MARIO & LUIGI: Dream Team Bros.

The Nintendo Super Mario universe keeps on expanding.  But not always for the better.

While this incorporates a combo of Mario and his brother Luigi on screen at the same time for a single player (with buttons assigned to each), it drops the ball for me by opting for a boring turn-based fighting method when coming into physical contact with a foe (I've never understood how anyone could tolerate this gaming style, as in popular titles like Final Fantasy - a far too passive method). 

In this installment Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi are invited to an island resort by Dr Snoozemore.  Luigi keeps falling asleep (which is vital to the whole game's motivation).  This resort seems a little suspicious as guest games and tasks get a bit too dangerous for comfort.  Exploring the island's various locations the tale and motivations unfold, but not soon enough. 

When Mario gets sucked into Luigi's dreamworld where the missions continue, the dream moments can get trippy and the 3D screen effect really adds a far-out dimension - but it doesn't last long.  

Laborious introductory scenes and miles of speech bubbles to read will have people lose interest very quickly before the game even gets started (with not much happening after about an hour's worth of exposition, set-ups and explanation to get to the nitty-gritty). 
Thus far, my least favorite Mario game - give me the original 8-bit platform game over this any day!

2 / C
- Paul Blom