One of the most common and recurring criticisms of the Super Mario franchise over the last ten years or so has been how stale it's become. Since 2006, there have been five games released in the New Super Mario Bros. sub-series alone. That's just completely unnecessary; the past ten years have also seen the release of the excellent Super Mario Galaxy (and also its direct sequel) and the underrated Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS.
This game - Super Mario 3D World - is clearly a close relative of 3D Land on the 3DS. It's got the same structure and mechanics or the most part. It's also extremely easy in the early going before ramping up its difficulty immensely in the final world (and even more so in the post-game "special" worlds).
I really enjoyed this game. Three green stars are hidden in every level, and finding these is the real challenge of Super Mario 3D World. Blog readers know that with the size of my video game backlog I tend to "hit it and quit it" when it comes to most video games - do the bare minimum to constitute "beating" something and then move on to the next one - but here I made it a point to play every single level and occasionally even replayed levels to find those damn green stars.
This game is also playable as a four-player couch co--op experience, which is a chaotic disaster like every other tornado tag team Super Mario Bros. experience.
Also worth mentioning? Four or five "Captain Toad" levels in which you had to traverse through a three-dimensional puzzle maze of sorts as a toad who can't attack enemies or jump. These levels were an easy highlight of Super Mario 3D World to the point where Nintendo went ahead and made a full standalone game called Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. I am really, really looking forward to playing that game.
Last thing. It seems like every new Super Mario game introduces a new power-up to the Super Mario canon. Some of these stick and some of them don't. The cape feather in Super Mario World, for instance, iconic as it was, has never made an appearance in another Mario game. (And yet it's been a staple of Mario's move set for three Super Smash Bros. games running.) Anyway, this game's power-up? If the cover didn't give it away, it's Cat Mario! He can run fast and claw his enemies and climb walls. I loved it. And maybe even more so, I loved the game's final boss - you guessed it - Cat Bowser.
Great game. Still need to get around to playing Galaxy 2, but this is otherwise easily the best Super Mario game since Galaxy. And that's saying plenty!
I could not disagree with you more.
ReplyDeleteThis game felt unimaginative and really tried my patience. Just another lazy slab on the shit mountain that is shaping to be the Mario franchise these days. Given I haven't played "Mario Marker," which many people seem to love, but I don't think I've been excited for a Mario game since the "Galaxy" series (curious if we'll ever return to that world again?).
Basically this game -- that came bundled with my WiiU -- felt like it was specifically designed for families with little children that didn't have any time to waste regarding honing their skills to pass challenge after challenge. Instead, the game came off as incredibly easy to the point that it was almost pandering to people lacking any skill whatsoever -- thus boring the shit out of me. And if I did ever happen to come pass a challenge that was actually challenging to the point where I may die a few times, one of those super cat suits would appear and gently hold my hand as I beat the stage, afraid that I might fall down and bump my head again.
Not that I'm a purist gamer or anything, but part of the fun and satisfaction I derived from platformers (in particular) was thrill of accomplishment in beating a challenging level all on my lonesome. There's nothing I find more obnoxious then a game spoon feeding me my win even I didn't deserve it. But, hey, if you're hoping to appeal to people of all ages (even toddlers and grandparents), then maybe these are the changes you need to make to ensure no one gets frustrated by a substantial obstacle. And while getting all the "stamps" and "green stars" does add an extra layer difficulty, it still doesn't solve the problem that the game is boring at its core. Even the best spices garnishing a shitty steak can't make the steak anything more than it already is... a piece of shit.
Let me know what you think of "Galaxy 2" when you get around to it. I found that entire "Galaxy" franchise remarkable, completely mind bending, and a decent challenge as it constantly warped my perceptions of perception. Wonder if there will ever be a third installment. Sigh...
Ugh... enough procrastinating. Back to writing. (I'LL BE DONE ONE DAY!)
I hear you (mostly) but here's the thing - Mario games have NEVER been difficult. Whether you're talking NES, N64, Wii, or whatever, Super Mario games have always been on the low-end of the difficulty curve, the type of games that 8-year-olds can get through with a little help from their friends or siblings. And if these newer Mario games feel even easier than the older ones, it's probably because all games have gotten easier (and longer) over the last twenty years or so. I thought the difficulty curve here was perfect in that early on I was almost ashamed to miss a green star or a stamp but by the time I got to the final world I was just happy beating a level without dying ten times. Did you beat this game? Because it got legitimately challenging toward the end - and especially afterward.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you mentioned using the super cat suits. Why would you do that? I never used the super cat suits! I mean you're complaining about the game being far too easy while admitting that whenever it got challenging you took the easy way out. That's like playing a game on the hardest difficulty setting and complaining that it's too hard.
As far as the game being boring goes, this is admittedly subjective, but I thought most of these levels were unique and interesting. I even went out of my way to play every single one, at least in the first eight worlds. And even still this only took like five or six hours to beat. It didn't even last long enough to get stale!
But I definitely agree that Galaxy was a much better game. (Galaxy is legitimately one of my five or ten favorite video games of all time!) Still haven't gotten around to Galaxy 2. One day...
Maaaaaaaay the force be with you, but even though the previous games in the Mario franchise aren't composed of controller-throwing, nerd-rage inducing challenges, they did require significantly more work to beat than this game here. It's a scaled difficulty, I will give you that. Trying to remember the final levels of this Mario game, and I mostly felt like they flew by, but perhaps my memory is betraying me. I played/beat this game well over a year ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd why would I use the that super cat suit? Well it's like going to dinner and being absolutely stuffed and then the waiter tells me dessert is on the house. Sure, I don't need it. And, of course, I'm only going to complain about stomach pain and heartburn I'll get if I do consume it... but who's going to turn it down free shit? Not me!
Last, I really think the "boredom" descriptor comes from the fact that I love Galaxy so much and just want Mario to get back up to that benchmark. Alas, what I'm left with is the equivalent playing with Mega Bloks after experiencing the joy of building with Lego. Sure, you can still build whatever you can imagine with either toy, but one is arguably more depressing to see an full-grown man play with. And for that reason I'm still not allowed back into Meg Bloks store in the Water Tower Place Mall.