Tactical strategy games aren’t really my thing. It’s not that these games are bad, they obviously appeal to a certain niche of gamers, but more like I struggle to break into the genre. I covered the reasons why more in depth during my review of Into The Breach, but in case you haven’t read it basically for a genre that should be rewarding players for planning out their next move of attacks and feeling clever because their skills and intelligence carried them forward there’s a heavy usage of random number generation. RNG is what it’s most commonly known as. RNG is the equivalent to rolling a set of dice. One roll you may get the number eleven and the next you may get an unlucky two. Much like a set of dice determining whether you move further down the board in a board game or if you land a critical hit in Dungeons and Dragons, the same can be said with RNG in video games. You may land a critical attack on the enemy, or the enemy may potentially do the same thing to you. The loot drop may give you the gun you want, or maybe it’ll give you the same low rarity leveled pistol. You may be wandering around the world and out of nowhere an ambush occurs and you are forced into a fight.
This is my main problem with RNG and why I normally don’t like seeing it in video games. You can’t predict what is going to happen next, and it’s unfair when these random events can lead to your character(s) getting cut down within seconds. That’s not to say RNG is bad, because good moments can come from it. Maybe the game does decide to drop you a powerful weapon and that’s what helps you get through the early game. Maybe your critical hit somehow stuns the enemy, and gives you the chance to heal your party or land the last few blows on that brutal boss. Random encounters in an open world can make the world feel more lively and natural. RNG is also responsible for the random encounter in some JRPGs like Octopath Traveler, and without it the dynamic attack patterns and moveset of bosses in action games like Bloodborne wouldn’t occur because the boss AI isn’t switching between moves and begins to rely on one type of attack. Creating a fighting pattern that is predictable.
RNG is basically a double edged sword. It may work in your favor and it may not. Depends on what’s going down and if you are having a bad time with it. That’s why I can’t really enjoy a majority of tactical strategies games, because it’s less about skill and more about chance. Well the ones I’ve played at least. XCOM 2 was the first tactics game I played and for one of the most highly acclaimed it didn’t click for me. How the high percentage numbers to potentially hit the target didn’t match up to the amount of times you were missing. How the enemy would critically hit me more than I would critically hit them. Combine this with a permadeath system and how a troop you spend hours customizing and leveling up can be lost in seconds, XCOM 2 became the most unforgiving game I ever played. It left a really poor taste in my mouth and a terrible impression of the genre, but overtime I would slowly open up to these games.
Into The Breach was the first tactical strategy game I truly fell in love with. How battles didn’t lag out too long and each playthrough was well paced. How you were telegraphed what the enemies were doing next and shown how your moves could prevent disaster from breaking out. Then I ended up trying Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I may not love it as much as other players, but overall I really enjoyed it. Forging a team of heroes, spending time with them outside of combat, and a story that circled around flawed factions that were mostly understandable. Then there’s 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim which is one of my favorite games in recent memory. Sure it leans more towards storytelling than gameplay and compared to these other two it’s real time combat, but the chaotic madness and visual style of combat created a fun combat loop.
All three of these games are tactical strategy titles I love, but there’s one I played before all three of them. I got it the year it came out, finished it, and completely forgot about it until recently. The game I’m talking about is Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, this bizarre crossover between Nintendo’s most acclaimed property and Ubisfot’s weird Raving Rabbids. They were originally side characters created for a Rayman party game spinoff, but Ubisoft loved their new overly annoying creations and decided to create a whole new franchise with them. Milking it to death with, and somehow Rabbids became more popular than Rayman which is really shocking. The crossover came into existence when Davide Soliani, the director of Kingdom Battle, proposed his idea to Shigeru Miyamoto. He loved playing Mario games growing up and always dreamt of making his own. Miyamoto listened to his concept and somehow ended up giving it a thumbs up. Behind the scenes, Soliani and a team of devs funded by Ubisoft got to work on the crossover between Mario and Rabbids. They revealed it during E3 2017 and showed that it would be their spin on the tactical strategy genre.
