Poop Master Flex
Mid-Card Championship Winner
I bought this game and a 3DS last Monday night while my gf was waiting for the new Assassin's Creed game. Throughout the week I was playing it and just defeated Bowser last night. Through my first play of this game I have to say that all in all I think this game is fantastic and a must buy for anyone who has a 3DS or loves Mario (if you don't have either you can get both for about $180 bucks).
The main thing to say about this is the fact that it is the 1st 3DS game I've played (I tried some before I bought the system and game) that really nails the 3D capabilities of the 3DS. I watched Immortals in 3D on Friday and let me tell you, the 3D in that movie can't touch the 3D in this game, not even close. When fireballs are flying at you sometimes you think that they are going to hit your face they come so close to you. When you drop down with coins, the coins pretty much fly off the screen and get right in your face. The 3D in the game is outstanding and the first real 3D game I've played on a system of any kind. The only drawback is your eyes can only take so much in one sitting but luckily if you get a little sick they also have a 2D switch that solves that issue (although I have to say the game was meant to be 3D).
Now onto the game itself, first I will say is I really enjoyed it. I felt the graphics are just as good as Mario Galaxy 2 which is impressive in its own right. The tunes in the game are top notch as they have some awesome old ones and some new ones, and old ones that are remixed, no matter what it is you are going to get these stuck in your head guaranteed.
The gameplay itself is as good as any Mario game I've played as this always seems to be what the game does best. I thought it was a great mix of classic 2D Mario and 3D Mario as it takes elements from both. For example, Mario now shrinks in the 3D world when hit, you have to grab onto the flag to complete a world, the gold coins make a return and the boss battles are a nice mix of both Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 with some new twists added in (believe me when you play a boss you will know exactly what I'm talking about). The tanooki suit makes a welcome return with 3 different variations, 1 without turning into stone, 1 with turning into stone and hybrid of the P-Wing, tanooki and star all mixed into one. They have the propeller hat, a boomerang suit and a fire suit to boot and those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. The gameplay is tight and intuitive and I think is a great balance of both 2D and 3D Mario.
The gaming world is what you would expect, 8 worlds until you face Bowser in his final castle, rescue the princess and return her back to the Mushroom Kingdom, typical stuff you would expect. My biggest gripe is I played through all 8 worlds to rescue the princess it was by far the easiest I've ever played in a Mario. I don't want to get into too many details about this but lets just say this. If you die 4-5 time on a level they give you the P-Wing, star, tanooki suit hybrid I was talking about and with that even Bowser's Castle is a breeze to get through. I never got 1 game over and finished with about 25 lives left to rescue the princess. That just shouldn't be happening in a Mario game. Another issue I have in regards to the game is although its a great Mario game, its more of the same with no new innovations (except for the 3D capabilities). I don't want to say too much about it because its still a great game but at the same time you could tell they just played it safe and didn't take any risks.
With that said there is one saving grace to this issue, the saving of the Princess is only HALF of the game. The other half is going through 8 special worlds (basically the same levels before just with a much higher difficulty for all levels) and rescuing Mario's often forgotten bastard brother Luigi. So after you rescue the princess you now go through all the levels again (which are now much more difficult) to rescue Luigi which helps extend the gameplay greatly.
My issue with that is you don't need to rescue Luigi to see all the levels so although the difficulty is higher you are basically playing the same game again. On top of that you can just skip most of the difficult levels you just need enough Gold coins to unlock all castles and beat them again, so in theory if you have enough gold coins, you can just skip to each castle, beat them and rescue Luigi like that. The gameplay is extended, but at the same time you are seeing nothing new (except for the now unlocked stone tanooki suit).
All in all I think this is the perfect game to start off your 3DS library with. It's only 40 bucks and is a great game that pays both a great compliment to both the 3DS and the Mario franchise. If I had to give it an overall score I would give the game a 9/10.
Anyways those are my thoughts on the game, what are yours?
The main thing to say about this is the fact that it is the 1st 3DS game I've played (I tried some before I bought the system and game) that really nails the 3D capabilities of the 3DS. I watched Immortals in 3D on Friday and let me tell you, the 3D in that movie can't touch the 3D in this game, not even close. When fireballs are flying at you sometimes you think that they are going to hit your face they come so close to you. When you drop down with coins, the coins pretty much fly off the screen and get right in your face. The 3D in the game is outstanding and the first real 3D game I've played on a system of any kind. The only drawback is your eyes can only take so much in one sitting but luckily if you get a little sick they also have a 2D switch that solves that issue (although I have to say the game was meant to be 3D).
Now onto the game itself, first I will say is I really enjoyed it. I felt the graphics are just as good as Mario Galaxy 2 which is impressive in its own right. The tunes in the game are top notch as they have some awesome old ones and some new ones, and old ones that are remixed, no matter what it is you are going to get these stuck in your head guaranteed.
The gameplay itself is as good as any Mario game I've played as this always seems to be what the game does best. I thought it was a great mix of classic 2D Mario and 3D Mario as it takes elements from both. For example, Mario now shrinks in the 3D world when hit, you have to grab onto the flag to complete a world, the gold coins make a return and the boss battles are a nice mix of both Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 with some new twists added in (believe me when you play a boss you will know exactly what I'm talking about). The tanooki suit makes a welcome return with 3 different variations, 1 without turning into stone, 1 with turning into stone and hybrid of the P-Wing, tanooki and star all mixed into one. They have the propeller hat, a boomerang suit and a fire suit to boot and those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. The gameplay is tight and intuitive and I think is a great balance of both 2D and 3D Mario.
The gaming world is what you would expect, 8 worlds until you face Bowser in his final castle, rescue the princess and return her back to the Mushroom Kingdom, typical stuff you would expect. My biggest gripe is I played through all 8 worlds to rescue the princess it was by far the easiest I've ever played in a Mario. I don't want to get into too many details about this but lets just say this. If you die 4-5 time on a level they give you the P-Wing, star, tanooki suit hybrid I was talking about and with that even Bowser's Castle is a breeze to get through. I never got 1 game over and finished with about 25 lives left to rescue the princess. That just shouldn't be happening in a Mario game. Another issue I have in regards to the game is although its a great Mario game, its more of the same with no new innovations (except for the 3D capabilities). I don't want to say too much about it because its still a great game but at the same time you could tell they just played it safe and didn't take any risks.
With that said there is one saving grace to this issue, the saving of the Princess is only HALF of the game. The other half is going through 8 special worlds (basically the same levels before just with a much higher difficulty for all levels) and rescuing Mario's often forgotten bastard brother Luigi. So after you rescue the princess you now go through all the levels again (which are now much more difficult) to rescue Luigi which helps extend the gameplay greatly.
My issue with that is you don't need to rescue Luigi to see all the levels so although the difficulty is higher you are basically playing the same game again. On top of that you can just skip most of the difficult levels you just need enough Gold coins to unlock all castles and beat them again, so in theory if you have enough gold coins, you can just skip to each castle, beat them and rescue Luigi like that. The gameplay is extended, but at the same time you are seeing nothing new (except for the now unlocked stone tanooki suit).
All in all I think this is the perfect game to start off your 3DS library with. It's only 40 bucks and is a great game that pays both a great compliment to both the 3DS and the Mario franchise. If I had to give it an overall score I would give the game a 9/10.
Anyways those are my thoughts on the game, what are yours?
