Walking the Plains
Y'know, New Super Mario Bros. just doesn't sit well with me. I have the DS one and there was just an indescribable something about it that didn't feel right. Sure, it had a number of interesting stages, but it felt like I was just going through the motions. Nothing stood out. I feel the same way about the new Wii incarnation.
Was it that it just looks like a glorified Flash game? Is it that it's all been-there-done-that?
Maybe it's the music. I'm serious. The main theme of both games is one of the most dull, lethargic, and lifeless songs I've ever heard in a Mario game. There's nothing dramatic about it. There's no drumline that coaxes you forward. It's a song as boring and inoffensive as its title - Walking the Plains.
Now compare that to Good Egg Galaxy. True, Good Egg capitalizes on the soaring theme of Super Mario Galaxy, but why shouldn't it? It's fully orchestrated and about as "magical" as a Disney number. It captures a sense of wonder and high-flying spirit. Gusty Garden is even more so. And both themes are very hummable earworms that get stuck in your head long after you beat the level.
Nothing in New SMB does that. The most "intense" it ever gets is a slightly sped up version of that main theme. Even the boss theme is sluggish and playful - there's nothing vaguely sinister about it. There's something both about the orchestration and the drum pattern in both of the Galaxy songs that urges the player forward. It's the orchestral equivalent of a driving song.
Was it that it just looks like a glorified Flash game? Is it that it's all been-there-done-that?
Maybe it's the music. I'm serious. The main theme of both games is one of the most dull, lethargic, and lifeless songs I've ever heard in a Mario game. There's nothing dramatic about it. There's no drumline that coaxes you forward. It's a song as boring and inoffensive as its title - Walking the Plains.
Now compare that to Good Egg Galaxy. True, Good Egg capitalizes on the soaring theme of Super Mario Galaxy, but why shouldn't it? It's fully orchestrated and about as "magical" as a Disney number. It captures a sense of wonder and high-flying spirit. Gusty Garden is even more so. And both themes are very hummable earworms that get stuck in your head long after you beat the level.
Nothing in New SMB does that. The most "intense" it ever gets is a slightly sped up version of that main theme. Even the boss theme is sluggish and playful - there's nothing vaguely sinister about it. There's something both about the orchestration and the drum pattern in both of the Galaxy songs that urges the player forward. It's the orchestral equivalent of a driving song.