The idea for this game was great to Soliani and Miyamoto, but public reception wasn’t great at first. It just seemed like an idea that was unnecessary, and that they would dumb down what made the XCOM series great for some. A gameplay demo was available during the E3 event, and when people got to play it turned out it was actually really good. Sure it’s basically XCOM but easier, but it removes the elements that made XCOM unforgiving and hard to get into. The game was set to release in late August that year which wasn’t all too far away and there were some speculation the final product wouldn’t be as good as the demo, but remember the project was secretly in development for awhile. Kingdom Battle comes out and while reception for it isn’t high it’s genuinely positive. Critics and players really enjoyed this game and it even ended up on a couple Game of The Year lists. What probably led to the successful release was a lack of hype and speculation, because if there’s nothing to speculate on or if there isn’t a high amount of hype then when the final product releases expectations aren’t disappointed. Look, Kingdom Battle is just good and I’m glad I decided to replay it recently. I’m not joking when I say this is one of the top tactical strategy games I've played right behind 13 Sentinels and Into The Breach, and even though there are some quirks it managed to be a challenging yet fair experience. Today we’ll be talking about why I love Mario + Rabbid: Kingdom Battle and why it deserves your attention.
Story
Our story begins in the basement of a young inventor’s home. Not only do tools and fancy equipment litter the room, but a plethora of Super Mario merchandise of figurines are decorated around as well. The inventor is busy working on her next latest invention. A headset that can shoot a projectile that combines two items together. It doesn’t matter whether the items set in front of the headset are inanimate or living, their properties will be merged together. The inventor names her new invention the SuperMerge, but she’s having a difficult time tweaking the last few bits of her project. The headset overheats and she heads upstairs to grab a drink. While she’s away she asks her robot helper to look over the lab, Beep-O. Imagine a roomba, but it flies around and can talk. Beep-O sits peacefully in the basement until all of a sudden a time traveling laundry machine teleports into the room out of nowhere. Out comes a bunch of Raving Rabbids who begin trashing the room and bouncing around having fun. One of the Rabbids manages to put on the headset and begins merging the Super Mario merch in the room with his Rabbid compatriots. The Rabbid with the headset accidentally zaps the time traveling laundry machine, and all the Rabbids and Super Mario are sucked in and transported to an unknown world.
This opening may sound really bizarre, but trust me when I say all of this actually happens. We then cut to the Mushroom Kingdom, so I guess we have to assume video game worlds created by video game companies are alternate dimensions. The Toads unveil a massive statue carved out to honor the princess they live under, and Mario and his friends are also there to congratulate Peach. They then notice the confetti raining down on them starts floating upward, and look towards the sky to see a giant glowing vortex. The Toads are then swept up, then the statue, and soon Mario and his friends are sucked in to witness the horrors lying on the other side. Mario is then transported to another part of his world, but something is different about it. The grasslands he once knew are filled with toy blocks, giant tubes of honey glue, and these weird rabbits armed with guns are running around and forming gangs. He doesn’t find Luigi and Peach on the other side of the vortex, but instead to other rabbits dressed up like them. Mario and the two rabbits are then greeted by Beep-O, who gets sucked into the washing machine with the Rabbids. Beep-O tells them the SuperMerge caused the madness they now see, and the headset merged with the Rabbid wearing it. They must retrieve the SuperMerge wearing Rabbid, and luckily a letter sent to Beep-O by a stranger gives Mario and his new companions guns to fight the enemies who stand in their way. Mario will slowly unlock new allies to aid him in battle, face wacky odds, and try to close the giant vortex in the sky. However, the SuperMerge Rabbid is picked up by Bowser Jr. and he has devious plans since his father is out on vacation.
Gameplay
The story goes all over the place, but what you mainly play Kingdom Battle for is the combat and that combat is real meat of this game. Gameplay ranges between exploring the world, solving puzzles, and of course coming across battle arenas. Exploration really isn’t much as you’ll be railroaded down a linear path a majority of the time, and the only thing you really get for going off that path are treasure chests containing either collectibles or potentially stuff to help your party. Puzzles aren’t really hard either, but can range from pushing blocks onto buttons to reveal a path or maybe aligning a set of pipes so you can move forward. These two components help provide downtime in between fights, and those can last long depending on how good you are.
For each fight you bring in three characters and there are a total of eight to choose from. There are some rules on who you can bring into a fight though. Mario cannot be swapped out for anyone else and will always be the team leader, and a Rabbid character must always be in the party. The third party member can either be one of Mario’s friends or another Rabbid ally. Each character has their own abilities and weaponry, and learning who to bring in for each fight may make certain encounters more manageable. For example, Luigi is a long distance fighter who can fire from afar using a sniper rifle and traverse long distances to reach vantage points where he is unreachable. Rabbid Mario is a tanky character who can hit hard with either a shotgun or hammer. Weapons range from your typical guns like blasters and shotguns to secondary weapons with long cooldowns like drones and hammers. Knowing when to use special weapons is key, because they can do a lot of damage or hit an area of foes.
