Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Mario and Luigi have shown up in just about every genre of game imaginable, but for one reason or another I have always tend to put my money towards platformers over their forays into RPG territory. That is part of the reason I recently picked up the Mario and Luigi themed 3DS that came prepackaged with this game. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team doesn't rely on the Mario brand to move units - it is a well polished game with a good amount of content (getting through the main story took me just shy of 30 hours).
The gameplay is pretty straight forward, you control both Mario and Luigi together with the A button as the action button for Mario and the B button for Luigi. This dual control can be awkward at times, such as when you go to areas with many ledges and need to jump up with each of the brothers separately, but in general the game controls quite smoothly. The main gameplay "gimmick" is the ability to travel to the dream world, where battles play out differently and many interesting things can happen, particularly starring Luigi, who has a much more significant role is this game than in other Mario titles. The story is humorous and interesting, and it is coupled with great graphics that fit the feel of the game perfectly.
The combat is generally fun, although drawn out at time, and works using a turn based system with real time elements such as tapping a button at the right time for extra damage, or dodging enemy attacks. The brothers can attack by jumping, swinging a hammer, or using powerful "Bro's Attacks" which are unlocked over the course of the game by collecting attack pieces (as with many RPGs, there are many things to collect and obsessive completionists will find plenty to occupy them. The other thing worth mentioning are the dream world bosses. Occasionally a particularly difficult boss would get a little out of hand (see left image), resulting in a need for Luigi to amp things up a bit - these "giant Luigi battles" were easily one of the most fun elements of the game.
My main complaint about Dream Team comes from the pacing - when reading reviews before purchasing this game there were a few comments such as "avoid this game if you're not a fan of tutorials". But I brushed them off, thinking even a really bad tutorial surely couldn't last more than 30 or 45 minutes into the game. That was wrong - I was well over halfway through the game before it stopped trying to hold my hand. Actions that the majority of players will have figured out hours ago are still explained in painstaking detail. Even typing this it sounds like a minor complaint, but it is enough that I hesitate to recommend this game to all but the most patient of gamers. I found I often had to have something else going on while playing because it was just too frustrating sitting through an explanation of a simple concept for the fifth time.
Altogether, Dream Team was a well made game with good graphics, interesting characters, and fun gameplay... with one crippling flaw. So if you're expecting fast paced, stay far far away.