Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer: Ubisoft Milan
Publisher: Ubisoft

Ubisoft's "Snowdrop" engine does a good job of emulating the in-house Nintendo technology used in games like "Super Mario 3D World", especially after combined with some nicely done imitative art direction. What this means to the player is that this game looks exactly like a mainline, first-party Mario title. As a relatively early Switch game, the resolution is fairly low, leading to blurry anti-aliased output. The framerate also isn't very stable, and the Flash-like user interface is atrocious. This reviewer also isn't a huge fan of the off-putting "Rabbid" character designs, at large.

Grant Kirkhope, of long-time Rare fame, provides the soundtrack. Unfortunately, as is basically universal with orchestra music, his compositions lose any personality or charm parallel dimension chip or DSP versions of them may have had: it's difficult to remember any of the music more than five seconds after the game is turned off. Sound effects are minimal, and some of them-- such as the strange "whirlwind" noise when enemies are defeated-- don't contextually fit their associated event.

Kingdom Battle plays exactly like the "Xcom" reboots, with a couple of notable exceptions: the in-between combat mission base building is replaced with some light exploration and puzzle solving on an overworld map; and there are some Mario universe-specific attacks, such as the ability to bounce off of players-- for added move distance-- and enemies-- for damage-- alike. The game is much more forgiving than other genre entries, as the random elements are toned down significantly, and there is even a no-penalty option to heal and get a health boost for the entire party before each battle.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is a competent but no-frills "Xcom"-style game, set in the Mario universe. The authenticity of the art direction and the quality of the game balancing makes it feel and play exactly like a first-party Nintendo game. It's not a sort of strategy grand epic, like "Fire Emblem: Three Houses", but more like a light diversion for fans of this style of game.