This Mario is great, but we've been here before.
Super Mario 3D World
Super Mario 3D World comes at a weird time, the Wii u has been dying for a triple A title from Nintendo to support this console.
When I first heard about this game I was skeptical, it looked way to similar to the superb 3D Land on 3DS but with the inclusion of 4 player co-op. It looked alright but nothing original.
A few months later I got to try it at eurogamer expo and it was alright and again, nothing special. Then came the latest trailers before the games release and gave off the impression of being a great single player game as well.
Then the first reviews came out, branding one of the best Mario games of all time. I was skeptical....how could this game get such high praise. I had to bite the bullet and find out if this was the must have wii u title, or if it was over hyped by nostalgic game critics.
The game begins like all Mario games, with Bowser kidnapping the princess....but this time, from another kingdom. This time, Mario, Luigi, Toad & Peach for the first time since Mario Bros 2 will team up to rescue these princes / princess of this new kingdom.
You will travel across 7 worlds with each world getting increasingly more difficult than the last either in single player or with up to 4 players.
The goal is to reach the end of each level by jumping, running and stomping on every enemy in sight who get's in your way of the goal. This is your bread and butter goal of every plat former out there but with all the Mario trops in sight.
You find all your previous power ups from other games like mushrooms, fireflowers and powerstars. But this time they are joined by a whole slew of new ones including the bell that turns you in to a cat and the cherries which give you a clone of your character.
The Cat is the major power up this time round which allows you to climb walls and also do diving attacks. The cherry are more to show off how powerful you can become with multiple characters and also to help you open doors that require a certain amount of characters on pressure plates.
Both these power ups are fun to use and are used in some interesting ways to complete certain levels.
The levels in questions come in various forms that reminds you of 3D land to the core. Small section with unique jumping puzzles and environmental hazards to get pass. You will find some of the areas bigger than 3D land since you got to open it up to four players so your not always bumping in to each other.
Each level is offering something new and your generally not doing the same thing twice which is quite impressive, but then again. It all feels all way to familiar to Mario fans and you will be used to this type of game play.
They are a couple of surprises for Mario fans but is this enough...maybe, but it wasn't for myself.
Mario is know for having some of the best controls in the business and it is here that they shine....as long as you have an analogue stick. If your the extra players using the wii motes with the D-Pad you will have a harder time navigating the 3D environments.
You of course could get the nun-chucks or the Wii u pro controllers for extra players as an options to remedy this but that's extra cost.
If you on the Wii u tablet you can use the touch screen to reveal secret platforms or by moving some platforms by touching them. This is the type of touch controls I like, not intrusive.
They is no online multiplayer but they is a ghost based system along with time trails once you've beaten the game so you can try and beat your level completion time.
Let's talk about the difficulty for a bit, the game is laughably easy in the first few worlds but starts to scale in the latter half of the game when they are more instant death scenario from falling in to pits, lava & poisons. The enemies will get in the way when they are standing on the only safe platform in the area or blocking key power ups that you need to progress further.
But with the numerous lives you will get from collecting coins in the level and mini games scatter around the world map, death isn't a problem. Just a set back.
The real diffculity begins when your trying to located 3 green stars in each level. These stars are key to unlocking the later worlds in the game. Around 2 of the stars are obvious in each level, but the 3rD one is always well hidden and you'll be scratching your head to find it.
Then you've got in each level a hidden stamp. This stamp is one of the games major collectables that will come in handy with the mii universe. Instead of hand drawing messages after each level these stamps will let you stamp pre-made pictures in your mii verse messages.
These have allowed the less artist of us be quite creative in the mii universe and it's fun to see what people have created after each level and if they used the newly hidden stamp from that level. You also have the advantage of players giving hints where the hidden stamps / stars are after each level if you missed them first time.
This is where the true difficulty begins especially in the later parts of the game when your trying to locate these hidden collectables.
You don't need them all to beat the game but if you want to see the super secret thing at the end of the game you will need 100% them all...and beat every level with all 4 characters....yes...all four characters.
I got to say I not that type of player and I can live without the super secret ending but for people who want a lot of re playability from there games you will get a lot from Super Mario 3D World.
Graphically this is one of the best looking Mario games out there and for the first time, in 1080p HD holding a good frame rate through out. Music & sound is top notch and you will get all your iconic sounds here.
Super Mario 3D World is great fun and is a must have wii u title. However this can be said about every Mario game and it feels to samie for my taste. I think the problem I have is Galaxy reached a peak and now all the Mario games are using this as a base.
Small level / planetoids with unique game play mechanics which you've seen in previous games. For example you have the music level that has the platforms disappear and reappear with the music. The jump switch level where the platform switches when every you jump and so on
I seen this all before and that's the problem...I want to play new style of games but that is to risky for Nintendo. They need to play safe and release games they know have been successful in the past since they need to build a player base on the Wii U so third party developers can see that they have people.
But that the issue, the damage has already been done and the game developers are flocking to Sony & Microsoft since they have a bigger fan base. The PS4 & Xbox One have already out sold the Wii U in the space of a month and the advantage that Nintendo had of the year head start has been thrown away.
But I'm side tracking and I can talk about that another time.
If you have a wii u then yes buy this game, especially if you play a lot of local multiplayer in your house. If your considering buying a wii u for this game then excellent. Get this over new super mario bros wii u for sure which is boring compared to this title.