Being one of the few Gamecube games I was really looking forward to, I had high hopes for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. At first glace, the game is great, it kept all the good parts from the original, the parts that made it stand out from every other RPG out there. It is still a little childish, but that is part of the appeal. Mario, paper thin, who can move around in a paper world. However, as you play on, the notion that there is nothing really new or original, becomes more and more apparent.
The game starts off as any other Mario, sitting around, an urgent message come to you and you have to go out and save the day. This time however, there isn't only Bowser who is up to no good, but someone else has kidnaped the Princess. Not to worry though, Bowser is not gone, he is still up to no good. The intro is long and since you once again have to read the whole script and there isn't even a narrator, something that I thought would be gone with this generation of consoles, I found myself, not even reading half the text. As in the first Paper Mario, you play the hero and as you progress through your journey, new people join your group and you can switch between them freely. You can still only use one member at a time, but you can even switch to another in the middle of a fight. There is no interaction with the world around you, you can only move and break certain things, that are needed to advance your quest. The graphics are also still pretty much the same, a little nicer of course, but nothing really noticeable.
The game has added a few things that add to the game play, but nothing that really sticks out. When you fight, you now have an audience, you cheers you on or gets upset that there is not enough action. To keep them happy, you must properly complete your special moves and this leads to two things: replenishing your star power, which is used to do your power moves and you get to spin a slot machine to get bonuses every few rounds. There is also a dodge and counter move, which is done by properly timing the A or B buttons when being attacked. However, since every enemies attack is different, they are not as easy to do as one might think, but once you get the hang of it, they occur regularly.
You can also get shop points whenever you buy something from a store, kind of like a frequent shopper point, which you can use to trade in for special products at each store. Mario is also given some special abilities that he can use outside of fights. These are known as "curses" but are actually very useful, such as the ability to turn into a paper airplane or turn sideways and slip through tiny slots. You still cannot jump and use your hammer in the air and the tutorials for every new move are still very well done and extremely clear.
The badge system is back again, which are simply power up that you can equip yourself with depending on how many badge points you have. You increase you badge points, just like your health and flower power, every time you go up a level, which is done every 100 stars. As in the first one, you get to choose what you want to increase. You teammate gets stronger by being upgraded whenever you can gather three special coins. You also get to choose which one to upgrade.
In addition, you have an email device to receive special missions or warnings from others, you cannot skip any scenes at all (very annoying), there are ample save points, you can control other characters (like the Princess and even Bowser) and there is almost no loading at all.
The game is good, but more of the same, nothing has really changed and the story is also more of the same. If you really liked the first one, it is worth a try and even a purchase, but don't expect anything too spectacular.
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