Super Mario Odyssey (Switch): COMPLETED!
This is a hard one. Well, not hard in that way (the game is easy – very easy), but hard in how I feel about it.
Unlike pretty much every Mario game ever, Super Mario Odyssey didn’t instantly grab me. Perhaps it was the terrible looking first “world”. Maybe it was the stark art style changes between worlds. I don’t know. Definitely, I started enjoying it in my first hour – but other games in the series I was hooked from the second the game started.
Now I’ve completed it, insofar as beaten Bowser and reached the credits, I can look back and see Odyssey is excellent. But not perfect. And certainly not the best Mario game. I’m feeling a lot like I did when I played Breath of the Wild, actually.
There’s just something missing. A spark of something. Something which Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine had which is missing here. Yes, I’m saying Super Mario Sunshine is better than Super Mario Odyssey. Super Mario 3D World is too. And so is New Super Mario Bros U, but 2D Mario games are a different beast.
On paper, it’s all there. Blue skies, great platforming, throwback references, varied levels, secrets, post-credits content, the very best controls – the lot. In my hands, it’s a bit flat, a bit off, a bit… wrong. But I can’t put my finger on it.
Remembering the few days I’ve been playing it, very few parts of the game stand out in the way I can fondly reminisce about the clock or the flying carpet or the Koopa race or the penguins or the wing hat or any one of a thousand other things from Mario 64. I know I’ve not played it as much as that game, but aside from the (spoiler) boss in the ruined castle, there hasn’t been anything that wowed me.
It’s probably me.
And it’s so easy. Really, really easy. Again, I’m aware the challenge of Mario games is mainly to get 100% and the straightforward route to the boss is not the hardest path, but I’ve picked up around half of the moons on each level so far and just one of them caused multiple deaths. It’s the easiest Mario game by a long way.
All that said, and I’m sure most people will disagree with my comments, but all that said, it’s a great game. One of the best. It really is. Nothing I can say can detract from that. I think I was just expecting Mario Odyssey to be a contender for the Best Game Ever Made, and in my eyes it isn’t even top 5 Best Mario Games (yet, at least). But that’s OK. It doesn’t have to be.
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Things I’ve been playing recently
Well, where “recently” is “any time in the last couple of months” and “things” is “games I’ve not completed as I’ve already posted about those”. In no particular order:
Spec Ops: The Line (Mac)
This was free, but only if I played it enough to get £1 credit back from Green Man Gaming. At first, I really struggled as it misdetected my PS4 controller and everything literally spiralled out of control – see this video, in particular from the 7 minute point:
With that fixed (I used a mouse and keyboard instead), I then worked through the first level, or mission, or whatever. It’s OK, but nothing special. It’s also difficult to play with an Apple mouse, because you can’t click the left and right buttons at the same time. I don’t know if I’ll play it more.
Paper Mario Sticker Star (3DS)
A lot of people seemed to be quite negative about this, but I’m really enjoying it. It removes almost all of the RPG elements (perhaps this is why it has the reputation it does), but the story and the combat are great and it looks lovely. Also, that Wii U one is out now and I thought I’d do this while waiting for that to magically appear in my possession.
Letter Quest Remastered (PS4)
Incredible Boggle/RPG hybrid. You’re given a bank of 15 random letters, some worth more than others (sort of Scrabble-like) and you make words out of them. The more powerful your word, the harder your attack is on your foes. You can level up abilities, making 6 letter words worth more, or double letters more powerful, etc. and it’s very addictive.
Assault Android Cactus (PC)
I set my Steam Link up again and this is one of the titles I played, having heard good things and getting it for virtually free in a recent Humble Bundle. It’s not bad, but I don’t think – so far at least – it deserves all the praise. It’s just a quite bland twin stick shooter with average graphics but with some great characters. I’m enjoying it, but not as much as I expected to.
Lego Dimensions (PS4)
I actually bought this a while back, but still had Lego Marvel Avengers on the go. With that finished (although not 100%ed) my daughter and I broke it out and yes – it is excellent. Jumping from world to world (we’ve had The Simpsons, The Wizard of Oz, Ninjago and Doctor Who so far) is great, and the references to other Lego games (such as the Joker Titanbot rematch) are awesome too. Playing shuffle-the-characters on the portal is less fun, though, but we’ve negated that a little by moving the portal to the sofa between us.
