It seems estrange that after so many months out in the
market and struggling so much to find its rightful place in it, the 3DS didn’t
have a Super Mario platformer. The public wondered many times if the game would
give justice to the two Super Mario Galaxy games for the Wii but fortunately,
3D Land manages to be one of the best games in the console and though not even
close to being the best Mario game ever, it’s a great platformer to play and
the fact that it can be played literally anywhere makes the experience even
better.
Super Mario 3D Land is the common Mario platformer
where the Nintendo iconic hero runs and jumps around incredible and awesome
stages to collect items, reach a given destination, acquire great power-ups and
yes, save Princess Peach from Bowser once again.
Even though there are other games in the 3DS catalog
with excellent graphics, like Ocarina of Time 3D or Dead or Alive Dimensions,
one can’t help but stand in awe at the visuals of 3D Land. This game looks
amazing. The stages are beautifully designed, they’re full of colors, objects
and enemies that make everything seem in perfect harmony. The textures are
cartoony and things don’t really look realistic but inside the Super Mario
context, this is definitely one of the best-looking games in the franchise. In
fact, it would be the best if the two Galaxy games weren’t around.
The antialiasing in it is pretty good as well and has
very little mistakes that can especially be noticed when playing the game with
full 3D effects. These are great and really make things feel like they’re
outside the screen. Fortunately, the frame rate of the game is never affected
by the 3D effects so playing it with them on will usually be a preference of
the player, rather than a performance issue. The graphics are incredible no
matter what mode the player uses.
The sound effects are very cool and stay faithful to
what the franchise is famous for. The jumps, attacks, enemies and objects make
many iconic sounds that will instantly be recognized by most gamers out there
and feel excellent. Super Mario 3D Land is a game that manages to create a
perfect mix between the old-school and next-gen eras of the franchise.
Since it is a Super Mario game, it’s obvious that
there won’t be any voice acting but when comparing it to other platformers in
other consoles, it can’t be helped to wonder whether Nintendo could make use of
things like voices to give Super Mario games a different and more engaging
feeling. Still, the game is excellent even without characters actually speaking
to each other.
It has an excellent soundtrack with tons of cartoony
songs that fit perfectly into the game. Many of the songs are remixed versions
of iconic tunes from previous Mario games that haven’t been used since the NES
era and hearing them again feels awesome. Each type of stage has a different
song so there will be one for the “grassy” stages, one for the snow ones and another
for the fire/lava worlds and so on. The music is definitely one of the best
things about this game.
The story is exactly the same as always. Mario is
around minding his own business when Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach for no
reason at all and he goes on an adventure to save her. Honestly, it’s about
time Nintendo came up with something different as an excuse for Mario to go
traveling, and the sad thing is that the possibilities are endless, there could
be new characters, new villains and a different tale that would not affect the
gameplay and style of the game in any way.
In gameplay, the game stays faithful to the 3D Mario
games like Super Mario 64, Sunshine and the Galaxy ones. The players control
the hero with the analog stick and are able to jump in different ways, crouch
and attack depending on which power-up they’re using. But unlike the more
modern games, the goal of the stages in the 3DS game is to reach the flag, like
in the very first Mario game instead of grabbing the gold star. And instead of
just having a set amount of health, Mario becomes small when touched by an enemy
and grows up again by taking a red mushroom or power-up.
Super Mario 3D Land brings back the famous Tanooki
suit from the third game in the NES. When using it, Mario dresses like a raccoon
of some sort and is able to either attack enemies with a tail or hover in the
air and slowly fall to the ground, making the “hard” platforming parts of the
game way too easy. Besides the Tanooki suit, the usual fire ball power-up is
also in the game. This one doesn’t give Mario any jumping abilities but it
allows him to spit fire balls that bounce around places to easily defeat
enemies. There’s also another suit that allows him to throw a boomerang that
can grab far-away items and a helicopter-box thing that makes him fly for short
periods of time.
So in gameplay, 3D Land is never repetitive. Each
stage has its own tweaks, beauty and things to do, they all have three optional
“star coins” that allow the players to unlock challenge rooms and a second set
of worlds where it’s going to be possible to play as Luigi after Mario saves
Peach.
But a negative thing in the game would be the
difficulty. Most of the mothership titles in the Super Mario franchise are
usually not very easy and require patience and lots of trial-and-error to
successfully finish the stages but in 3D Land, Mario seems a little overpowered
and enemies don’t really try too hard to defeat him so even if someone doesn’t
have a lot of experience with gaming, they won’t have much trouble to complete
the game.
The second set of worlds are a bit harder but they’re
still not challenging enough to make a hardcore gamer get stuck on a single
stage and lose a good bunch of lives. In fact, when most players die, it’s
usually because of a silly mistake and not because of the stages being hard to
complete. Another thing is that gaining lives is way too easy since coins and
green mushrooms are scattered all over the place so dying a few times is not
something to worry about.
The game has a lot of replay value since it is
possible to go through the stages again in order to get all the star coins,
unlock the second set of worlds or simply try and finish everything with Luigi
whose jumps are a little different than Mario’s. 3D Land is a game that can
easily be grabbed at any time and played for either a short or a long session
and most of the stages are very fun.
So in short, Super Mario 3D Land is an excellent game
and definitely the best platformer available on the 3DS right now. The mix
between the old-school style and the innovative and crazy stage designs of the
modern games is amazing. It looks and sounds very cool and makes perfect use of
the 3D effects. Anyone out there can have a great time with and every owner of
the console should definitely own this game.
Pros:
-
Excellent
mix between the old and new style of Mario games.
-
Great
graphics and 3D effects
-
Awesome
and catchy soundtrack
-
Lots
of extra stages to play.
Cons:
-
It’s
not very challenging.
-
Limited
Streetpass use.
-
Graphics
and Visuals………...9
-
Music
and Sound Effects….....9
-
Gameplay……………………8
-
Replay
Value………………...8
-
Overall
Score……………….. 8.5 / 10
