Mario & Luigi really get around, don't they? With the release of Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time, the duo really have been and done everything, as here they're traveling through various periods in time, but not without help. Baby Mario & Baby Luigi make their videogame return, last seen in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! after a lengthy absence. Most consider the original Mario & Luigi for the GBA a classic in a league with no other title on the system - it will be a big task for the DS follow up to compare, but somehow developer AlphaDream have topped it.

Squaresoft's Super Mario RPG for the SNES, to this day, has one of the biggest cult followings around. Whilst Nintendo has not made a direct sequel, there is sort of an unofficial Mario RPG franchise that now has five titles in it. The original Mario RPG, Paper Mario and The Thousand Year Door, and now the Mario & Luigi games. For Partners in Time, the plot once again revolves around Princess Peach, but many new elements have been added. UFOs invade, Bowser is now a prince from the future and there's even a baby Peach. It may get a bit confusing at times, but it's on an epic scale that easily blows away most other Mario titles; even if you don't like the time traveling aspect, it's hard not to adore the humour and fun of the plot.

What's more notable than the plot, is the way it's presented. Like the Paper Mario titles, this game is downright hilarious. Not just the text, but the voiceover sound clips of Mario speaking, which sounds like a Sims language with an overacted Italian accent. There's plenty of well-written text and hundreds of characters to talk to, making this truly an RPG that ranks up there with the best of them and should be at least nominated for writing of the year for a videogame, if not awarded it. It's impossible to get bored with this game, even during huge sections of dialogue.

The gameplay itself is flawless, the only downfall being puzzles that don't exactly boggle the mind. You play as Mario, Luigi, and their baby counterparts by moving the entire group at once with the D-Pad and performing separate actions with the face buttons. Each button corresponds with a specific character. For example, you can split the group up into teams of two for some challenges or just when you see fit; this allows the babies to enter a small pipe and find two switches deep within that only they can access. Outside, you can move Mario & Luigi on the other screen and get them setup on another set of switches, then use the face buttons in a specific order to make each character jump and hit their switch in the right order. This scheme applies throughout the entire game, even in battle.

The battles are traditional turn based affairs with a nice twist. Each action requires you to use the buttons in some way: basic jump attacks challenge you to press jump as each character lands on the enemy, but the special Brother Attacks get even more in-depth. For instance, one move showcases Mario kicking a turtle shell at an enemy, which then heads to Luigi, who kicks it at the enemy again and back to Mario. This continues back and forth and you must press the face button for each character's kick at an increasingly rapid pace for it to continue. If the babies are in your party, things get even more wild, as a baby will ride on the shell and attack the enemy as it makes contact, assuming you push that baby's face button at the right time. This is just one of the many, many attacks in the game and all of them work in this fashion. There's a giant cannon that launches each character at the foes where you have to quickly push the button for every character as they impact, there's a rapid button pressing attack that has every character throwing fireballs and the list goes on - you'll find yourself playing just to see what attacks you'll get next and how you can modify them with the babies involved. Even the enemies' attacks all involve pressing specific buttons to either jump and dodge the move or reverse it on the enemy, usually by hitting them with the hammer as they get close.

Outside battle, the game works as a semi-overhead RPG where you move the characters along a scrolling background in any direction, the way all of the best RPGs are. Partners In Time is full of areas to explore, items to find and even special moves to pull off outside of battle that allow the characters to split up and reach new areas. Using all your moves to full advantage and figuring out how to get each person to the next area is half the fun, and all the varying backgrounds are gorgeous looking and varied enough to keep everything constantly fresh.

Throughout the journey you're accompanied by Stuffwell, a living suitcase (also hilarious) that holds all of your outfits, badges and the various items you need during battle. Each one is equally important; the outfits, while not changing your outside appearance, add a specific effect or ability to whoever wears it and the badges do the same, but to greater effect. Another challenge of Mario & Luigi is deciding who will get which abilities and this becomes even more important when you begin leveling up your characters and having them excel in specific categories. This is especially crucial during the epic boss battles, which play more like endurance rounds as you struggle to stay alive and continually pummel the enemy's weakness while dodging attacks.

Though the game doesn't make use of the touch screen much, it makes use of the two screens to no end, using them both in battle and during the game in genius ways, such as splitting up the teams and controlling them both at the same time on two separate screens. Partners In Time also makes use of the DS's graphical abilities by creating gorgeous looking 2D sprites that are animated flawlessly, full of funny little animations even during the dialogue bits. As I've already mentioned, the sound is also superb and full of quirky details that put it up there in score. Speaking of score, classic Mario fans will adore the remixed versions of the original tunes, all played within context at specific locations.

I'd love nothing more than to talk more about the various attacks and how they're modified in the game by adding babies. I'd love to tell you all about the two villains that always speak in Internet slang (going as far as saying 'lol' in battle), or quote some of the unforgettable lines of dialogue from the game - and I'm dying to go into detail about the various puzzles you'll need to figure out along the way; they might not be hard, but they're certainly memorable and fun to pull off. But it's such a joy to go into the game blind, not knowing exactly what's in store, only to be completely blown away. Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time is the definite RPG for the hardcore fans and the people who hate RPGs. No matter who you are, you should play this game; it belongs in every DS collection and deserves to go down as one of the best handheld games ever created. Great graphics, great sound, great gameplay, absolutely superb writing, hundreds of unique quirks - the whole game is expertly crafted... go buy it. Yes, I mean now!

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).