Pokémon Y (3DS)
With over 70 hours on the clock now, and still about 30% of my Pokédex unfilled, there’s a lot of game here. Not least when you consider I “completed” it at around the 35 hour mark.
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Super Mario Maker (Wii U)
I got Super Mario Maker for Christmas, and soon set about creating some utterly fantastic levels with it. Sadly, they were all lost in the New Year’s Eve Mario Level Fire, so you’ll have to make do with the other creations instead. I’ve some listed in this blog post over here.
Mostly, though, I’ve been playing other peoples’ levels, which is frankly the only other thing you can do with the game. There’s no “story mode” or anything, so it’s user generated content or create user generated content. There is a set of levels collected together to become a sort of “new” Mario game, but it’s actually just user levels randomly picked that you play one after another.
Each level has a difficulty rating, seemingly applied based on the number of people who managed to complete it, and there are three levels of difficulty you can play through in this random level story mode thing, with a set number of lives with which to try and make it to the end. It’s fun, but invariably due to the random nature of it, you’ll get some terrible levels thrown in. Thankfully, you can skip them and they’re swapped out for another level instead.
You can also just pick and choose other players’ levels, either by using a code to look them up, or following some of your friends or favourite creators. It’s this second option that I’ve mainly been doing when playing rather than creating.
The actual creation side of things is as simple as you’d expect from Nintendo. Drag items from the toolbox onto the play area, and that’s it. Shake items to modify them (e.g. green koopas become red) or feed items mushrooms to make them larger. Add wings to things to make them fly, put them in pipes to make the pipes spit them out, and combine or stack items, blocks or baddies for other, sometimes unexpected, stuff. You can change the theme of the level, swapping between Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros U tilesets, and configure it to be a grassy level, underground, an airship level, and so on just by clicking a button. It’s very easy.
Sadly, to actually get to do all these things, you have to unlock all the modes and items, and doing that is a combination of using everything already available and placing lots of items. You have to spend a couple of hours just placing objects in order for the game to allow you the full freedom it can. I understand Nintendo trying to ease you in, but why there’s no “OK, I’ve played Mario games before – skip to the end?” option, I don’t know.
A minor complaint, but understandable when you consider how easy it is to flip between game types, is the physics. Mario jumps around like he does in New Super Mario Bros U, which is great. Only his physics are the same in a Super Mario Bros level too, and a Mario 3 level, and in the original games they didn’t all handle the same at all. I realise why this is done – you’d probably have to redesign a level to accommodate different jump heights or run-up distances every time you swap theme – but it’s a shame you can’t have “original physics” as a choice. After all, each Mario in each theme has other differences anyway, as Mario U call wall jump, and Mario 3 can pick up feathers to fly.
That aside, it’s a great little package. Something “create your own levels” games often become is tiresome as your imagination fades, but when you upload levels for others to play – and get feedback from – this adds something, and coupled with the breadth of ideas from other creators (you’d think by now Mario ideas had been exhausted: It would appear not) you’re constantly exposed to new gimmicks, set pieces and ideas to add, modify or combine for your own levels.
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Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (3DS): COMPLETED!
I got this with some of my Club Nintendo stars. RIP Club Nintendo, by the way. I struggled with what to spend them on before they expired, and of the number I had left Wario Land 3 was the only one I didn’t already have on either my 3DS or Wii U that I hadn’t already completed. I do have it on the Game Boy Colour, but never finished it.
About three levels in, I realised something was amiss. Not only did I not recognise any of the game, but it also wasn’t in colour. And it was possible to die. Hang on, I thought, this isn’t right. Have you spotted the mistake yet, readers? That’s right – I’ve got hold of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, not Wario Land 3. I was actually quite pleased, as I’ve never played it.
Now I have, and I’ve completed it. It was fun, but nowhere near as much fun as Mario Land 2 or Wario Land 3. The extra hats Wario picks up are mostly unnecessary, the levels are linear, the game feels quite short, and although it’s better than 95% of other Game Boy platformers, it isn’t anything special. Of course, I only picked up enough treasure to get Wario a tree to live in (rather than a gold castle or whatever it is he wants), so I could return to find the hidden treasures, but I’m not sure I can be bothered.
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