's not forget that the ultimate sign of dominance in the game is to mime having sex with another player's corpse.

 

It doesn't change the fact that a multicolored butterfly wanting to "show you something" by taking you to the "flipside" is pretty funny.

[Gabriel]

Welcome to the world of Paper Mario! I am playing through this right now and it sounds like I am almost exactly where you are at in terms of chapters.

 

I was originally concerned when I heard this was more like a Mario platformer game than a Paper Mario game. However, after having started it I really does still feel like a Paper Mario game. The biggest difference is they took out the turn-based battle system and everything happens real-time. But the dialog, gaining abilities through partners, and puzzle solving is still very much Paper Mario.

 

I can definitely see where the Paper Mario world could be annoying. The conversations can be long-winded. I do like some of the humor and almost inside-joke references, including occasionally referring to the player playing the game.

 

I do think the Wiimote works well for this game and like how you mainly use it like a traditional NES gamepad. I would not have enjoyed "giving the Wiimote a flip to jump, or something like that.

 

My biggest complaint is probably that I have needed to refer to GameFaqs a couple of times. I also was stuck on how to kill the dragon. There was another part where you had to jump in an area 10 times to make something appear. WTF???

 

If you have played and enjoyed previous Paper Mario games, this is more of the same but with some interesting new twists. If you are new to the Paper Mario "experience" it is probably a love it or hate it thing.

 

I'm normally a defender of turn based battle, but when I played the GameCube Paper Mario in a store, I felt the turn based battle system was a very poor fit. I find this game's more traditional Mario mechanics to be more appealling.

 

I do observe it requires a great amount of "video game logic". The dragon is a good example of that. The dragon is lethal, so of course you have to jump on him to get anything done. Stuff like that has never been particularly intuitive.

 

The controller isn't too bad. I would have preferred to use the classic controller. I don't see why you shouldn't be able to. The Wiimote would still be there for the pointer functions. Using the classic controller would have made some things much less awkward. I guess it's not used because "perhipherals don't sell."

 

I don't love it. I don't hate it. I think it's amusing and somewhat entertaining. It's just not anywhere near $50 entertaining in my book. Like I said, $20 or less would make it pretty tempting. But, as it is, it really is just a GameCube game with some Wiimote functions shoehorned in, and a enhanced price tag.

[Malc74]

Well I don't care what anyone else says - that was an excellent review, seemingly from someone who despairs of Mario even more than me (I can't stand the 2D platformers, but I have a lot of time for the Mario Kart games and for SM64).

 

My wife will almost certainly want to pick SPM up once she's done her exam in a couple of weeks (she won't buy it now because she know she won't study if she does). I'll probably do the same with SPM as I did with PM on the Gamecube - I'll play it for half an hour and then get bored.

 

Y'know guys, Gabriel is allowed to not like certain games, especially if he puts his case as eloquently as he did right there (and it wasn't an outright hatchet-job on the damn game either).

[MCHufnagel]

Tell us again why you didn't sell your Wii after it was given to you?

 

Because it's insulting to the gift giver to sell a gift they gave you, particularly if they work shit minimum wage jobs and even still felt that you were important enough to buy $350 worth of gift.

 

Well I totally respect you on why you haven't sold it yet. And I'm not knocking your game review either. I don't have a Wii myself and haven't played this version of Paper Mario. But after reading this review and and reading what you've said in the past about the Wii, it's safe to say you don't like Nintendo, you don't like the Wii and you hate the Wii controller. That's why I asked why you still have the Wii.

[Lord Helmet]

The game is still on my list, but I probably won't be getting it until its around $20 used. I rarely buy games at full price though.

[AtariJr]

Tell us again why you didn't sell your Wii after it was given to you?

 

Because it's insulting to the gift giver to sell a gift they gave you, particularly if they work shit minimum wage jobs and even still felt that you were important enough to buy $350 worth of gift.

 

Well I totally respect you on why you haven't sold it yet. And I'm not knocking your game review either. I don't have a Wii myself and haven't played this version of Paper Mario. But after reading this review and and reading what you've said in the past about the Wii, it's safe to say you don't like Nintendo, you don't like the Wii and you hate the Wii controller. That's why I asked why you still have the Wii.

 

yes we all know he doesnt like nintendo's wii, so take the review for what it is.

 

 

hey heres an idea: your freind got you the gift in the "spirit of giving". why dont you do the same to MCHufnagel over here as he seems to want one and you dont

[MCHufnagel]

Tell us again why you didn't sell your Wii after it was given to you?

 

Because it's insulting to the gift giver to sell a gift they gave you, particularly if they work shit minimum wage jobs and even still felt that you were important enough to buy $350 worth of gift.

