Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS)

This is the latest iteration in the Mario and Luigi series of RPGs for handheld consoles. Like its predecessors, this game is well-designed, a lot of fun to play, and has great writing. It makes some use of the DS' touch-screen and microphone, but is primarily played with the usual control pad and buttons.

The basic idea in this game is that Princess Peach gets kidnapped (no surprise here) and Mario and Luigi need to travel the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond to rescue her. What's new is the fact the player also gets to control Bowser, and for a substantial part of the game Mario and Luigi are shrunk to a small size and actually inside of Bowser! There's a distinct difference in how Bowser and Mario/Luigi fight, which serves to keep the gameplay fresh, and there are many times where what Bowser does influences what Mario and Luigi experience inside of him.

Combat with both Bowser and Mario/Luigi should be familiar to anyone who's played a Mario RPG game before. Battles are turn-based, with carefully timed button presses an integral part of both attacking and defending. Good timing is important, but not too hard to execute with a little bit of attention. An ingenious part of the game design is that different monsters have different cues for when you should defend, so that as you move from one area to another combat remains interesting. Some of the special moves make use of the touch screen, and behave like short mini-games. There are a few minor annoying parts of the game - I found the encounters where Bowser gets super-sized to be difficult to control, and it would be nice if you could just automatically win battles with monsters much weaker than your own, but these problems aren't a big deal.

The look of the game and the sound and music are really great. The game world is brightly colored and well animated, while the music is catchy without being annoying. The game itself is also quite long; you should expect a typical play-through to take somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty to forty hours. There are a few secrets and optional extras to explore after finishing the main storyline, although these are not as involved as what you might find in other RPGs.

This game is one of the best RPGs available on the DS right now, and I highly recommend it for any fan of the genre, or for people interested in seeing what RPGs are like. There is a lot of dialogue and text, so if you're getting this game for a young child make sure he or she is willing to read. As long as you don't expect to find a platformer (heck, even if you expected a platformer), you'll have great fun playing this game.

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I enjoyed the game. Fun storyline, lots of action, good graphics. I spent over 32 hours playing this game before I finished! It's easy to play, so great for anyone.

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i have not play Mario game for a long time,until this comes out. I can't stop from playing it. Great game, Great story....

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