First, it was Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Then Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, followed by Splatoon 2. Now, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle adds yet another must-have exclusive for Nintendo fans to the Switch's ever-growing library. The XCOM-meets-Mushroom Kingdom strategy romp is scoring well across the board, resulting in an average Metascore of 85.
Here are a few of the notable reviews to help you make a choice on whether Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is a Day 1 purchase.
"Mario's already bizarre Mushroom Kingdom bursts with Rayman-ish peculiarities, like geysering toilets, grooving flowers and ivory pipes with bunny ears and lolling tongues. Zebra-striped treetops share turf with others that sport surreal curlicues. Snow and sand bleed together forming paradoxical biomes. Toy blocks frame a multihued jungle-gym commandeered by a hilarious alternate version of an iconic Nintendo adversary. It's wacky, boisterous and absolutely gorgeous."
"Those familiar with Firaxis Games' reboot of the XCOM series will know what to expect: Turn-based conflicts take place on a gridded, isometric battlefield where projectile weapons, cover, and flanking are a major focus. However, Kingdom Battle twists that design heavily by introducing abilities and options which encourage a more aggressive style of fighting, as well as situational urgencies to create a faster-paced, more exciting ebb and flow to battle compared to its influences."
"Kingdom Battle is more than a kid-friendly XCOM clone. Your squad of heroes is more mobile than in most tactics games, and can perform dash attacks and head stomps while on the move to supplement their weapon attacks. Characters also have their own special abilities (including the aforementioned Hero Sight or enemy-attracting Magnet Dance), giving each of your three characters a trio of maneuvers to perform every turn. As such, each battle plays out like an intriguing optimization puzzle, as you swap back and forth between characters’ movements, weapon attacks, and abilities to set up the best team combos and maximize the damage you inflict on enemies."
"This is a hybrid that shouldn’t work, where Mario and a team of Mushroom Kingdom stalwarts meet Ubisoft’s loony lapins for some XCOM style skirmishing. It does, though, because it mixes brilliant, polished game mechanics with a real understanding of Mario and what people want from a Mario game."
"Which brings us to the biggest surprise of Mario + Rabbids: how viciously tough it is. Granted, most fights took me five or 10 minutes to get a “perfect” score by finishing within the turn timer limit with all three teammates alive. But every so often there was one that took an hour or more of trial-and-error attempts, testing out different combinations of the eight characters and slightly different approaches to the problem."
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle releases exclusively on Nintendo Switch tomorrow, August 29th, and will be getting a Season Pass sometime in the future.
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