 

Well I totally respect you on why you haven't sold it yet. And I'm not knocking your game review either. I don't have a Wii myself and haven't played this version of Paper Mario. But after reading this review and and reading what you've said in the past about the Wii, it's safe to say you don't like Nintendo, you don't like the Wii and you hate the Wii controller. That's why I asked why you still have the Wii.

 

yes we all know he doesnt like nintendo's wii, so take the review for what it is.

 

 

hey heres an idea: your freind got you the gift in the "spirit of giving". why dont you do the same to MCHufnagel over here as he seems to want one and you dont

Don't take this the wrong way, but I really don't want one at this moment. To be honest there isn't anything out for this system that I want to play. I already have Zelda for the Gamecube, and I don't like mini-game collections. I tend to like shooters and RPG's best. Two genres I don't see the Wii excelling at. Of course no Nintendo console since the SNES has been big on those either and I have those. But my 12 year old is interested and I may pick one up for Christmas. My 14 year old has turned into Mr PC gamer, but does like the Fire Emblem series. So down the road we'll probably get one, but I'm not looking for one now.

 

But that might be a good idea, give the Wii to another friend who wants one but can't afford it. I can't speak for Gabriel though.

[Gabriel]

Fire Emblem series.

 

This is the one I'm waiting on.

[King_Salamon]

Gabriel.... if you play through the entire game... that 'gay' butterfly will actually not be what you think it is. (I don't wish to ruin anything for anyone by spoiling things).

 

As for not liking the game... well you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

 

As for my review of the game (in Chapter 7)... it was well worth the $50 ($60 Canadian actually). It's a bit text heavy but I enjoy reading some funny writing. I guess I have a sense of humour that's easy to please.

 

As for seeing gay things in a game... I suggest you try to not think about gay things while playing. Not that there's anything wrong with it I suppose... but it's certainly not something to complain about.

[Gabriel]

Gabriel.... if you play through the entire game... that 'gay' butterfly will actually not be what you think it is. (I don't wish to ruin anything for anyone by spoiling things).

 

As for not liking the game... well you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

 

As for my review of the game (in Chapter 7)... it was well worth the $50 ($60 Canadian actually). It's a bit text heavy but I enjoy reading some funny writing. I guess I have a sense of humour that's easy to please.

 

As for seeing gay things in a game... I suggest you try to not think about gay things while playing. Not that there's anything wrong with it I suppose... but it's certainly not something to complain about.

 

I figured there was something about the butterfly, considering it is the first thing in the game to help you, is the only Pixel you don't have to constantly be switching out, and has it's own special color speech balloon, just another way the game telegraphs everything. I know the game isn't supposed to have a rich plot, but there are shooters with a more gripping storyline.

 

I would have focused more on the good elements of the game had I thought of any way to address them. It plays just like a Mario game, which everyone has played before, and focuses on simple puzzles and exploration. You'll wander all over the place looking everywhere, which I thought I covered satisfactorily. If that's enough to engage you, I think that shines through. I don't directly state it, but its obvious from reading the review that I was engaged enough to play the game for a decent stretch of time and got emotionally involved.

 

As for the gay bit, it was a minor part of my rant and wasn't meant as either a detraction or praise of the game. It was just a funny observation. While my joke may fall flat, I'd be utterly amazed if teens or adults playing the game didn't at least smirk at the double meaning of some of the opening statements. Maybe I should have mentioned that I only kept playing because of how full of double entendres the game dialogue seemed, but that's another thing I thought the tone of my rant made clear. That isn't the same as enjoying the text and feeling it enriched the experience. It was more a case of appreciating the camp value.

 

Anyway, I should play at least a little more this weekend, but I've gotten the hankering to play Xenosaga. Playing a game where the story is so obvious must've made me crave one where the story makes no sense whatsoever.

[King_Salamon]

Fair enough..

 

As for Xenosaga... I enjoyed that game (the first one) but not for the story as it didn't really do much (for me anyway). What I enjoyed was the Mecha combat. It was a pretty good movie that I enjoyed.

[Hyper_Eye]

I picked this game up over the weekend. I was really looking forward to it. I didn't care for the previous Paper Mario games as I felt they weren't worth my time as RPG games. They really bored me to death. But, the combination of Mario platformer and Paper Mario RPG really intrigued me and, after seeing in-game video of flipping and puzzle solving, I was excited.

