Rabbids armed to the teeth in a Nintendo galaxy, and it still works.

On gut feeling alone, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope lands right in the middle of the pack. But the detail is far more interesting than that lukewarm number. Connection climbs ahead of two thirds of games, the soundtrack ahead of nearly 80%, and the early votes on rediscovery push it very high, ahead of 85% of titles, though there are so few of them that it needs confirming. Elsewhere it stalls: the desert island collapses to 8%, and the feel in the hands stays low, again on very few votes. There is the tension: you get attached to its cast, you keep its music, but you would not take it alone to an island, and the tactical gesture itself excites nobody.

Against the heavyweights of turn-based tactics, it plays a different game: not strategic dryness, but fantasy, color and unapologetic good humor.

So who is it for? For you if you like tactics that refuse to take themselves seriously, companions you grow fond of, and a soundtrack you replay. Much less so if you want the kind of systemic depth that holds you for weeks.