If you have a child that want to play a DS platformer, this might be just the thing for you !
+ Nice twist in the oh so intriguing Super Mario story. The Mario brothers gets kidnapped and the PRINCESS gets to save them. Actually feels really fresh, believe it or not. If you are a big fan of Super Mario you will also appriciate it.
+ New gameplay elements and some grenremixing into the Super Mario platform formula. The basics are the same. Its a platform game and you progress through such levels in various themes ranging from grassland to winterland to the deep forests. This time around tho, they have brought in some cool RPG elements. 1-You have heartcontainers. No more eating mushrooms and getting bigger and taking 2 hits to die (or 1 if no mushroom has been eaten). You start out with 3 heart containers and you can buy more at a shop in between levels. 2 - You have a mana meter and abilities to go with it. Peach has 4 abilities. Happiness, that makes her fly or conjure cyclones. Anger, that sets her on fire and burns things as well as making her really heavy. Sadness, that makes her cry rivers of water and run really fast and lastly you have another kind of happiness that regenerates health for mana.
+ New gameplay elements continued : These abilites are used very nicely to create depth to the otherwise standard platform levels. Often to help you find hidden Toads that are spread across the levels. The Shop is also a nice addition. Instead of collecting coins for 1up´s. You collect them to actually buy stuff. Lots of stuff. Everything from hearts to a longer Vibe(read: Mana)meter to fun puzzles and minigames that can be played on the side of the main Adventure. Peach can also learn NEW abilites like flying with her umbrella and smashing enemies for coins. All of this comes together to create a deeper and different mario-platformer.
+ This game will last for a long time. In addition to completing the main adventure (that is pretty long) you can go back to make sure you have found all of the toads on all of the levels. You can also go back to find puzzlepieces and stagemusic that can be played in a musicplayer. You can also go grind more money to buy more puzzles, music and even fun minigames starring the Toads. Then when you finally have all of the puzzles and minigames I bet you can have fun with those for a while longer. Good lastingvalue !
+ Nice graphical design. As usual when it comes to The Mushroom Kingdom its all cozy with warm and vivid colors. Clouds have happy faces and all of the colours of the rainbow are frequently used. And it always works. The backgrounds in particular are extra nice this time. The enemies also have alot more detail to them.
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- The levels starts to feel pretty uninspired and repetative after a while. The overall level design are nowher near the greater titles in the Super Mario universe. When you´re closing in on the end you start to feel like you are playing the same levels over and over but with different "skins" on them.
- The gameplay isnt as fun as the standard Mario gameplay. The princess can smash enemies, fly with her umbrella, cry, spin, catch on fire and regenerate health but when it all comes around I rather just jump on enemies with Mario. Somehow i started to lose interest in continuing playing and it all just started to feel like a grind for getting Toads.
- Overall the game is to easy for its own good. Since Peach can do sooo many things and since there is no way you can get Game Over the challenge lies more in finding stuff and getting money rather than completing the levels. If the levels would have been more challenging and more fun to begin with this grind might have felt more motivated.
- The missing "Mario feel". I dont know why, maybe its because they have changed so much but somehow i never feel like im playing a Mariogame. I feel like im playing a game made by some 3rd party developer rather than Nintendo themselves. Theres something missing for the right "Mario feel" to be there.
- The Music. The music isnt nearly as catchy as it usually is when it comes to a Mario title. Its sometimes down right annoying to listen to. Its nothing you want to hear MORE of in the included musicplayer, thats for sure !
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Final Score: 7.6
Its a fresh wind to the Mario universe and it has alot of things to do for the dedicated but it lacks the finesse, the Nintendomagic and the creativity to get to play with the big boys. It sure is a solid product with a fantastic design to it but the motivation drops as you play it. If you have a child that want to play a DS platformer, this might be just the thing for you !