I talked a little bit about this before, but I wanted to go more in depth on my initial excitement over this game and eventual disappointment. That's right, disappointment. I just beat this game. This is a pretty major feat for me as I've only finished two other Mario Bros games. Those being SMB3 and Super Mario World. Those two I didn't beat until I got them a couple of years ago on the GB Advance.
Back to New Super Mario Bros., or NSMB as I'm going to call it for the rest of this. First is the most obvious problem: it was way too easy. I mean so easy that this game cannot be helping Nintendo's image at all. They're trying to make game fun again or whatever, but one of the biggest hurdles for doing that is making games everyone can play while keeping something there for the "hardcore" gamers. This game doesn't seem to have anything for the hardcore besides the nostalgia factor. I've finished almost every single level of this game in under 2 weeks. I was still playing SMW for over a year after I got it and never finished every extra level of the game.
NSMB doesn't even look like there are extras, just what it shows on the main map. The only real extra is that two of the worlds have a branching path after them. So you either beat World 2 and go to World 3 or 4. Same with World 5; you beat it and go to either World 6 or 7. You don't ever have to go back through those worlds and there is nothing extra for you if you do. Also, the way you do it is very basic and obvious. In World 2, for instance, you get a mini-mushroom near the end. If you keep that and beat the last guy with it you automatically go to one world. If you lose the mini-mushroom you go to the other. That's it. Only difference. Most of the "secrets" in the game are like that.
The levels themselves are generally too easy also. They usually give you a ton of time, up to 500 seconds for levels that often take less than 300. I think I remember once that I felt rushed for time on a level. The level design is creative and it's still a fun game, I just finished a lot of the levels with a "That's it?" kind of feeling. Oh, and you get extra lives like crazy. I think by the time I finished the second world I had over 30 lives saved up.
Now, I will admit that later on some of the levels were pretty difficult and a couple times I spent 10+ lives getting through a single level, but even those usually were just one spot on the level and the rest of it I pretty much ran through. Frankly this game felt like more of an old Sonic game than a Mario game, with as much time as I spent just running through levels without really worrying about enemies or the layout of the level itself.
Another problem I had was the new power-ups. This was a major problem for me. There were 3 new power-ups for the game. A Super Mushroom, a Mini Mushroom, and a Blue Shell.
The Super was cool. It made Mario into an almost screen sized giant. He smashes through anything standing in his way except for the terrain. That was the only real problem I had with the super mushroom. If you used it in an area that was too small he would just immediately shrink again and it was wasted. I remember a couple times when I thought I had room and wasted the power-up when it turned out to be too small of an area.
The Mini Mushroom shrinks you and also makes you fall really slowly. Think Luigi in SMB2. Kinda. Not nearly as cool and worthless in most cases. You're just as vulnerable and if you're not paying attention the slow falling can get you in trouble.
The Blue Shell I hated. It gave you the ability to spin around like one of the shells in the game with you kick them. You also move as fast as those shells. Sounds cool, but in function is worthless. If you start running it automatically kicks you into this mode and makes timing jumps almost impossible. I think every time I got this thing I ended up falling down a hole I should have had no problems jumping. This probably would have been better if I'd had the chance to practice with it, but you get the thing so rarely that I never was able to get used to it.
I think the biggest problem with these power-ups was that they generally didn't matter. With other Mario games the power-ups were integral parts of the levels. You got the frog suit before water levels and it helped you swim. You got the ability to fly before a part where you needed to fly to help get through the level. Yeah, you could do the levels without it, but it sure was nice to have them. The power-ups in this game, besides the basic Big Mushroom and Fire Flower, didn't do anything to enhance the game itself. The only one that came even close was the mini-mushroom and that was only a couple times, and even then it wasn't really a real help to the level besides when you go to one world or the other. Basically there was no reason to get these power-ups. If you didn't get them, it didn't hurt you any.
Another new feature in this game is new only to the 2D versions of Mario. He's got a couple moves from the 3D versions that come in handy. The Butt-Stomp helps kill the bad guys and breaks bricks below you so you can sometimes get to items or parts of the level underneath. It's useful and rarely gets in the way, no problems there.
Another move is the wall jump. This move lets you jump off a wall to get more height. It's also useful. I can think of a couple times when I fell down the side of a pipe and was able to wall jump back up into safety. Also there are a few times when you need it to get to extra stuff or a quicker way through a level. The problem is this move sometimes goes off when you don't want it to. If you are, for instance, standing on a short ledge needing to jump up the wall beside it. You jump with the button pressed to the right and hold the jump button down to get maximum height, of course. Unfortunately this can set off the wall jump, making you jump backwards off the wall and towards the hole behind you. This gets annoying. One of those times I died 10+ times on a single level was simply because of this bug.
So there you have it. Definately not a perfect game. Despite all that it's pretty fun. I will try to go back through and complete all the levels. If I don't find anything extra on my own I might just go look at gamefaqs.com and see if there's something I'm missing, but I kinda doubt it. I'd give it a 7/10 if I were to rate it, I think. It's fun, but not nearly as good as the older games in the series. Maybe this is why they haven't made 2D versions in so long; they forgot how.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Hello Again
Ok, so I've really got to start actually posting. Or something.
I started this thing to be able to write reviews and opinions of stuff. I've got two things I want to write about.
