It took me by surprise when I found out that the first Wednesday after the summer of XBLA would have three releases instead of one. I was only surprised until I played them; only one of the three is worth looking at. In the never ending quest to charge money for things that are free (and possibly better) elsewhere comes Gin Rummy.
Latest Feature: Impulse Buyer
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COLUMNS
By Zvi Finklestein on August 1, 2007 in DS
Players: 1-4
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Platformer
Review By: Zvi Finklestein
“Not a classic, but a solid platformer all around.”
Who knows why it took Nintendo fourteen years to make another 2D platformer starring their icon, Mario, after Super Mario Land 2 on Gameboy. We went two entire hardware generations of Nintendo systems with primarily 2D games before New Super Mario Bros. was released for DS. So clearly the game has been a long time coming, and while this isn’t the best game in the series, it was certainly worth the wait.
The first thing you’ll notice when you start up the game for the first time is that it doesn’t look like any side-scrolling Mario game before it. The gameplay is entirely 2D, but the game is being rendered in 3D. This means Mario, all his enemies, and the environment all have a real physics engine dictating how they should move at all times. It looks worse than sprite-based Mario for the most part, but the physics definitely work to the game’s advantage, and the 3D animation is great, even if it doesn’t feel hugely different from previous games in the series.
Also building upon New Super Mario Bros.’ pedigree is Mario’s moveset. It was perfect in the 1995 classic Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, but that was starring a different player character, so it isn’t fair to compare. Mario, in this game, can do anything he could do in Super Mario World, but also some of moves from his 3D adventures, like the double- and triple-jumps, the wall jump, and the butt stomp. This varied moveset allows for complicated and interesting level design, which is great compared to most games in the genre, but is unfortunately a significant step down from select previous games in the series.
Another disappointment is the selection of new power-ups. The Mega Mushroom, which makes Mario both Godzilla sized and tempered, is fun at first, but actually smashing large portions of a level ruins it. The Blue Koopa Shell turns you into a thrown Koopa shell with the ability to jump, as well as a more agile swimmer. Like the Mega Mushroom, it’s fun, but much worse than classic Mario power-ups, and you’ll soon just try to avoid it. The best new power-up is the Mini Mushroom, which shrinks Mario down to a fraction of his normal size, allowing him to fit down tiny pipes, and it increases his jump ability. Traversing entire levels after eating one is truly challenging and quite satisfying.
The remixed classic Mario tunes and new tracks are in general bad, and are too cheesy-sounding. They lead to one of the game’s touches of Nintendo magic though, as the enemies seem to enjoy them enough to jump and bop to the beat. It’s hard to notice at first, but it’s funny and quite charming.
Unlike Nintendo’s other big 2D platformer for their current handheld, Yoshi’s Island DS, New Super Mario Bros. controls brilliantly. It’s some of the best control the genre has ever seen, and veterans of the series will spend little to no time adjusting. The game, up to the last world, though, is way too easy. Previous Mario platformers started to get seriously tough by about the third world, so it’s unexpected, and for many players, won’t be a welcome change.
This difficulty, though, makes New Super Mario Bros. a 2D Mario platformer for the new Nintendo - a game anyone can and will pick up and play. It’s also important because, with its ten-and-a-half million sales to date, it’s making Mario games cool again (many found Sunshine to be a disappointment), leading right into the release of Super Mario Galaxy for Wii. It’s not a classic like many Mario platformers are, but it’s a solid platformer all around and a game every DS owner should have in their collection.
“Steps Toward an Elitist Critic Future” at Rock Paper Shotgun
I went into this article expecting the “elitist critic future” to be presented as a negative thing, but no. Kieron Gillen is openly admitting here that he likes it. I think he’s buying into the idea that games need what you could call “indie cred” (not his words) to be worthwhile. I love Earth Defense Force 2017, but no, Kieron, it’s not better than Gears of War.
Lower the price of the hard drive, Microsoft. I want to give you more money, all you have to do is let me.
“EA Partners Is A Murderers’ Row - Who’s NOT On This List?” at MTV Multiplayer
This is a good bit of investigative reporting from Stephen Totilo. With last Thursday’s announcements by Electronic Arts of deals with Grasshopper Manufacture and Epic Games, they now have at least half a dozen major partners, and that’s not counting the smaller companies they have outright purchased over the last couple years.
I have become amazed at what XBLA has done in the past few weeks. It started with Geometry Wars 2, a game Jim Canapa described perfectly in the previous column (he should know, since his high scores are far better than mine). Bionic Commando, another great game I will go into detail about later, was the most recent addition. But in the middle was Braid, the first game to ever cause an internal conflict for me.