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Re: Recently Played
Posted by Crono on Mon Jul 3rd at 9:46am 2006

I recently got a Nintendo DS and some games, so, here we go.

New Super Mario Brothers
First off, this is a fantastic game. I love it. It has great levels and gameplay that is unique, but also fitting with mario. It is a wonderful game and everyone who owns a DS should own this game too. So, just to make it clear, I love the game.

Now here's what's wrong with it:
Too easy. Most levels can be beaten in one go. The only time I had IMMENSE difficulty was in world 8, on the last small castle before the final castle. That level was just piss you off hard. Everything else could have been spiced up. However, I haven't gone back and tried to do everything or go everywhere, so I'm sure they're much more difficult when trying to do that.

The power ups are the biggest disappointment ever. There is no awe inspiring new power up in this game, as far as I know. There are only three news ones: big mushroom, mini mushroom, and koopa shell.

The only one that is utilized at all is the mini mushroom and that is to get into small areas to get remaining coins or something as such.

The others serve no purpose other than the novelty. There is no section made for an enormous Mario, there is no section made for a koopa Mario.

In fact, you don't even get the big mushroom inside a level past the first couple levels in the first world. Novelty. It serves no game play purpose other than just stomping through the level to get to the end and possibly earn 1ups ...

The koopa shell is even worse. You'd think this thing would be f**king amazing. But it isn't. It's poorly done, sadly. First off, you'd think you'd get a running start ... then hit down to go into the shell and begin richoceting everywhere, right? Wrong. Once you begin running (which there is no visual indication, such as in mario 3, which was incredibly useful) you just go into the shell and start bouncing around, you can jump while in the shell, and you can let go of dash to come out. While in the shell you are invulnerable to fire ... why nothing else? I don't know. You'd think it'd act like a shell in other respects, but it doesn't.
On top of this ... it isn't in ANY level. The only way to get it is to either kill a hammer brother (which is tromping around random levels on the world map) or it might be in a random red flying '?' box. Which moves from level to level too. Again, there is no level or part of any level that is made for this power up, as far as I've seen, which is very INCREDIBLY disappointing. I mean. Super Mario World, for example, only modified a Mario 3 power up and yet still managed to add so much more (possibly because of the inclusion of Yoshi as well). It was imperative at times to get the cape. Or even in Mario 3. There were so many things to get: feather, tankoon suit, hammer suit, frog suit. They all served a purpose to make SOMETHING easier or to be able to get somewhere. As it stands, in New Super Mario you'll spend almost the entire game as fire Mario.
Now, if you're a fan of Super Mario, more than any of the other games, this might be fine and dandy for you. Personally, Mario 3 and Mario world have had me completely spoiled into "3 levels of power ups" As it stands, a mini mushroom weakens you (you die in one hit and you can't even jump on some enemies, which does spice things up), the big mushroom is temporary, and the koopa shell is illusive and a bit of a pain in the ass when you do get it.

There is no decent power up inclusion this time around. I am sad.

The bosses are more of a variety than 3 or world, but there aren't as many and they are all the same almost. They also lowered the standard "three hits" to kill to two for these bosses as well. Why? To make Mario easier.

So, what saves this game? The design of the levels. There are some levels that will absolutely piss you off, because some of these are not that great and make you just want to blow through them. There are some levels that are fantastic and make you wish there were more like them. (there are two distinct ones in world 8. One of which has volcanic rock falling down and igniting bombs. A really great level) But, there are things that are included that the game could really do without.

Mario's moves:
Okay, so they adapted some of the 3d Mario moves into the 2d game. So, now, you can attack from above and do double jumps (I can't seem to do a triple). But these are almost never used! All they do is make things easier in tight situations (like getting coins in a multi-coin block) I think the only good addition that is absolutely wonderful is wall jumping. It actually makes things harder in some areas, since you HAVE to use it (such as on a moving platform that has no bottom to stand on)

Other things added that don't really fit are the propeller pads (I can't think of another name for them) which shoot you into the air and allow you to float down or drill down. They're rarely useful, unless they're put there to make the level go up ... still feels like a gimmick though. Pipes that shoot you out. This feels too much like donkey kong, which is okay ... but there are pipes that shoot you out at all different kinds of angles too.

Anyway, when I played through there were two worlds I didn't go to ... not sure why, I'm going back to see how to get to them and play them. (this also made the game feel much shorter. Because it was) I know there are other things added in like pounding down on one pipe makes another grow.

Anyway. one thing that they nailed was atmosphere. It's all fantastic. I think I listed all the gripes I really have. I also haven't tried the MP yet. I will as soon as a friend gets a DS.

Yoshi Touch and Go

So, I thought this was going to be a platformer and it wasn't and I was devastated. Until I really started playing it. This simple game is incredibly addictive. I wouldn't suggest picking it up for list price (if you can find it) which is ~$30, because there isn't much game play for that price ... but it is worth owning.
There are two modes, ground and air. Ground is when you play as Yoshi. Air is when you play as baby Mario ... kind of. The entire game is stylus controlled. You draw clouds and make paths for the characters. You're able to draw circles around enemies and objects to put them in a bubble ... which will get you points. You can tap quickly to make Yoshi fire an egg, trying to hit enemies on the top screen. These very simple sounding semantics get pretty complicated when many enemies and hazards are on screen. And to the game's merit ... it never makes you angry. It's a very "one more try" type of game. It is also set up like an arcade. You just turn it on and play trying to beat a high score. No story or worlds or levels even. They're all randomly generated.
It's pretty sweet.

Sonic Rush

I haven't been able to play this much, just because it moves so damn fast. It's rather difficult to keep track of what's going on as well, since sonic can follow paths that go to the bottom or top screen. However, the screens scroll slightly, so you keep forgetting that fact. Otherwise it's like many other sonic games, but perhaps far more complex in level design. It doesn't seem to have the nice flare sonic 2 had.

Lunar Dragon Song

So f**king disappointing. I read the reviews. I was warned by the clerk. But everything I had heard said that this was just okay for a Lunar game. So, I expected nothing like original Lunar story, but at least expected a capable RPG ... man was I wrong. I'm not even sure this classifies as an RPG, seriously.

You can run ... but it drains hp, fast! (this is just walking around normally, even in areas you can't get into battle)
When you fight and you select "attack" ... that's it. You don't get to choose who you attack. There is also no defend option.

What the f**k?

An RPG is only as strong as its characters and battle system. This game lacks both. I think I might sludge through it just to see if it gets better, but my initial impression is that I'm f**king sorry for buying it.

One of the most disappointing games ever.

I'm still trying to get my hands on a copy of Castlevania, because castlevania is sweet. Other than that, I'm only interested in a few more titles right now: Mario and Luigi 2, Super Princess Peach, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart, and Metroid Hunters. That is until later this year when an Orgy of games comes out on the system.

Crono
super admin
6628 posts
633 snarkmarks
Registered: Dec 19th 2003
Location: Oregon, USA

Blame it on Microsoft, God does.