Parent's Guide: Paper Mario: Sticker Star - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is a new game in the Paper Mario series of role playing games, but is one that does things a little bit differently. The story here begins when a Sticker Comet falls from the skies, and the dastardly Bowser attempts to steal it. Putting up a fight, the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom attempt to put a stop to Bowser's plans, but it all ends in disaster when Bowser falls and shatters the Sticker Comet, scattering pieces across the land. As the hero, Mario, it's up to you to explore the game's levels, find the pieces, and restore the Comet to its former glory.

Split into bite-sized levels to make it more suitable for handheld play, Paper Mario is rather different to the Mario platform games like New Super Mario Bros, as it instead mixes exploration with turn-based battles, like those found in Pokemon. While most of your child's time will be spent wandering around each of the levels, trying to figure out how to get to the end and retrieve the sticker fragment, from time to time, they'll come under attack by one of the enemies who wonder the level, which causes the game to transition into a turn-based battle. Here, they can use the stickers they've collected whilst exploring the level in order to perform different moves, and see the enemy off. With the battles being turn-based, there's no pressure on the child to be first, or quicker, leaving time to think each move through rather than mash buttons.

Unfortunately, though, Sticker Star is quite light on much in the way of tutorials or explanations, meaning younger children may sometimes find themselves not sure where to go next, or quite what they're meant to be doing. There are also a few elements that younger children may struggle with, such as the fact that the stickers you collect in the levels, and that you then use as moves in the battles, are single use only. Should you not collect enough stickers as you explore the levels (they are usually plastered around quite generously), or simply get into a lot of battles, it's entirely possible to run out of stickers altogether. Although the game will then gradually give you some additional, basic stickers, it does make difficult battles - such as boss fights, a lot harder if you haven't managed your stickers correctly. Older children should have no trouble with this, but it's something smaller children may initially trip up on, until they've got the hang of it.

For Paper Mario: Sticker Star, being a confident reader would also be a plus. With no voice acting, it's a game that requires a reasonable reading ability to be able to understand where to go next, and what to do (skipping over the conversations will leave you completely stumped), although with witty writing, and a reliance on short sentences and fairly simple words, it could be a good place for younger readers who are looking to grow more confident. Sample sentences include "Wow, you've got skills. You peeled it off without tearing my head!" and "That snide little broom-riding, thick-ugly-glasses-wearing-hipster!"

As a Mario game, there's little for parents to be concerned about in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. There's no bad language, and obviously no sexual content, and any violence there is is mostly of the slapstick, cartoon variety that's a lot tamer than what you see on Tom and Jerry. Attacks Mario can choose from including throwing a fireball (which simply bounces past the enemy, either leaving a brief flame, or turning them burnt black), jumping on them (which slightly creases them), or hitting them with a hammer (with the same effect as above). With every character being made out of paper, some attacks take advantage of this, such as the scissors, which can chop an enemy into pieces, but as they're made out of paper, it's thoroughly unrealistic, and not at all of concern.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS