I'm sure there are many of you out there who immediately scoffed at the idea behind this game (I should know, I was one of them).  What was perhaps the worst kept secret in the industry sounded like there was no way it could possibly be good, but with a surprisingly good looking E3 demonstration, I found myself taken aback by this game.  So! Having the chance to try it out at Nintendo's post E3 event, does it play as well as it demoed on Treehouse Live then?

I'm delighted to say that it does indeed! 

#It'sActuallyGood #WhatATwist #Joke'sOnYou

The demo I played is the same one from E3, so you're likely to be familiar with how it plays out, but just in case you aren't, it's best compared with the Xcom series of turn based strategy games, or the surprisingly good Ghost Recon Shadow Wars on 3DS (I was actually told that much of the staff that worked on the latter also worked on this game, so that explains the connection there).  

Mario and co battle on a series of grid based maps, with a variety of weapons and special moves in tow.  It's a turn based strategy game where the goal is generally to clear the stage of foes before carrying on with your morning constitutional.  You move characters to and from cover and can attack as many times a turn as the number of moves a character has equipped.

Each character has their own sets of special moves and unique attributes as you might expect, but all the characters in the demo generally move about in a similar way.  They all also have access to a Super Jump move where they put their leg days in the gym to good use by teaming up to hurl each other around the battlefield, allowing you to get behind enemies and up and over obstacles to gain that oh so sweet tactical advantage.  It's easy to pick up and promises a lot of depth from what I played. 

Well he's spent his entire life jumping for a living...

During my time with the demo, I came across some pretty varied encounters, including a particularly cool one involving a rogue Chain Chomp invading the battle who would attack the nearest character for huge damage, be it friend or foe... So your best bet here is to try to lure the tougher enemies in front of it and then ditch him by Super Jumping to the other side of the map; the good ol' bait and Switch (#sorrynotsorry).  

Enemy variety also seems plentiful, with every battle in the demo introducing at least one type of rabbid that has its own unique attributes and gimmicks, it's looking mighty promising in the gameplay depth department.

The Best kind of leak, Ubisoft did my job for me!

Fans of the genre will be glad to know that there are also options here that let you speed up the animations in battle; which will no doubt come in handy in the later stages which will go on much longer, this option is much appreciated by yours truly.

Speaking of animations, it's a really great looking game.  The visuals are richly detailed, sharp (looks like native 1080p on TV and 720p in handheld mode from what I can tell, with equally solid performance in both modes) and brimming with little touches and details; you'll also find optional little skits in-between battles which are well animated and rather charming. 

Depending on what you're into of course...

Oh and speaking of charming, the music is straight up Kirkhopian.  Ubisoft made the perfect choice of composer as his work here fits the game like a glove, with soft and catchy melodies that fit the light-hearted nature of the game perfectly.  Fans of his previous works will feel right at home here.

It's not often that a game ends up making me do a complete 180, but Ubisoft managed to pull it off! Kudos to you guys! I really enjoyed my time with this one and I’m really looking forward to the final release.  I reckon that this one is really gonna surprise a lot of people when it comes out.