Out of this world: Ubisoft shoots for the stars in Edge 375’s cover game, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks Of Hope

gamesradar.com:

When a studio makes a successful game and a sequel is subsequently greenlit, most understandably tend to approach the task with a familiar maxim in mind: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But sometimes the smart choice is to ignore conventional wisdom: the very best follow-ups are the ones where a developer takes the opportunity to try something different, to capture the freshness and excitement that the first game generated. 

So it is with Mario + Rabbids: Sparks Of Hope, which dispenses with the grid-based core of 2017’s much-loved Kingdom Battle in favour of allowing the Mushroom Kingdom’s finest and his boisterous new allies to move freely around the battlefield. It’s a decision creative director Davide Soliani says was “crazy” and “scary” at first, but it makes for a tactical game that feels as distinctive as the original game, albeit in a different way. “It must be as courageous as the first one,” he says.

That bold change is partly down to the increased trust that Nintendo has in the studio since partnering for the first game, producer Xavier Manganares explains. Now you can control the characters directly, encounters feel more dynamic with real-time elements added to the mix: you can grab hold of Roomba-like ally Beep-0 (who now hovers above the battlefield to provide a tactical overview) and ground-pound enemies from above. Bob-ombs can be upended and thrown towards enemy groups, or to blow apart cover to leave them exposed for a follow-up attack. The Sparks of the title, meanwhile – hybrids of Rabbids and Super Mario Galaxy’s Lumas – provide elemental techniques, while allowing characters to lean into specialities or else ameliorate their weaknesses. 

Indeed, Nintendo’s seminal platformer has been a major