If you own a swear box, do not buy this game!
Super Mario Bros. Wii is a very welcome return to the 2D platformer style and yet at the same time it appears to have been crafted with such a sadistic challenge in mind that you're left feeling deflated barely an hour into the game.
Once again kidnapped by Bowser and his minions - in this case his seven children from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World - Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad and Blue Toad (it was obviously clocking out time when Nintendo were working on character design) set out on a quest to rescue the Princess.
It's this optional four-player set up that makes this the first truly multiplayer game in the Mario series, and for the most part it works surprisingly well. The screen pans out if you're spread out, and if one of you dies, they reappear in a bubble which can also be manipulated around the screen until a team mate frees you from it.
There are also other advantages to this; players can pick eachother up and be thrown to reach special coins available in each level, obtain power ups and coordinate attacks together. It can however become cluttered, and some levels really aren't suited to having multiple players, especially when you're all crammed onto a platform trying to make out what the other is doing.
After a few hours' playing, long-time fans will start to see that parts have been taken from each Mario game in the series to make this one, and the familiar flagpole and castle at the end of each level is an early reminder of the original Super Mario Bros. game. Level design looks heavily influenced by that of Super Mario Bros. 3, and there's even a mini magic mushroom that shrinks you to micro scale and leaves you jumping the way Luigi did in Super Mario Bros. 2, and with exactly the same lack of control.
Several of Mario's moves from Super Mario Galaxy are also included, including the spinning ground pound move and the ability to slide down walls, which comes in handy on some levels, but is an absolute nightmare on others where that's exactly what you don't want to happen, but can't avoid. Worse, to pick objects up, you have to move the Wii remote up and down, but because you have to hold it horizontally to play, this proves to be awkward and frustrating after a while.
What really sees the game struggle is the difficulty curve, which at times is simply staggering, even on the early worlds which are theoretically the easier ones. Remember the swear box I mentioned? Later worlds will have you almost screaming at the screen as you turn the air all kinds of blue.
What's really telling in that respect is the Super Guide feature, which will give you option of letting a computer-controlled Luigi take control and attempt to beat the level, if you die eight times trying. The fact that extra lives are plentiful is an unintentional necessity, because the fact you're expected to die that many times in the first place in order to activate the Super Guide should've been a warning sign to Nintendo when they were designing the game.
That said, the game is extremely well-presented, with lots of colourful backgrounds and cute characters, and although the soundtrack is merrily tuneful, it becomes infuriating when the enemies stop mid-step and do a little pose on certain key notes, which makes estimating jumps onto them a nightmare.
Yoshi makes an appearance on certain levels, but the inability to keep him for subsequent levels as in Super Mario World is yet another disappointment. Power-ups are plentiful, but can be so unwieldy at times that they seem hardly worth it.
What really gives this game staying power is its challenge, and this is clearly where the influence of Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels is most evident. Levels seem to have been designed with variety in mind but somehow it just doesn't work that way, and is instead seriously challenging. That said, if you're prepared to meet it, and are undaunted by what's on offer, this is a very satisfying game to play, albeit one where you'll be wanting to get into a fight after playing...