Before anyone says anything, I've played nearly all of the 2D, platforming Mario games. I grew up with Mario. Super Mario Bros. on the NES was one of my first games ever, greatly enjoyed Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3, played the HELL out of Super Mario World on the SNES, ate up the remade classics in Mario All Stars and loved Yoshi's island to death.
I've noticed that people have been going crazy over the game, to the point where many gaming publications and websites have gave it Game of the year nods and awards.
While I thought the game was really fun, I don't see it as being GOTY material nor I think its the best 2D Mario game to date.
First of all, the one thing that made the Mario games really addicting, frustrating and fun were the levels themselves. Simply put, they are some of the best, challenging and most inventive stages ever seen in any videogame, with Mario 3 and Mario World showcasing the best of them all. Compared to them, the levels in New Super Mario Bros. feel more like they were made by fans rather than experienced level designers.
Seriously, they feel as if they used a fan made level editor and put the whole thing together. That's another thing, people might say that some of the classic Mario elements, like collecting the red coins and such are tributes to the older games, but IMHO, they feel as if Nintendo relied too much on the past rather than creating new elements for the game. Its a brand new game, Nintendo! Couldn't you have been more creative?
Going back to the level design, simply put, they are too easy and too straightforward. First of all, I KNOW that the game was made to channel the classic gameplay of the original Mario Bros., but even then the game offered a lot of challenge and edge of your seat gameplay. The classic Mario games featured levels that tested your reflexes, your patience and skills. They featured jumps that needed a lot of reflexes to jump over, conveniently placed enemies plagued your way and challenges that either pleased you or frustrated the hell out of you. Again, Mario Bros. 3 and Mario world showcase this the best. So compared to that the levels in NSMB are too easy and too straightforward. They lack the imagination, cleverness and challenge the older games provided.
The game is also very easy and extremely forgiving. It is willing to give you extra lives as if they were running out of style, while in the older games getting an extra life was a blessing, and getting more than that actually required a lot of timing to pull off. It is also too short. You are more than likely to beat all of the levels on your first run. Again, the older games actually required you to look deep into it and discover the hidden levels in clever ways.
As for the extra challenges, getting all 3 gold coins in each level is hard, yes, but compared to trying to find and complete ALL of the secret stages in Mario World, its a JOKE.
Before I get stoned to death, I enjoyed the game for what it was. I know the game was meant to be a fun, easy to get into game and according to the sales, it works greatly. The multiplayer was great, I had a lot of fun playing this with S_B, Cap and other friends and is easily the best part of the game. But what I am saying is that this isn't truly the best game in the 2D Mario games and thus I think doesn't deserve the insane hype it has gotten.
I just hope that with the great sales of the game it encourages Nintendo to go back to the 2D formula and actually experiment further with it.
Nintendo did good, but they could've done BETTER.
Topic: Thinking about it, New Super Mario Bros. wasn't that great... (Read 27442 times)
