Mario And Luigi Brothership Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · Published November 15, 2024 · Updated November 15, 2024

Mario And Luigi Brothership Review, The world of Concordia has broken apart! Originally unified under the mighty Uni-Tree, the land now lies fractured into many different islands, and its inhabitants are separated from each other across vast seas. Enter Mario and Luigi, the heroes with a brotherly bond! After arriving unexpectedly in Concordia, they set out with new friends – plus some familiar faces – to reconnect the islands, track down the cause of the disaster, and save the day.

Mario And Luigi Brothership Review Pros:

Fantastic cel-shaded style graphics.
9.8GB download size.
Five save slots.
Action platformer gameplay.
Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
A full 3D game world.
Turn-based combat.
Earn EXP to level up and increase your stats.
Jumping in combat is a powerful technique as you time jump on an enemy to do extra damage, time your jump when being attacked and you can do counterattacks.
In-game cutscenes and interactions.
An emergency guard is where you put up a shield and take less damage. You would do this if you don’t feel confident with jump countering.
You see enemies walking and flying around the world, if you hit them first then you do bonus damage at the start.
Luigi will follow you around the world.
You can skip and fast-forward interactions and cutscenes.
Humour throughout.
Save blocks and autosaves.
You have a jump button for Mario and a seperate one for Luigi.
Snoutlet School is where all watched tutorials are housed and you can brush up.
The map shows save points and objectives.
Full stats screens for both characters showing health, power, equipped gear, etc.
Each character can equip boots, clothes, and up to two gloves or accessories.
An adventure log is where you can view and take on challenges and Review objectives for the story.
Shipshape is the name of your hub island, use the big cannon here to fire yourself to an island.
Discover islands to learn their name and description.
Good loading times.
Heart blocks refill BP and HP.
Attack combos are where you alternate but time your jumps with Mario and Luigi.
Seamless cutscene transitions.
Puzzle elements scattered around.
Luigi logix is where you will discover situations where Luigi will have an idea (a sparkle will show) and you press a button to trigger it.
You can buy and sell items in shops.
Coins can be found in the world and given as rewards in combat.
Pipe blocks will create a pipe and these act like fast travel points on the island.
Many characters to interact with.
Handy equip now an option after buying new items of clothing.
Mario or Luigi can pick up some items in the game world and carry them around.
It’s a game that plays like a solo cop op game.
The goal of the game is to connect islands back together by getting to the plug-up in the lighthouse of the current island.
Connected islands will trigger changes in the island adding replayability.
Sprite bulbs can be hit, then you chase them down. Sprite bulbs can spawn on connected islands.
The ocean map lets you pick currents to ride on and discover new islands.
Shipshape is an island boat and when setting a course you will see the ship moving, the whole time you can move around the island.
Youbgetba say over where you go, who you rescue etc and this can change how the story unfolds.
Each island is like its own little world complete with enemy types, biome, and unlocks.
Unlock many Mario games like this, you do get to have a huge say in how and where you progress.
I do like that each character levels up at a different pace.
Unlock new ways to interact with the game world.
Challenges can pop up at any time really but mostly in combat or set pieces, finishing it will grant a reward.
The timing of pressing your attacks is paramount to doing maximum damage.
Combat is satisfying and plays really well, it is repetitive but satisfying.
The level design is fantastic and varied but it can take a while to show itself as re-visiting islands mix it up, a lot of secrets and shortcuts can be found.
Mini-game integration and usually in the story.

Mario And Luigi Brothership Review Cons:

No touchscreen support.
There is no camera control.
Doesn’t have as much charm as other Mario games.
There is no voice work except for the occasional one-liner.
Interactions are slow, you cannot set them to auto-scroll.
It’s a really slow-paced game, the first hour has a lot of stopping and talking, long cutscenes, etc.
The way you control Luigi is not always great both at a functioning level and at an accessible level.
The actual current mechanic is fine but it takes some getting used to as it is so easy to miss Islands and you can have a lot of downtime waiting to arrive.
I just wish the game would let me get on with it.
The game doesn’t offer any real accessibility options.