 

I am now on the space world which I believe is World 4. I am enjoying the game but I do have two major complaints about the game. The first complaint is about the introduction scenes and text. Considering the game that was being led into, the opening text was very excessive. It felt like the game was never going to start. The text between worlds does not bother me but I would be happy to never see the intro again. The other thing that bothers me is the control scheme. I do like the control scheme a lot but it has one big flaw and that is the battery compartment. Holding the controller as required by this game will put your index finger across the battery compartment and during play your finger will rub on it and become irritated. This gets to be pretty uncomfortable. Other then these problems I would recommend this game to any Mario fan.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Hyper:

 

You hold the controller differently from I as I hadn't noticed any confort issues with the controller being held that way. I hold it with my thumbs activating the direction cross and other buttons, and my index fingers actually rest on the top of the controller, as if it had shoulder buttons. The controller itself rests on my middle figers which I have curved inward to form a platform for the controller to sit on. The only comfort I have with the controller in this way, is that eventually my right thumb will start to get sore from the button presses since some of them are done on the side of the thumb to a degree.

[bones]

...eventually my right thumb will start to get sore from the button presses...

Ahh, the return of the Nintendo thumb! Many fond, and painful memories of this from the NES days

[jbanes]

Ahh, the return of the Nintendo thumb! Many fond, and painful memories of this from the NES days

Trust me, the WiiMote controller is nothing compared to the pain and anguish of the Dreamcast controller. I had forgotten how painful it was to use a DPad (after playing SPM start to end, mind you!) until I picked up that beast that Sega likes to call a "controller". It's actually fairly well laid out, and I like the the triggers on the bottom. But I'll be gosh-darned if my thumbs haven't developed calluses again. Not to mention the wrist cramps caused by skillfully* tapping as many buttons as possible as fast as possible in fighting games. <luigi>Ow ow ow ow ow ow!</luigi>

 

 

Give me the smooth, sleek surfaces and light touch of the Wii Remote any day. It's nowhere near as painful as the old days.

 

* yeah, right

[Flojomojo]

Gabriel -- that's not a bad review/rant. While it's fun for what it is, this Gamecube conversion is definitely a B-game as far as Mario games go, like Luigi's Mansion or the Wario games without "Ware" in the title. There's no excuse for the boring exposition text, which is almost as bad as the PS2's Okami for slowing you down for no good reason. Maybe it was just a particularly inept translation?

 

The pace of the game is glacial, and there's a lot of backtracking across locations that look alike. It's not difficult, but those who are easily distracted won't love this VERY mellow game. Like many Mario games, it's got a strong "stoner" vibe with trippy psychedelic visuals in places.

 

I won't touch the homophobic comments, other than to say that like Spongebob, the Wiggles, Tinky Winky, Ernie, and Bert, it's not exactly a secret that Mario and Luigi are friends of Dorothy.

[NE146]

I 100% agree on the bullshit Nintendo text. That's actually what turned me off to almost all the Mario & Luigi/Paper Mario RPG's despite the fact that I've played through and finished them all. The text really did make it a chore. Nintendo's strength is definitely not in it's long ass narratives (if they can even be called that) that's for sure... they are friggin useless

[Gabriel]

You know, I commented that Super Paper Mario felt like a XBox Live Arcade game, and the last few releases on that service have only reaffirmed that point in my mind. Prince of Persia Classic (which I didn't like) and Band of Bugs (which is OK, but not great) stand out as the best examples as analogous to the overall feel of the Super Paper Mario experience. Had it been priced like those two games, I probably would have bought it.

 

I never got back to the game that weekend. The text was the major reason for not continuing. That's why I went back to Xenosaga. I wanted something with shorter cutscenes.

 

(Before someone jumps on me, no the scrolling text doesn't last as long as some of Xenosaga's anime episode length cutscenes. It did FEEL like they lasted that long, though.)

[BydoEmpire]

I'm a huge fan of the first two PM games. I absolutely loved them. And having read so much complaining about the text in SPM I was surprised that it really wasn't that bad. I'm on Chapter 4 and honestly never really felt like any of the text or cutscenes went on too long. That said, I haven't picked the game back up in weeks. I don't know what it is, but it's just not that compelling to play. I enjoy the 2d->3d mechanic, the art style, and the writing. But the 'simplified platforming' game play just isn't doing it for me. I can't put my finger on what's wrong - maybe there's no sense of exploration or achievement like the PM RPGs? I'm sure I'll go back to it and finish, but the game just hasn't grabbed me like the other PM games. On the other hand, the 'sweatshop' level was just hilarious and a lot of fun.

[Flojomojo]

Yeah, it has limited "twitch" appeal, and not much in the way of "puzzles," either.

 

The problem isn't the amount of the text. The problem is that it's inane and completely superfluous. It needed an editor, or an option to skip all the dialogue.

 

Like Space Channel 5, this is the kind of game I'd prefer to play in Japanese. Understanding what is being said detracts from the experience.