88 points means a brilliant game, and Super Paper Mario is exactly that - brilliant. It's shaped around a remarkable idea that CVG can barely believe no one's thought of before. 2D worlds that aren't actually 2D. With a press of the A Button, the camera swings round for a side-on 3D view - revealing all the platforms and staircases and enemies as the cardboard-thin bits of stand-up scenery they really are, and letting you run behind, around and under things that were previously hidden or in the way.
The first 'wow' moment is a seemingly miles-away 2D background of rolling hills suddenly being exposed as a hump-backed 3D bridge across the back of the level - but there are 100 moments like this to give you the same stomach-lurch you get when you spot the dalmatian in the seemingly random pattern of dots.
