Still Awaiting Action Girlz Racing
I've been taking a break from using the 360 - sometimes, honestly, just so it won't complain on the blog - to try out New Super Mario Brothers for the DS. I was really happy to get my hands on this, because I love 2d platoformers. Alas! To put it bluntly, I'm very disappointed with New Super Mario Brothers. This game has three big problems, which are:
- The way Mario handles. I know this is supposted to be a direct sequel/update to the first Super Mario Brothers, but I've beome used to tighter controls in games like Super Mario World; Do we really need to go back to Mario feeling floaty and sliding off edges like he has ice on the bottom of his shoes?
- Too many gimmicks. Many, many (many) stages feature some gameplay mechanic that appears once and then vanishes. Such as, let's say, the tall cactus guys in a stage in World 2 that you have to jump over and evade for a stage, and are then never seen again. Or the platforms that expand and contract, leading to some tricky jumps... and then are never seen again. Guys, if you have a fun gameplay mechanic - let me play with it. Don't put it in one three minute stage and then usher it off so you can introduce boxing ghosts or whatever else you've dreamed up. The effect of all of these diffrent things is that the game starts to feel like just one gimmick after another. There's even an entire powerup - the tiny mushroom - that I've seen used a total of three times (I'm currently in world 5).
- The save system. In Super Mario World - released, I belive, in 1991, a full fifteen years ago - you can save whenever you want by pushing Start, then Save and Quit. Want to save in New Super Mario Brothers? Beat a dungeon or a castle and save it. Want to play something else in between stages? Too bad, sucker. Go beat a castle, or spend some coins to open up a new path. When I'm finding myself managing my coins and powerups so that I can save my game when I need to instead of getting powerups for tough stages, your game design has problems.
Minor complaints:
Annoying music. Your milage may, of course, vary.
In the original Super Mario Brothers, there's a bug where if you touch a monster while going downward, even if you hit them in the feet, it will count as you stomping on the monster. This is gone from NSMB, and leads to some cases where I could swear I landed on something's head, but the game insists I hit it in the side, and PS I am now dead.
All in all, I find this game more annoying than anything else. Back to Super Princess Peach for yours truly.
Stay tuned for more silence.
- The way Mario handles. I know this is supposted to be a direct sequel/update to the first Super Mario Brothers, but I've beome used to tighter controls in games like Super Mario World; Do we really need to go back to Mario feeling floaty and sliding off edges like he has ice on the bottom of his shoes?
- Too many gimmicks. Many, many (many) stages feature some gameplay mechanic that appears once and then vanishes. Such as, let's say, the tall cactus guys in a stage in World 2 that you have to jump over and evade for a stage, and are then never seen again. Or the platforms that expand and contract, leading to some tricky jumps... and then are never seen again. Guys, if you have a fun gameplay mechanic - let me play with it. Don't put it in one three minute stage and then usher it off so you can introduce boxing ghosts or whatever else you've dreamed up. The effect of all of these diffrent things is that the game starts to feel like just one gimmick after another. There's even an entire powerup - the tiny mushroom - that I've seen used a total of three times (I'm currently in world 5).
- The save system. In Super Mario World - released, I belive, in 1991, a full fifteen years ago - you can save whenever you want by pushing Start, then Save and Quit. Want to save in New Super Mario Brothers? Beat a dungeon or a castle and save it. Want to play something else in between stages? Too bad, sucker. Go beat a castle, or spend some coins to open up a new path. When I'm finding myself managing my coins and powerups so that I can save my game when I need to instead of getting powerups for tough stages, your game design has problems.
Minor complaints:
Annoying music. Your milage may, of course, vary.
In the original Super Mario Brothers, there's a bug where if you touch a monster while going downward, even if you hit them in the feet, it will count as you stomping on the monster. This is gone from NSMB, and leads to some cases where I could swear I landed on something's head, but the game insists I hit it in the side, and PS I am now dead.
All in all, I find this game more annoying than anything else. Back to Super Princess Peach for yours truly.
Stay tuned for more silence.