"The 1000 year wait brings forth a new millennia to this Paper Land" 1000 years, something that not many of us can picture as being significant to our life but; it meant that fate of the entire world to the inhabitants of a once peaceful & great town, everyone was happy living there that is until...out of nowhere a devastating tragedy had occurred. Storms unlike anyone had ever seen before, waves bigger than anything Poseidon would dare think of creating, and quakes that seemed would last for all eternity. Within only a few hours this wonderful land was shredded into the ruins of the planet earth, many many years later however; a new land was built upon its remains and its history was shared which many regard as a legend holding a treasure like no one could imagine. Is there any truth to these stories or were they all lies to deceive us from the sheer horrid truth? ....! hey we just received a letter *Opens 3DS* "Hey Sonic57, it seems we may have found a map related to the stories from 1000 years before come visit me in the town of Rougeport!"
......It seems like the stories are true I guess we better venture off into the story of this quest, before you the viewer’s endure a 1000 year wait.
Graphics: 8 out of 10
If you remember my Paper Mario review I did on this same exact month last year then you’ll remember that since I told you the viewers that the game has paper like graphics (obviously like one would expect from the title) meaning that it obviously won’t look superior to other games on the system however with how interactive the backgrounds are & how much the graphics themselves have improved from the N64 version I might even say at some points it does live up to some Gamecube graphic shots. For example when you first enter an area in the game known as the glitz pits the camera will have a nice circle scroll of the audience as you see a fighter on stage pummeling his opponent, or how about when you’re getting ready to depart to an island in the world known as Keelhaul Key and you get a nice shots of your boat as it departs from the dock of Rougeport.
Now there are some towns/area’s that I do enjoy going to every now and then for the scenery alone, one of them being Twilight Town which we can assume straight form the name that it won’t exactly be a peaceful sight at a first glance because it’s just bursting with many different hues of red coloring everywhere and I don’t want this part to sound crude or anything but it’s something that comes to mind and that the sky having a sort of blood red background which like I said I’m not saying this to frighten anyone but that’s seriously how it looks. Secondly, I enjoy boggly wood’s colorful and more so relaxing and calming tone compared to what I just mentioned above...having black trees with white branches mixing together with the multicolored floor and darkish yellow background it really sets up the perfect atmosphere to just lay down & relax while looking up at the night sky. I have to say that this game even though it is heavily based on paper graphics it’s still one of the most beautiful games I’ve played so even though it may not look as great as Twilight Princess I still think that a 8 out of 10 is a well received score for this section.
Sound: 10 out of 10
This without a doubt has to be at least for me some of the most memorable music on the Gamecube because every single song that is played fits both the story of an area and like I described above it also compliments the scenery. For one example I’ll used an area I described above that being the Boggly Woods map which has a relaxing but interesting tone at the same time since the land looks so different from really any other place in the game, and the music if I want to put into words basically like if you were in a child body again and how you’d usually ask to hold your mom or fathers hand which gave you a nice sense of security to help put you at ease and make you smile...not only that but (and this is just my opinion based on listening to the music again) at certain points in the theme you’ll notice a sound similar to leaves on a tree blowing around because of the wind which only add more to the beauty of this place. Another example I’d like to give is a character known as Grubba the manager of glitz pits a championship arena town located in the high sky town of Glitzville and already once you first talk to him you know that his theme seems a little off-putting for someone of his position. What is mean is that have you ever sense a dangerous intent or look from anyone or any character before...if so then you’ll probably get the same feeling from meeting this wacky fella.
Now finally the last thing we must bring up is the sound effects for this game which I believe have been improved a lot compare to its predecessor as when you break blocks in this game it’s kind of more realistic to what you’d normally hear in daily life and for moves like Kooper’s old attack where you’d hit his shell to reach switches in this game our Koopa partner can also hold his shell in place (something that Kooper couldn't’t do) and you get a sound similar to leaving some kind of machinery running for instance if you leave a mixer running or a car engine on you’ll recognize a constant sounding tone that’s how this partner’s attack sounds when he’s continually spinning in one spot, either way I’d say the sound is this game is excellent and I don’t think I could change it even one bit to make it better which means I’m leaving the sound with a perfect 10 out of 10
Addictiveness: 10+ out of 10
Let me just say right now that if you enjoyed the first game in this paper series then you haven’t seen much yet because this game will blow your mind in unimaginable ways with how much it has changed and improved, keeping in mind that you will most likely connect with some characters in the game which only adds more to the replay-ability this game presents you with. In case you’re wondering if you’re partners from the first game will be with you in this one as well, sorry but no that’s not what’s happening however; some of these new partners do have similarities with the older ones either it being their appearances or abilities for example: Goombario does have a partner in this game similar to him in his appearance and abilities. Although for a partner like Vivian she doesn’t look the same as her counterpart but she does have the same vanishing ability so don’t feel too discouraged about having to part with some of your favorite characters as the new ones may also become a new found favorite to you. Also the story is very addictive and far different from before yes Peach is still kidnapped but this time is it truly at the hands of bowser, who knows but we’ll get into more detail about that in its respected section.
I guess this is where we should end this section off....WRRRRONG! There’s still a lot more things to talk about as once you’ve finished doing the main story of the game you can also try finishing the an area known as the pit of 100 trials introduced in this game which as the title suggests you must make it through 100 floors with enemies in 99 of the rooms and a boss at the final room and the enemies get progressively harder throughout the pit...if you’d still like some fun to enjoy in this game then you can also enter the Trouble Center located in the eastern side of Rougeport where you can do tasks for different residents of areas which my require finding someone, delivering an item, or even giving them food to which you can be rewarded with money (usually given) a card used to play different games in the casino (least likely) or an item/special item (moderate change). Either way it’s still the same classic paper Mario fun that you’d expect to have and even more enjoyment awaits you so I’d have to give the special 10+ out of 10 rating for addictiveness.
