Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story was released in 2009 for the Nintendo DS, and is the 3rd game in the Mario & Luigi series of games. It takes place after Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, as it should. Many people regard this game as the best game in the Mario & Luigi series. Are they right? Should you play this? This review will hopefully answer both of those questions along with any other questions you may have.
Graphics - 9The graphics in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story are magnificent. This is the most beautiful looking game in the series, in my opinion, and it's not even the newest installment. The scenery of every single area just looks fantastic, and so do the sprites most of the time. The only con to the graphics that I can remember there being is that it sometimes looks a little bit too pixelated, more than it should be for DS standards. However, this is very rare to notice and most of the time the graphics are simply fantastic.
Sound - 10This series is known for having some pretty amazing tracks and sound effects, and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is no exception. This game includes the very well known final boss music titled In The Final, and rightfully so. It is an amazing track, and so is almost every other track contained within this game. The sound effects are very enjoyable to listen to, just like with the other entries in the series.
Addictiveness - 9Mario & Luigi games are always fun to play, and this game just happens to be the most fun of the bunch, in my opinion. Even when I have basically 100 percented the game, I still find myself coming back to it to just mess around with whatever I find, and I never get tired of it. The battle system is fun, both with Bowser and Mario & Luigi. The fact that you get to play as Bowser in the first place is what makes this game the most fun, in my opinion.
Story - 10Now, I haven't played much of Dream Team or Paper Jam, but I have played the rest of the entries in the series. And the story in this one is better than the story in the previous two games. The Mushroom Kingdom has seen a sudden outbreak of an infection known as the blorbs, which makes the residents huge and puffy. Meanwhile, Bowser eats a mysterious mushroom from Fawful, who tricked Bowser into eating it and as a result, Mario and the gang were sucked into Bowser's insides. Gross. The plot thickens significantly as the game progresses, and the final boss fight along with the main villain of this entry, Fawful, is what makes this story my favorite of the bunch.
Depth - 8Since this is an RPG game, there's going to be a ton of stuff to do. After you beat the game, you can do many different things, such as explore around the world map and uncovering new secrets that you might have missed on your first playthrough. You can go looking for any treasures you might have missed. There's even a sort of challenge mode where you can fight all the bosses, but the bosses are all stronger this time. Besides all of that, there's not much else to do rather than mess around, which kind of disappointed me, but since the game is addicting, I guess I can let it slide.
Difficulty - 8Being an RPG, difficulty varies depending on your stats. For me, the game was mostly fairly tame until the first Giant Bowser fight. For some reason, those fights were always the hardest to me. ESPECIALLY THAT STUPID TRAIN. I never want to have to fight that train again. A lot of the bosses will kill you at least once, and you may need to practice more to defeat them. However, besides the train fight, the battles aren't unfair. Once you reach Peach's Castle, you will notice a huge spike in difficulty, but other than that, you will be fine as long as your stats are good.
Overall - 9.2Like I said, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story happens to be my favorite entry in the Mario & Luigi series, for multiple reasons. When this game first came out, I didn't have the money to buy it, so I couldn't get it. Luckily, a friend of mine at school let me try the game for about 30 minutes, and that's when I knew I HAD to get this game, and I eventually got it, and I loved it. I recommend this game for anyone who enjoys Mario RPG's.