Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Review – Refining The Formula

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle 2017 proved that naysayers were wrong. It was a cleverly designed tactics game that seamlessly blends two distinct franchises. Sparks of Hope is now the sequel to this game. It must not only live up but dispel any doubts. Ubisoft Milan achieves this feat by going back to the drawing board and reworking their template. This creates a dynamic, more fluid experience while still maintaining strategic depth. Ubisoft has made the core combat more engaging, while also enhancing the other offerings. 

Sparks of Hope plays identically to the last game; you’ll engage in tactical turn-based battles as a squad of Mario icons and their Rabbid doppelgängers. Grid-based movement is no longer possible. Your three-person team can move freely just like in standard third-person games. The game still restricts you to a character’s movement range, but positioning feels more natural and kinetic, expanding your offensive flexibility. 

A perfect turn with a single hero looks something like this. I run towards a foe, and then slide into them to deal damage. To perform a team leap, I return to an ally nearby. I hover to a higher vantage point, activate a hero action such as Peach’s damage-negating shield, and move again. After finding new cover, I use my primary attack to blast another enemy before I’m finally forced to end my turn. The looser structure allows me to get more action out of a turn and makes combat feel more thrilling. Chaining moves, such as launching targets into the range of, say, Mario’s automatic counterattack, adds to this satisfaction. 

Sometimes, the colorful stage designs incorporate real-time elements to make this a truly unique experience. A winter stage has wind gusts timed to blow participants off their course. This is avoided by running at the correct times and not following a strict turn order. If one enemy dies, I immediately flee the blast radius. This is done in real-time. Sparks of Hope is able to change its goals often enough to prevent the action becoming too monotonous. I enjoy battling a giant rampaging Wiggler aboard a moving train or shattering dams with bombs to restore a region’s water flow. 

Due to the variety of enemy lists and complex arenas, battles can be very strategic affairs. Your positioning and order of operations are important. Sparks of Hope presents enough challenges that poor planning could lead to an embarrassing team wipe. This time, however, you have the help of Sparks: hybrids of Rabbids and Super Mario Galaxy’s Lumas. This allows you to equip these creatures to become heroes and gives them a range of abilities and perks like adding fire or ice to their attacks. Others sparks attract or repel foes and disrupt enemy formations. My favorite temporarily renders characters invisible. Sparks with the most power unleash powerful attacks, like a meteor shower. You can increase the abilities of your Sparks by feeding star bits to them. 

Each hero can have two Sparks which makes them more flexible as an individual, and leads to more balanced teams. It is great that Rabbid Luigi can handle shock- and frost attack-weakened foes on his own. It was a great experience to be able to switch Sparks due enemy weaknesses. This prevented me from being complacent and allowing me the freedom of not sticking with the same team or loadout. 

It’s also great that party building allows for any combination of heroes, ditching Kingdom Battle’s restriction of only using Mario and at least one Rabbid. Since heroes have inherent specialties – Luigi is a long-ranged sniper, Rabbid Peach serves as a healer, and Rabbid Mario doles up-close physical damage, for example – assembling squads feels more interesting since I can mix things up better. Skill trees are a way for heroes to improve and enhance their moves. They can be respec’d at any moment, giving them more freedom in choosing the talents that they want to bring to every fight. 

Bowser and Rabbid Rosalina join the fray, as does Edge, who is a tough-as nails Rabbid. These new additions feel great. Edge is my favourite because of the damage she does by using her whipping blade to cut through targets. Bowser is a devastating tank, able to obliterate large groups of people and cover vast terrain with his Bow-zooka launcher. Rabbid Rosalina’s lackadaisical personality is amusing, but I often struggle to find a spot for her. She conjures debilitating effects that hinder or outright stop foes in their tracks, but her machine-gun-like doll doesn’t feel like it satisfies a particular need.

Extensive exploration of the overworld adds engagement to games beyond the battlefield. Multiple themed planets, such as a tropical beach or a mechanic’s junkyard, are packed with sidequests, puzzles, and secrets. I like that I’m not required to complete quests to progress. You’re free to mainline the sizable critical path, and you’ll largely remain appropriately leveled. But if you do, you’ll miss out on earning planet coins (native currency unlocking special keys, weapon skins, and more), useful combat items like POW blocks, and more Sparks. You might be asked to help a DJ locate his lost records or solve a series puzzles for an enthusiastic explorer. Or chase and catch fish in a minigame. These missions aren’t the deepest, and I wish some had more variety; expect to fulfill the same “kill X-amount of X-enemy type” task on each world. But they’re enjoyable enough and can be welcome breaks from constant battling. 

My robotic friend Beep-0 is my favorite robot companion. I love upgrading her with new capabilities that unlock unreachable areas. As I progressed, I gained a sonic pulse that can move and shatter blocks as well as a special light to reveal hidden paths and treasures. These abilities give Sparks of Hope’s worlds a light Metroid feel in that I regularly revisited destinations to unlock new zones. It’s also entertaining to solve environmental puzzles.

This delightful collection includes a charming, but uneventful story about how to stop a dark cosmic force from devouring the galaxy. Like the best sequels, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope builds upon Kingdom Battle’s foundation with smart tweaks and fun additions to emerge as a better game in every way.