Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga was fairly popular and successful. And soon after the Nintendo DS Lite came out; developers asked themselves "How do we follow up this game?" and someone at the back of the room said "Well, how about babies?" A silence came across the room. One of them slowly clapped, and others joined in until the whole room bursted with applause...
Mario & Luigi Partners In Time is the second game in the Mario & Luigi series. It's similar to it's predecessor, and very different as well. How does it hold up? Is it worth playing? Well let me give my thoughts on that subject.

Graphics: 8/10

These graphics look pretty good! They are a definite improvement to Superstar Saga's graphics. The animations each versions of the bros have are smooth and fluid. The bros themselves look really nice. And they have two versions of a lot of actions such as jumping, or walking, and fighting depending on whether or not the Baby Bros are with you or not. Then when the babies are by themselves they have their own different animations. If anything, the way their hats bobble around when they walk is so adorable...(Not to mention the best use of jiggle physics since Luigi's Mansion)
The NPC's look nice as well. Their animations (if any) are fluid as well. And all the enemies look impressive too. Although there are a few instances where enemies are just recolors.

The backgrounds and locations you visit look really good too. They are all interesting to look at, and really leave an impression on you. They all fit the atmosphere set by the story pretty well. With that being said; there is a lot of rubble and destruction here. Probably moreso than any other Mario & Luigi game. Or any Mario game for that matter. A lot of charred broken walls, caved in buildings, things like that. But you also have bright and vividly colored Shroob bases, and the peaceful Peach's Castle. It all leads to a fantastic visual experience, the kind you'd expect from Mario & Luigi.

Sound: 8/10

The game's music is really nice! I still have a few themes stuck in my head. All the game's music fits each location perfectly. With odd tones of the usual happy music, mixed with some more....dire and serious sounding tracks. There are lots of mood shifts when you hear the music of new locations. Once you reach HollyJolly Village you'll start to see what I mean. But there are quite a few upbeat tracks like Gritzy Desert, Yoshi's Island, or even Peach's Castle. The boss, and normal battle themes here are actually some of my favorite tracks, and battle themes from any Mario & Luigi games!
This game is REALLY underrated, especially in the music department. If you took a listen to some of the music I guarantee you'll have a craving to try the game out for yourself!

The sound effects are pretty short, crisp, and clear too. There's minimal voice acting in here. But it leads to some pretty funny moments with the Bros speaking gibberish. They also say "Let's-a-go!" before every battle, which is something you grow to never get tired of.
The Shroobs, Bowser, Peach, and I think a few others have voice clips as well. But I don't feel like reviewing each one.

Addictiveness: 7/10

This is one of those games that you'll have trouble putting down. Especially during the first playthrough! It's a whole lot of fun, and I wanted to keep going to see what would happen next. Although others may not find this game as addictive as I did. I personally found it to be highly addictive. And one of the few games I've replayed and enjoyed as much as the first time.

Story: 9/10

Now this story is actually pretty interesting. It actually has some really good spoilerish parts to it.

Professor E.Gadd has invented a real working time machine! And a robotic suitcase that can think and talk for itself. But anyway, Peach has volunteered be the first one to travel through time! She hops into a capsule and is whisked into the Mushroom Kingdom of the past. Moments later her capsule returns...Battered, charred, and broken. A terrified group of Mario, Luigi, E.Gadd, and Toadsworth pry it open to see if the Princess is safe. She's nowhere to be found! And a terrifying monster is inside! Also, all over the castle rifts in time are opening up. Needless to say things are...not good.
Meanwhile in an ambiguous number of years in the past; Baby Mario and Luigi are on a playdate with Baby Peach. How adorable...Until Baby Bowser crashes the party! And to make things worse, UFO's have been spotted. And have started firing on the castle! Luckily (and conveniently enough) a time portal opens long enough for Toadsworth, and the babies to escape into....The future? Good gosh! Toadsworth got old! And the babies are grown and....there's some flaming hunk of metal and a collapsed monster. And so our adventure begins!

I gotta hand it to them, this game's story is creative and charming.  All while being exciting, and having some pretty dark moments to it as well. There are a lot of times where the game snaps back and forth between the two. But it remains enjoyable through it all.

Depth: 5/10

There's not TOO much depth here. There's just a somewhat long story. And one hidden area you can explore. Needless to say, the levels are pretty big. But you just won't have much extra to explore. Because more often than not; every area has something you'll need to do, or come back to. Basically, all the points this game gets are for how big it was.

Difficulty: 7/10

There's nothing TOO bad difficulty-wise. But the thing is, it's REALLY easy to get underlevel. And if you're underlevel...oh boy. You're in for a storm! The enemies get a sudden rise in everything with each new area. If you fight every enemy you see; you'll be fine. Things will be kind of easy, but not TOO easy. But if you're underlevel; expect fights to last for about 10 turns. And as for the bosses, you'll spend a good chunk of time with them. Like, seriously, 30 minutes on my worst run (Although that time I only used a few Bros items...). So do yourself a favor and fight any enemies you come across!

The controls are tight and responsive. In Mario & Luigi fashion; the controls are simple to learn. Mario uses the A button, Luigi uses the B button. But to make things twice as dynamic...Baby Mario uses the X button, and Baby Luigi uses the Y button! Put it all together to make the biggest party, most effort-inducing Bros Attacks, and most inputs in a Mario & Luigi game! Although that may sound intimidating, it's a LOT easier done than said. Trust me on this one. Plus all these buttons are all right next to each other.

Overall this game is fun, interesting, and one of my favorite games for the DS.  And I'd even say story-wise, this game rivals Super Paper Mario in terms of dark moments and seriousness. But in true Mario & Luigi fashion, there are plenty of silly moments too. If you're thinking about getting it on the DS, or the Eshop, I say it's
worth a try! It's a game that I always enjoyed. And I'm sure anyone else
would too.

Overall: 8.6/10

I used to own this game on the DS, then I sold it after I beat it... It was one of the biggest mistakes I made. I bought it on the Eshop last week so I've been able to enjoy it again.

Anyways, this is a great review. You did a great job with adding lots of details and I think that you did excellent with explaining the reasoning behind the scores you gave each category. I agree with what you said about Partners in Time. Great job!

This game sounds like it could be pretty funny, just like every Mario & Luigi game It also has a really interesting story. It isn't boring like most time-travel stories I've seen or read.

The title of this review got me interested right off the bat, and then the introduction got me even more interested! You did a great job with this review, describing everything very well and making me learn a lot about the game. Keep it up!

By the way it's funny reading a review of yours with that layout on. XD

I do enjoy these Mario and Luigi games, but it seems that the further the series goes on, the easier the games get. To the point where the last 3DS version was so easy....I mean they hold your hand through the ENTIRE GAME. Almost like the whole game is part tutorial. I know games in general are going this route, but it's getting pretty lame IMHO.

As far as the review goes, good work. I look forward to reading more of your reviews in the future.

Wow, now THAT is an excellent review. Good structure, lots of details AND comparisons with previous games. It's especially important when the game is a sequel.

I'm curious: were you at the staff meeting when the idea got around?