Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope review ‘bigger and better than the original’

AS it turns out, Ubisoft’s cutesy mascots, the Rabbids, have a fairly well-established world, even when separated from Mario and his pals. 

They’re not simply Rayman’s Minions. No, there are even unique Rabbids with their own personalities, which quickly becomes evident when you meet Sparks of Hope’s Edge.

Edge is, well, edgy, as indicated by her leather jacket, spiky black and green hair, and the sword she literally throws at enemies. 

She’s not the sort of character that would usually fit in a Mario game, but she’s one of the best Rabbids, easily.

With Edge and the more detailed, explorable worlds you see in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, I’ve come to appreciate the Rabbids.

I don’t like the Rabbids, to be clear, but I see what they bring to the table. 

Nintendo’s guidelines for how its characters are represented are stricter than ever.

But you don’t need to make Mario and his friends act up for cutscenes if you can have a gang of goofy Rabbids to do it for you.

The Rabbids are a huge source of personality for the game.

Mario doesn’t have much going for him other than being a brave hero who likes to shout “Wahoo” regularly. 

Luigi does, at least, have a personality, but the Rabbids carry cutscenes and the world itself. 

While the worlds you visit are often Mario-inspired, they certainly have more in common with Rabbids, including many of the enemies, NPCs, and more.

It’s not just cutscenes either. Take them into the turn-based, strategic battles and those personalities still shine through.

Their weapons, skills, and animations all drip with personality. It’s not simply Mario, his friends, and a bunch of Rabbids that look like them anymore.

The world system has you hopping to different planets in the galaxy, and this does a lot to make this game feel more expansive than its predecessor. 

Mario and the team must board a spaceship in order to visit entirely new worlds, each of them distinctly themed, as you would expect from Mario worlds. 

Unlike the endless march of battles that the original game saw you endure, challenges feel evenly split up. 

You’ll enter a new world, work your way towards a dungeon entrance, solve some kind of challenge inside of that dungeon before beating the boss, and you’ll unlock a variety of side-quests and challenges to tackle – or you can jump back on the ship to travel to a new world.

The dust has settled after the events of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, and now the Rabbids live alongside Toads in peace. 

That is until Cursa, a cosmic entity that has offset the Sparks, appears and kicks it all off again.

Sparks are Rabbid-Luma hybrids, and while they’re important to the story of each world you visit, they also join your party. 

Sparks can be added to a character’s loadout, offering them unique buffs, like increasing the defence of nearby allies or imbuing your weapons with elemental powers.

You now have dozens of optional and quick battles you can take part in, but your health is the main thing preventing you from taking on every encounter.

It won’t heal up on its own after each fight. 

Some characters can use healing abilities, but put your character in the wrong location and they can get their health taken away very quickly. 

Luckily, you can pay for full health at any time on the overworld simply by pressing down on the d-pad, but you won’t earn enough coins for a heal after each battle.

This means that you’ll still have to be cautious about how often you restore your party.

That also means you’ll be engaging in a lot more battles than usual for XCOM-style games, but many of these fights move and end much faster than in other games.

Most small fights will be over in about three turns, if you play them right. 

Even longer fights rarely last longer than six turns total, with the exception being boss fights, which can be long multi-phase affairs that demand more of your tactical skills.

While the original Mario + Rabbids felt like an endless march down a linear path filled with lengthy battles, Sparks of Hope manages to make this feel like a real adventure. 

The different worlds, side-quests, and optional fights all go a very long way to making this feel more like both a traditional Mario game and a proper RPG journey. 

Even if you were turned off by the original game, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is a massive improvement in almost every way and has made this odd pairing a solid Nintendo series to look forward to in the future.

Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.