Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is a bright and cheery turn-based RPG starring two of the most favored heroes in the gaming world. In this epic and hilarious adventure, the beloved Nintendo brothers, Mario and Luigi, tackle a wild journey through a brand new kingdom. When Bowser and his minions aim to capture a powerful relic and use it for evil, the sibling plumbers must stop his dark deeds. Played from a top-down perspective with a calculated but easy-to-learn battle system, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is an amazing game that fans both young and old can enjoy!

Main Game Features

• Explore the dreamy Pi'illo Island
• Turn-based battles and platforming gameplay
• Switch between top-down and side-scrolling perspectives

Story

As a sequel to Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Dream Team follows another wacky adventure with Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad, as they travel to the luxurious Pi'illo Island for vacation. While exploring a beautiful castle, the group uncovers a magical chamber full of ancient relics. As Luigi takes a nap in the middle of the room, he inadvertently opens a portal to the Dream World, where a mysterious figure takes Peach and forces Mario to chase after them. Bouncing back and forth between the Dream World and Pi'illo Island, Mario and Luigi must save Peach and prevent destruction from coming to the kingdom.

Unlike classic Super Mario platforming games, the story is a major element in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, so you can expect to spend lots of time talking to characters. While this might sound boring at first, the hilarious characters and zany situations prove that the narrative is one of the best parts of the game. It's great to watch Luigi take on a renewed sense of pride and courage in his dream form, while other supporting characters stick out as memorable checkpoints along the way. It's a fun and lighthearted story that only drags on a bit too long, but is otherwise awesome.

Gameplay

When you're not chatting it up with various characters, you'll explore both Pi'illo Island and the Dream World, pursuing different objectives as you get closer to your goal. Controlling both Mario and Luigi at the same time, you can travel around the hub-world of Pi'illo Island, solving puzzles and other missions as you take on self-contained levels. The Dream World opens up other exciting possibilities, as the gameplay is switched to side-scrolling platforming, reminiscent of Super Mario World. In this state, players can interact with their environment and change things by messing with Luigi as he sleeps, making for a funny and inventive gameplay mechanic.

Battles in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team are very similar to those in the Paper Mario series, with simple turn-based combat that anyone can follow. In addition to standard attacks, you can use items and weapons to deal more damage or overcome enemy defenses. There are also devastating ultra attacks to pull off, such as the Luginary Attacks, which call tons of tiny Luigis into battle. For those players who struggle with turn-based battles, Dream Team has both easy and hard difficulty options, so there's an experience for players of any skill level.

Conclusion

If you love the Mario universe but are perhaps tired of jumping over obstacles and collecting coins, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is a great change of pace. Besides the focus on Luigi in the story, there's an exciting amount of strategic battles to partake in, as well as fun characters to meet and cool gear to collect.

Pros

• Imaginative story with a cool world
• Hilarious characters and comedy
• Focuses on Luigi for a change of pace

Cons

• Too many tutorials
• Story drags on toward the end
• Lots of backtracking