This game classifies as a rare gem in a sea of s#!t known as the Wii's game library.
Let's start with gameplay, because it seems that's where most of the complaining about this game comes from. You see, both of the previous Paper Mario games were RGP's where you had partners with unique abilities, and your team and the enemy took turns beating the s#!t out of each other. Both Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door were great games. Paper Mario was an instant classic, and TTYD is a game of legends that'll probably live on longer than Nintendo will. So, because of the success of TTYD, many people thought the sequel should be more of that and should be RPG style. Well, here's the kicker. Super Paper Mario is a platformer game, with a main focus NOT on partners beating the s#!t out of enemies, but switching your perspective from a 2D style to a 3D style to get through the game. I do not like to agree with the b!#ches, but the gameplay IS the big glowing weakspot of Super Paper Mario, BUT... and this is the kicker... are they going to sit there, and say that the gameplay WASN'T the big glowing weakspot of the other Paper Mario's? Games where you sit perfectly still while the enemy runs up to you to chop your balls off. Granted, you could do a damage dodge move, where some of the damage was negated, and in TTYD, you could use a spin move on physical attackers to negate all of the damage, but it still bags the question. Why just stand there and take the damage? At least in this game, you could avoid the damage if you have the skill.
The game is actually set up like Super Mario Bros. 2, where you get to choose between 4 different characters to use, and sometimes have to use to get through the game. However, the 4 characters aren't unlocked right away, and most of the game is spent with either Mario or Peach... Have fun! Oh, yeah. Luigi is the last character that you get, and he isn't available until the last quarter of the game. What the hell?! You give us a character with almost no story left to use him? Really? That's bulls#!t, and while I'm complaining. The 3D aspect is cool, but it leaves me wondering why the whole game didn't take place in this 3D world, and most of it is 2D. That's probably the biggest dissappointment, because TTYD had good platforming sections in it, and I thought that'd be best to have a platforming game like that, only letting you jump higher to make the more complex jumps. It was pure speculation on my part, but wouldn't that have been more interesting than this Super Mario Bros. style?
The levels themselves are a bit dry, even with the 2D perspective most of the time. However, the actual backrounds and scenarios are interesting. Not always good, mind you. There's a level where you have to break a vase that the boss for that level owns, and she makes you work in a hamster wheel to produce electricity to make 1,000,000 of a currency suspiciously close to rupees. That's funny, but not so funny is how this is done. You have to run on the s#!tty hamster wheel for about 3 minutes, or enough to pay someone to tell you how to get into the better hamster wheel. Once you do that, you get to work in the better hamster wheel for more rupees to pay somebody to give you both the code to a safe in the highest level of the building, AND where to find a hidden ability to get to the safe. Once you break into the safe and steal all of the rupees, then you can just pay the boss with her own money,... which is satisfying as all hell to see her reaction when you fully pay off the bill that she thought was impossible to pay off. Still though. Even if the payoff is worth it, the easiest way to do this is to put a wrench on the button and go amuse yourself while this goes on... You have to amuse yourself WHILE playing a game, which is why your playing the game in the first place. Isn't that like scrambling eggs while a turkey's in the oven? "Turkey's done!" "No, thanks. I'm full." You'd feel like an assh0le doing that to somebody.
However, I really like the gameplay for 3 reasons. #1: Smashing enemies in the head is almost as satisfying as it was in the days of old. #2: It's refreshing to get away from the RPG style of the first two, and #3: It seems alot like the platforming sections from TTYD. When I originally played through those parts, I asked, "Why can't we have a game like this?" Now, there is.
A quick little aside for the design. This is an area where the game suffers somewhat. The other two had redured shapes like Pintas, or Shy Guys as townsfolk, and what does this game have? A pile of Legos have held together with what's apparently magnets. The overall design of the other characters are very phoned in, and obviously not given any thought, but this isn't a big thing. Hell, I don't even mind it too much, because it's not offensive to the eye. It's just not appealing to the eye, and something that I would feel ashamed if I didn't mention.
Now, that I've talked about the gameplay and some of the visuals, I think it's time to talk about the story in this. After all, the other 2 Paper Mario were very strong in this area. It involves the dimension wall collapsing, and Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi get sucked into another dimension by a guy named Count Bleck. Bleck... Even Bernie Madoff is saying that that name is bulls#!t. However, this is explained later. That's something I really love about the story to this game. There's a bunch of dark turns that you really don't expect in a Mario game. Sure, the previous Paper Mario's had a very anarchic sence of humor like where Mario has to become a pro wrestler to get a crystal star, but this one get's dark in a bunch of places, like the chapter where you get sent to the gaming equivalent of hell. Not only is it weird, but it gets dark when you get out. They also didn't sacrifice any of the anarchic humor, like when a super nerd uses a techno interface type thing to flirt with Peach, and you control what she says and can flirt back if you want. There's also a part where you have to get a roll of toilet paper so someone can wipe themselves in the bathroom. I don't want to spoil much, because I'm highly recommending this game, but Count Bleck reminds me of a Tales game villian, and that's a good thing.
To be blunt, this is a f@%king great game. It's almost perfect! This may be an unpopular opinion, and I may lose some happy points for saying this, but this is my favorite of the Paper Mario series. I like this game better than the other 2, simply because I don't mind the platforming in this game, and I think the story is better than the other 2. I beleive that this game got the negative press it got, because nobody gave it a chance simply due to the fact that it wasn't RPG style. Well, I hope that one day, people look back on this game as the classic that it was, and give it the praise it deserves. I recommend this game to virtually anyone who has half of a brain! This is an awesome game, and I know it's funnier if I hate a game, but I wanted to talk about this game, so I did, and now, I'll go back to torturing myself. Just hear my plea and give this game a chance.