Alright, I think Sticker Star is a well-made game that suffers from not having a soul.
First off, I will say that I am fine with the battle system, the world map and lack of partners--if they wanted to try it that way, that's cool. I played through Riviera: The Promised Land, which had a similar system for battling and dear god this is much more managable than Riviera's item system. The graphics and sound I completely agree with--this is the most beautiful game of the year(and anyone who plays this without the 3d is missing out), and the best-sounding one also.
However, the thing that kills me is how white-washed the game is, and how paradoxical it makes the game feel. Need I say that this is the game that actively punishes you for battling. You can talk about how the game stresses efficiency and effectiveness, but when the best strategy is to walk right past them or, if you're somehow dragged into battle, that running is the most cost-efficient option is a complete failure. Bosses felt cheapened because you could run from them, and they were just large mooks--none of them ever felt, you know, like bosses. Let's take the first boss fight of the first Paper Mario and Sticker Star--they're pretty similar. First off, the Koopa Bros taunt you throughout the chapter, popping up in Toad Town to hinder your progress and generally bumbling around to mess with you. In Sticker Star, the chapter is just walking through the field, setting you up to fight Bowser JR, then what? You get to this big castle(which, I should mention, consists of all of 5 rooms), and bam! This random fucking Goomba horde. There is nothing about the boss that makes him interesting. He doesn't say anything interesting. He is just a random mook. While the Koopa Bros had mook qualities, it sets them up to be an antagonist, doesn't play bait-and-switch with an actually interesting antagonist, and proceed to be funny. The boss fights themselves also both introduce new ways of fighting, but where the Shiny Goomba's puzzle elements and abilities simply are "hey, did you find this sticker and bring it?", the Koopa Bros involved destroying the Bowser Mech, then figuring out how to knock them out of their stack for maximum damage--a far more interesting task than casting one spell and winning. I could repeat this point for all of the bosses in Sticker Star--they're glorified puzzles.
However, that is the game's one redeeming grace gameplay-wise: the puzzles are inventive and great. I was genuinely stumped for a while at some parts(Drybake Stadium, fuck you), and you seriously have to put some lateral thinking skills to use. The levels that push the puzzle-solving part of the game are consistently the best levels(the Enigmansion comes to mind). My only problem is that the game often leads you on, allowing you to solve puzzles and find all these secret paths which you think are optional. Needless to find out, nearly every single one is not optional and is necessary for the completion of the game. While some might find this a good thing, I felt like it cheapened all these experiences where I find something I think is secret, but really wasn't.
However, viewing it as an adventure game brings in a different set of problems. Adventure games run off their ability to have a clear, consistent reason for playing. Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, Walking Dead, they all have good stories and dialogue. Paper Mario has none of that. I mean, the decision to make Bowser completely mute, then not have him doing anything at all is dumb. In previous Paper Marios(and Mario & Luigi, for that matter), Bowser had an identity--a sort of bumbling idiot who, when he put his mind to it, could get shit done. Even when he was the primary antagonist in Paper Mario 1, he was likable and generally painted as sympathetic. This game goes against all of that characterization, putting him more in-line with the NSMB games than the series he's actually in.
The other characters don't fare any better. Kamek is reduced to, like, two scenes, and does the same joke both times. It was funny once. Bowser Jr is the other villain to get any lines, and he is just a boring fuck. Then we come to the final main character(who isn't mute)--Kersti. And she's the least likable of the bunch. Here's a transcript of most scenes between Kersti and a villain.
Bowser Jr: Ha ha ha ha! You'll never beat us, Mario.
Kersti: Oooh, I hate you so much!
Bowser Jr: See our power? Watch as I remove this part of the environment for you to go chase down!
Kersti: You jerk! Watch as I make a sassy comment, this is characterization!
Bowser Jr: I'm outta here! Smell ya later!
Kersti: I hate that guy! Better go find that part.
Let's just say that when the character's defining moment is calling someone a hipster that you've failed in your humor. In general, she serves as the game's navigation fairy, but her hints are next to worthless most of the time, so very similar to Navi I didn't care an inkling for her. Which, when she ends up sacrificing herself to beat Bowser, I found it ridiculous Mario cared enough about her to bring her back.
The dev team said that, since they couldn't introduce many new characters, they made the toads the star of the show. Here's a hint: they didn't. If anything, the older game's toads had more personality--between all the punny names(Tayce T. the cook, Fice T. guard of the woods, Vanna T. game show assistant) and they're general quirky lines, they had more distinguished personality, more lines of dialogue, and--what I find most hilarious--they weren't pallette swaps of each other. Seriously, almost every toad in PMSS has the same sprite. For a game that relies on toads that much, it's a shame.
In all, I was left wanting more. The game is technically fine, and the puzzles carried me through to the end of the game, but the game just had no soul. It's such a shame, too, because in a few moments you can see the old Paper Mario through the cracks--Enigmansion, as mentioned before, is probably the single best level in the game, Sniffit or Whiffit, too, brought back memories of the older games, or when you got the Goat sticker, but those are fleeting moments and, if anything, make me bemoan Sticker Star's fate all the more.