Abilities can also be really useful when used at the right moment. You can have support abilities like Rabbid Peach’s heal or Mario boosting the party’s attack damage, or Rabbid Mario pulling enemies closer and Rabbid Yoshi scaring scattering enemies with a mighty yell. All the Rabbid allies have shields to limit damage, and Mario and his friends have an ability that allows them to shoot anything that moves in front of them. It’s sorta like the overwatch ability from XCOM. This ability to shoot enemies when they move can work even when it’s not the character’s turn and it can be useful to potentially kill incoming enemies. To avoid attacks Mario and his friends can duck behind cover, but cover will not always be in reach or it’ll be destroyed. Introducing the team jump where allies can boost each other into the air to cover long distances or get to cover they can hide behind. You’ll want to use team jumping a lot to cover long distances within a short amount of time or bypass gaps and high walls. It can also help an ally reach a higher area without traveling through a pipe. Another mechanic to bring up is the slidekick which can be performed while running around. It allows you to deal damage while on the move, and you’ll want to make use of it to chop down enemy health bars.
The enemies you face come in a variety of flavors. You have basic grounded troops, Hoopers who are equipped with spring shoes to jump long distances, healers who can aid allies and throw grenades, Smashers who are easily agitated and run towards you during their turns and when you attack them to dish heavy damage, shielded tanks with shotguns, and much more. As time goes on enemies will be placed in larger groups, and learning who to prioritize during fights and how to take them out quickly may help end overwhelming scenarios quicker. Learning to kill healers as soon as possible, or confuse a Smasher by having one ally shoot at it and another ally with the overwatch ability activated so when the smasher runs by them they can dish more damage or get them to run closer to them instead. There’s a lot of maneuver and tactics that can be pulled out during fights, and I don’t want this section to become more confusing than it should be. Let’s just say adapting on the fly is the key to survival. Midway through each world is a miniboss heavily equipped, and at the end of each world there is an actual boss. Learn their attack patterns, what to do, and find openings to attack them.
Upon winning fights and completing chapters you gain coins and Super Orbs. Coins can be used to purchase new weapons for your team with stronger weapons costing more. New weapons may also contain effects that can randomly occur during battle. Bounce to launch an enemy into the air, push to basically do the same thing as bounce but along the ground, burn to have the enemy run around and out of cover, ink to prevent them from attacking next turn, and much more. Super Orbs on the other hand can be spent on a skill tree which each character has. It’s not like they have to spend individually, because when you unlock 10 Super Orbs per say every character gets 10 Super Orbs. The skill trees in Battle Kingdom are pretty well made and contain abilities that actually affect the power and efficiency of your characters. Damage of dash kicks, maximum health, boosting damage from high advantage points, lowering the cooldown of skills, and much more. They affect playstyle and you’ll want to upgrade them whenever you can. Besides that there isn’t much else to say. Hopefully you can gun down the Rabbit forces in your way and bring peace back to the Mushroom Kingdom.
Thoughts
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a solidly designed tactical strategy game and deserves to be up there with some of the genre’s finest titles. Most of my complaints aren’t involved with anything else besides the combat, and for a majority of the time it was great. I know this may look like a game targeted towards children, but I think both younger and older audiences will have a good time with this. The older audiences will enjoy the complexity and challenges the game throws at them, and younger audiences will enjoy the creativity and animation on display. Speaking of the animation, it was better than it had the rights to be. The team behind this put a lot of time into giving each character personality through the expression and movements they make sorta like what Next Level did for Luigi's Mansion 3. Everything has this fluidity to it, and while graphically it may not have the fine detailing that something like Super Mario Odyssey it still looked really nice. It went for a more cartoony look and everything sparkles with color. The world is goofy due to them combining the madness found in Raving Rabbids, but it allowed the team to get creative with their reimagining of the Super Mario universe. Story isn’t much, but the humor can get a good laugh out of you at times. May not work for everyone, but it worked for me and helped hook me into the journey. The soundtrack is this symphony of madness and I love everything about it. If you don't know Grant Kirkhope, the same composer of the Banjo-Kazooie, help compose the music for this game as well and it's great to see he's still delivering amazing work several years later. The several instruments of display, how much variety there is to the tracks, and knowing when to hype you up for a bombastic fight with maniacs.