Story: 10 out of 10
Every town no matter what it is or where it’s located has had some dark history etched into the grains of time laying beneath the residents feet, this town known as Rougeport wasn’t always standing at this same location as a matter of fact the town shouldn't’t have existed so what happened? Well this was only a foundation put together from the survivors of the apocalypse that had occurred several centuries ago, destroying the town and becoming ruins for the foundations. Imagine facing earthquakes that would shatter anyone’s imagination, water tides rushing in and smashing the roots of a town with such a devastating for that one would only expect to hear in stories of ancient Greek gods, and raging storms of thunder catching fire to anything that it comes in contact with...having all this mass chaos being thrown upon the town it became like quicksand and drew itself deeper into the earth never to be seen again or so people had assumed would never have been seen again.
Our hero Mario is called to this town known as Rougeport by none other than our princess in pink Peach stating she’d like to meet at the square of this town, all seems well until the mustache man in red arrives to find not only the princess missing (whom we’d assumed normally that he’s behind the plot) but a strange group of thugs known as the X-Nauts after a heinous fight he meets up with a female Goomba named Goombella. She talks to him about the town and a map which Mario had received in the letter and apparently this map is also what the vile X-Nauts were trying to gain info on from the strange girl Goombella...on the other side of the shoe sole however; we see Peach trapped in a machinery filled room and we’re told that she’s located at the X-Nauts base of operations but what could their leader possibly want with her? So sorry I’m afraid I’ve said enough on this subject as if I tell anymore it may ruin the experience you could gain from picking this game up yourself which I HIGHLY recommend trying if you have the system, because this story is excellent in every way possible which leans me towards giving The Thousand Year Door a 10 out of 10 score of the story!
Depth: 10 out of 10
This is one of the main points that people ask me about when I recommend this game to them and it’s how long it is and if it’s worth the money, I always reassure them that is most certainly is if they’ve enjoyed the previous entry into the now well-known series. For the fact that it has the same amount of chapters as before (8 in total, 9 if you count the prologue) and each one of them is chalked full of things to do inside and they’re also longer than the previous game as well so don’t rush into the game too quickly thinking you will just be able to speed through the chapters on your first try so easily. Each Chapter varies in location and scenery from the normal peaceful town and castle atmosphere of the first chapter to the dark and dangerous feel of Twilight Town or even to the frozen like atmosphere on Fahr Outpost you’ll definitely enjoy walking/running through many unique levels.
Hold It! It may seem like I would end things here to the untrained eyes but there are a few things I want to clarify on for people that do own this game and are confused about something’s for instance, there are many different colors for one partner you’ll receive in chapter 3 and the way you get the color you want depends on how long you have the egg with you basically it goes like this: (Green = 0-6 minutes Red = 6-9 minutes Orange = 9-12 minutes Blue = 12-14 minutes Pink = 14-18 minutes Black = 18-19 minutes White = 19-20 minutes *repeats after time limit for white*). Lastly a lot of people have asked me how to fight the Atomic Boo mini-boss, basically all you have to do is when you release the 100 boo’s as soon as the start attaching to you in order to throw you out do a Spin Attack with your hammer until one boo comes out to talk with you then you’ll be able to fight the Atomic Boo. Anyways I think that about wraps up this section so I’ll leave my score which is another surprising 10 out of 10.
Difficulty: 8 out of 10
Paper Mario can be challenging at times don’t doubt that for a second but there are usually tricks that you can use against your enemies or problems just like in Pokémon, however this game is fair in both its puzzle solving and battle encounters since like before you can chose whether or not to fight an enemy or whether you want to run away from it and not bother getting damaged in a battle. I would actually like to have put a 7 out of 10 for the difficulty but; there is actually one part in particular that many people along with myself know that was hard to figure out at first but once we realized it is was easy and this part is when you have to find a Bomb-omb in the game named General White whom is needed to get to a certain place on Chapter 7 in the game and the only way to find him is to go to the different worlds that the villagers of certain areas tell you, soon enough you’ll come full circle and return to the beginning place of Chapter 7 and find him in a lodge
sleeping.
Usually I might rag on doing these kind of things in games a bit more but looking back on it after playing it so many times I actually quite enjoy it since it gave us a chance to look back at all the places we’ve visited so far and that our journey is coming to an end sooner than we think which is a nice touch but still like I said it was difficult at first so I had to raise the number one level. Other than that this game is pretty fair on how tough it should be with it having fluid controls and everything, the bosses are challenging but not hair ripping either, putting this all into consideration I’d have to say the score that seems perfect at least to me is an 8 out of 10 for difficulty.
Well like all good things this review is at its end just like the town that we’ve arrived in the same town that was destroyed into ruins a long time ago, however we haven’t come to this place in fear but instead we can in determination! It’s time to bring forth our greatest strength and finish the X-Nauts from accomplishing their vile plan, hopefully we can also find out what the legendary treasure is that everyone is so talkative about. But why is it that I can only sense a feel of darkness with a shadowy image laying behind this pathway, is there really any treasure worth finding through these dark corridors or is it that the treasure is actually fact that the treasure and the horror that happened down here one and the same? Who knows but we must march ahead a abandoning all fear because if we retreat then we’ll surely lose and hesitating will also only hurt us even more, looks like it’s down to the end of the wire as this will be a fight for the millennia.....a fight behind a thousand year mystery and a thousand year-door!
(Sonic57/Erick Davis 2014tm)
Graphics
8 Sound
10 Addictive
10 Depth
10 Story
10 Difficulty
8
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