First is the Nintendo DS. I bought one a week ago. At first I kept wanting to call it the Gameboy DS, because all of the previous Nintendo handheld systems had the Gameboy name. Now that I own the thing and have played it, I don't blame them for dropping the Gameboy name. This thing is so far beyond the Gameboy that it deserves it's own legacy, rather than relying on an old established one.
I remember back when they were first talking about releasing this thing. I was really into the PSP at the time. That system is still an amazing piece of hardware. When I saw the stats of the DS compared to it, and the screenshots and types of games, I thought it was a joke. No way was this puny little thing going to stand up to the mighty PSP. Was I ever wrong or what? These things are flying off the shelves and for good reason. It's a great piece of hardware. Not perfect, but about as close to perfect for what it is as you can get.
I was lucky enough to get the black colored version. Looks awesome. I have no problem pulling this thing out and playing it in public, unlike with the old GB Advance. I couldn't play that thing without feeling like a total nerd. This new one just looks so cool and sleek you can't help not liking it. I get people who would never think of owning a Xbox or PS3 asking me about it and thinking it's the coolest thing ever.
Now, I'm just reviewing the hardware here. I've only played two games for it and I was choosy about which two, so I can't say much about the general game quality. Those two games are a lot of fun and, while the 3D graphics aren't as good as the PSP's, they look pretty good too. Especially New Super Mario Bros. Gameplay wise I could have used some more to it, but the graphics are excellent. The 3D effects in the 2D game are well done and fit perfectly. It's never over the top and there are a lot of nice little touches that make it look like this is the way this type of game was meant to be played.
The other game I have is Final Fantasy 3. The real FF3. This game was never released in the US until now. The FF3 that most Americans know was really FF6. Yeah, it's a little complicated. All versions of the original 6 Final Fantasy's have been re-released with minor upgrades and changes except FF3. The really cool thing about this game is they didn't just slap a few changes on and a little bit of a re-paint and call it a game. They completely remade the game for 3D. I have to say, while it's not as good looking as even most of the original PS Final Fantasy's, I think it's actually better looking than FF7. They also fleshed out the story and added in some side quests. They left the battle system mostly alone and made a few changes to the Job system, but it's mostly the same game with prettier graphics. It really makes a difference though. I remember trying to play an old fan translated version and I just couldn't get into it, but with this version I'm already a good 12 hours into the game. With all the graphical upgrades and story updates they did, there's only one thing to really say: It's a lot of fun! No scores can really tell you anything more than that.
Well, I've said a lot already. More than I meant to, so I won't do my next review yet. I will tell you what it's going to be, to get the excitement started: New Cadbury Cream Eggs!
I know I'm excited. This means I get to do "research" :)
I started this thing to be able to write reviews and opinions of stuff. I've got two things I want to write about.
First is the Nintendo DS. I bought one a week ago. At first I kept wanting to call it the Gameboy DS, because all of the previous Nintendo handheld systems had the Gameboy name. Now that I own the thing and have played it, I don't blame them for dropping the Gameboy name. This thing is so far beyond the Gameboy that it deserves it's own legacy, rather than relying on an old established one.
I remember back when they were first talking about releasing this thing. I was really into the PSP at the time. That system is still an amazing piece of hardware. When I saw the stats of the DS compared to it, and the screenshots and types of games, I thought it was a joke. No way was this puny little thing going to stand up to the mighty PSP. Was I ever wrong or what? These things are flying off the shelves and for good reason. It's a great piece of hardware. Not perfect, but about as close to perfect for what it is as you can get.
I was lucky enough to get the black colored version. Looks awesome. I have no problem pulling this thing out and playing it in public, unlike with the old GB Advance. I couldn't play that thing without feeling like a total nerd. This new one just looks so cool and sleek you can't help not liking it. I get people who would never think of owning a Xbox or PS3 asking me about it and thinking it's the coolest thing ever.
Now, I'm just reviewing the hardware here. I've only played two games for it and I was choosy about which two, so I can't say much about the general game quality. Those two games are a lot of fun and, while the 3D graphics aren't as good as the PSP's, they look pretty good too. Especially New Super Mario Bros. Gameplay wise I could have used some more to it, but the graphics are excellent. The 3D effects in the 2D game are well done and fit perfectly. It's never over the top and there are a lot of nice little touches that make it look like this is the way this type of game was meant to be played.
The other game I have is Final Fantasy 3. The real FF3. This game was never released in the US until now. The FF3 that most Americans know was really FF6. Yeah, it's a little complicated. All versions of the original 6 Final Fantasy's have been re-released with minor upgrades and changes except FF3. The really cool thing about this game is they didn't just slap a few changes on and a little bit of a re-paint and call it a game. They completely remade the game for 3D. I have to say, while it's not as good looking as even most of the original PS Final Fantasy's, I think it's actually better looking than FF7. They also fleshed out the story and added in some side quests. They left the battle system mostly alone and made a few changes to the Job system, but it's mostly the same game with prettier graphics. It really makes a difference though. I remember trying to play an old fan translated version and I just couldn't get into it, but with this version I'm already a good 12 hours into the game. With all the graphical upgrades and story updates they did, there's only one thing to really say: It's a lot of fun! No scores can really tell you anything more than that.
Well, I've said a lot already. More than I meant to, so I won't do my next review yet. I will tell you what it's going to be, to get the excitement started: New Cadbury Cream Eggs!
I know I'm excited. This means I get to do "research" :)
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