The game does a really good job replicating the combat of XCOM and removing the elements I didn’t really enjoy about it. Kingdom Battle is basically a more accessible version of XCOM, but that does mean not everyone will like it because it removes key aspects that made XCOM interesting. One of those key factors being permadeath and making you feel attached more to your troops as you guide them through each battlefield.Your troops can feel like actual human beings working towards the top, and when they die their efforts and strength contributed to the war. There was a risk factor to XCOM and it made you think about each turn and what you would do. I understand why people enjoy the permadeath aspect of XCOM, but I personally don’t really like it because it means if you make a couple wrong moves during battle you lose a ton of your teammates and are placed at a huge disadvantage moving forward. Why do you think so many people play Three Houses with that option disabled? Kingdom Battle does have that which I like, but what I love about it more is how the cover system works. In XCOM the chance of getting hit ranges from one to one hundred and it felt like the numbers being displayed didn’t always match up to what was actually happening. In Kingdom Battle the chance of getting hit only ranges between zero, fifty, and one hundred depending on how high the cover you were hiding behind was. There are still systems of chance, but it feels more based on skill as you know high cover will always provide one hundred percent protection and low cover provides a risk of getting shot. Having these set numbers helps make the cover system more fair.
XCOM fans may not like how you can’t customize the weapons and arsenal of each character. Mario will always have a blaster and hammer, and Rabbid Luigi will always have the yo-yo and bazooka. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any build diversity or customization. I like the skill tree and how the abilities you unlock from it actually affect the power of your characters rather than give them skills that are useless in reality. I like how you can reset and reallocate your stats as many times as you want just in case you accidentally invested in an ability you didn’t really like. Every character will always use specific weapons, but as you unlock stronger weapons more options become available. Eventually weapons will start having special effects where if they deal critical damage they may bounce an enemy away, apply a status effect, etc. Knowing what effects you want for each team mate is what provides some diversity.
Arenas grow bigger as the game goes on, but there is a nice selection of variety with them. With occasional mechanics to each world applying new rules on how to tackle each fight. You may even find windows of opportunity to use against your foes like letting a twister knock them around or the crashing volcanic rocks scatter them. Movement feels real and knowing pipes and team jumps allow you to traverse longer distances and help you cover more ground within a shorter period of time. The game does get challenging later on when they introduce enemy types like the Peek-A-Boos who teleport around and snipe you from afar, or when Smashers and the shielded blokes start unlocking weapon effects similar to yours. The game for the most part is skill over RNG, but those RNG systems and critical hits start working for the enemies it hits you hard. You can have teammates who die within two turns if you make the wrong move, because the game keeps giving critical hit chances to your foes and your allies keep getting knocked out of cover because out of all the weapon effects it had to be bounced. It got a little frustrating especially with how the game thought the best way to get harder was to shove more enemies into the battlefield, but for the most part it’s fair. Your first move is what determines whether you have the advantage or not, and oftentimes I would restart battles to see if I could handle the first move better. I felt rewarded when I figured out how to take down the most powerful foes within a few turns. Knowledge of what my characters can do and the battlefield led to something.
I do have complaints with Kingdom Battle. I can get past the design choice of always having one Rabbid teammate of your team at all times, but I don’t like how you always have to have Mario on you at all times. That’s not to say he’s a bad party member as his weapons and abilities are useful and he serves as an all rounder, but being unable to swap him out and customize your party to your liking because he’s the team captain is stupid. At least they don’t do an Ichiban or Joker where once they die the entire fight ends. For the sequel I hope they make it so that one Mario character just has to lead the team, and luckily they are doing this. The Drones can be pretty powerful weapons and good for clearing an area of foes, but it can be useless if you try to use it from a distance. It travels only a few feet each turn and can be attacked while traveling which is understandable, but they stop traveling if the enemy they were targeting gets killed before it gets in range. I’m surprised the drone just doesn’t target the next closest foe near it. Princess Peach is one of the most powerful teammates you have despite being a support character, and once you unlock her you might not switch to other characters. She’s just really overpowered and her toolkit allows her to do basically anything. She has a shotgun, a grenade, and one her most useful abilities to heal an area of allies when jumping into the air. There is no cooldown to this and can be used as many times as you want. My last set of complaints I already mentioned is that there are annoying enemy types later on and around world three the difficulty starts to ramp up. Overall this is really good and exceeded my expectations for what it could achieve. I’m really hopeful for the sequel and that it could expand on what this game did right. In the end I’m going to give Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle an 8.5/10 for being pretty good.
Comments