Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Review: Richer, Bigger, but Also More Ubisoft-y

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Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope — out Thursday on Nintendo Switch — does what you'd expect from a sequel to a well-received game by immersing you in a richer and more expansive world. While the first game, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, proceeded in a linear fashion, Sparks of Hope tries to be more exploratory with a semi-open world of sorts. There's now an in-game map, with quests marked on it. Thankfully, it's not as littered with icons as some of Ubisoft's other open world games. There is a bit of level-gating, as you might expect — it never really got in my way, though your mileage may vary depending on the route you take. Each new Sparks of Hope planet opens up a dozen or so quests that you must complete before you tackle the big bad. You can roam around freely, and decide what you want to do first.

Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris — the returning team of developers on Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope — have reconsidered their approach to the game's turn-based arena too. Unlike in Kingdom Battle, where your heroes moved in a grid-based layout, Sparks of Hope is entirely freeform. During your turn, you can move around endlessly as you ponder your choices. After activating team jump, you're lifted into the air and free to move around before you fall to the ground. Additionally, some new enemies, like the Bob-omb, can be picked up and thrown after you dash into them. In both cases — team jump and dash-and-throw — you have a few seconds to make up your mind. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is still a turn-based tactics game, but there's a now a real-time element to it.

While most of those are welcome introductions, there are some unwelcome ideas as well. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope has three in-game currencies now: the