Game Completion Double Feature

I finished two games in the past couple days, and I'm not sure they could be further apart from one another in the game spectrum: Paper Mario and Command and Conquer: Kane's Wrath.

Paper Mario is available on the Wii Virtual Console where I've been playing it, but the title originally released for N64 in 2001. Paper Mario was the first in the series, followed with Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on GameCube and Super Paper Mario on the Wii. These two more recent titles are also incredible and you owe it to yourself to check them out.

But Paper Mario itself is an entertaining and adorable adventure RPG. It's 1000 Wii Points ($10) on the Virtual Console, and considering I clocked in over 20 hours of play, that's quite a value.

The gameplay is simple but satisfying: combat is turn-based with action commands that you can use at the right time during a combat sequence to power up your attacks or increase defense. The usual leveling up conventions apply here; you can improve per level HP, FP (flower points, used for "special" attacks), and BP (badge points, used to equip greater and more flexible badges that increase your attack types or recharge energy or whatever). The game also doesn't take itself very seriously, there is a lot of humor and it even makes light of the usual role-playing concepts of the silent hero, rescuing the princess, etc.

I had a ton of fun with the game even seven years after the fact. Now that I've completed all the Paper Mario games, I don't know where I'll turn next! Oh yes I do, Okami.

Command and Conquer: Kane's Wrath is another story. While I really liked the missions that individually make up the game, it doesn't feel cohesive. It can't really be named a campaign. It's more like the missions from the Red Alert Aftermath, in fact the whole game is like that -- rather than a comprehensive add-on it introduces new units, stand-alone missions, and new game modes. I like Kane's Wrath as a whole, but trying to call it anything more than supporting material is a stretch.

I love going from wildly different game types. The slow, story-driven pace of the witty Paper Mario is a great contrast to the frenetic action of the fast-paced RTS of Kane's Wrath. Now I'll have to move back to the deeply strategic Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and possibly pick up the action-adventure Okami. Oh and don't forget the wacky Mario Kart Wii comes out a week from Sunday!