Visually, Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a candy-coated affair that fits right in with the series. There's a cel-shaded quality to the models that reminds me a little of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

W ay back when I used to play Mario & Luigi RPGs on the Nintendo DS, I always got a kick out of how they cleverly blended controls for both Mario and Luigi with button-mapping. As

Brothership adds more RPG depth to the series, but its flat writing and overabundance of gimmicks drag it down.

After linking Rumbla Island to Shipshape Island, Mario and Luigi will be tasked with getting a hammer that could break open the purple capsule that dropped on the beach. Your destination of choice is between Raynforst and Twistee Island,

Legend of the Seven Stars, Mario, and his party members are given typical pieces of armor like cloaks and hats. In the Mario & Luigi series, the two plumbers have always received various overalls to equip.

Brothership has a pretty slow start. It takes a good 20 minutes to get through all of the cutscenes and intro dialogue that sets up Mario and Luigis adventure, but even when you finally get control of the brothers,

One tiny detail was changed for the latest Mario & Luigi game, and only veteran players of the series will notice it. New players miss it altogether.

Mario and Luigi have two different types of weapons they can equip in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. First, the pair can only jump on enemies with a nice pair of boots. Second, they will unlock hammers that they can use to smash enemies into pieces with or rocks while exploring the various islands that they will sail to.

Brothership includes many side quests which develop the world and often lead to comedic cutscenes. However, some of these sidequests have time limits which require the player to drop everything and complete a specific task.