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Have 'shroom, will travel

  • Marrend
  • 06/03/2010 01:03 AM
  • 2909 views















Summary:
I came into this game, more or less expecting to experience something like Super Mario World, with a twist. That's exactly what this game delivers. I'll admit that this game took some time in getting used to playing it. Such as the game having no overworld map, something I was at least half-expecting. Instead, it has something aptly called the Ultimate Warp Zone.

The actual stages range from anywhere from insanely easy to insanely hard. The difficulty the Help Blocks suggest really are good indications of how hard the stage is. Granted, I'm not the best platform gamer out there, so my personal maximum difficulty was 3 out of 5.


Why this game is BAD:
Is this game frustrating? It can be! Maybe I was just making stupid mistakes, maybe it was just a lack of luck, but I was dying way too often in some of the later/harder stages. Obviously, the later stages are supposed to be tougher, but going all the way back to the Ultimate Warp Zone to re-acquire my power-ups after a stupid mistake of a death got really annoying really fast. Granted, I didn't always return to the Ultimate Warp Zone, but some stages had the feel of having a power-up as a requirement of completing the stage.

Take "Saguaro Samba", a stage I have not quite yet beaten. That stage is much easier as a Super Mario. I was able to get further as a Fire Mario. I bet a Hammer/Fire combo would be beast in that stage! Except I have no idea where a Hammer power-up is, outside of "Max McGee's Wild Ride". The implications of what I'd have to do to be as prepared as possible to clear "Saguro Samaba" is frustrating by itself (clear "Wild Ride" with a Hammer, find a Fire Flower, get to "Samaba"). Throw in a death anywhere in there, it doesn't even have to be a stupid one at this point, and we have a textbook definition of frustration. Some gamers might get satisfaction from beating a stage on wits and reflexes alone, but not me. I need my buffer!

The auto-scrolling stages were absolutely terrible. Instead of being able to blaze past everything, which I love doing, I have to pause and wait for the scroll to reveal the next platform I have to get to. Not cool. If I get caught between a wall and the edge of the screen, I'm dead. Definitely not cool. This is not necessarily a problem I have with this game, or the engine. This is more of a general problem I have with auto-scrolling stages, or even entire games that use the mechanic. I never really understood how the player dies when caught between the edge of the screen and a wall. It's a cheap death that just feels lame. And death means going back to the Ultimate Warp Zone to re-acquire powers. And we already know how I feel about that, don't we?

Looking at the boards, even the designers thought the auto-scrolling stages were broken. I didn't pick up on that red flag until after I tried them on my own. Thankfully, I recall one of the designers saying that they were fixed in later versions. If I downloaded a fixed version, however, they still feel pretty broken. Particularly "Kentsnowna", where the scroll speed is so fast, fire flowers have been known to pop up from blocks, then fall down the screen, as the flower is no longer supported by the block. It's moved, due to the scrolling. I'm sure I'm not describing this properly, but it looks really odd, to say the least. A gameplay video showcasing this phenomenon would be great, but I have no idea how to make one, nor how to put one into this review.

As long as I'm pointing things out, I couldn't enter "Break Bowser's Blockade" at all. As far as I can tell, there's no reason why I couldn't. I looked at the event in the editor, but I couldn't see anything glaring. Then again, I'd have no clue what to look for in the first place. Perhaps someone who knows more about the engine can look into this?


Why this game is GOOD:
I like speed. I take enjoyment in blazing through areas at incomprehensible velocities. Or at least a velocity that "feels" faster than normal movement. "Max McGee's Wild Ride" and "Underground Run" are the best stages that allow me to do this in one of the most enjoyable ways possible - a sequence of hills. The sense of speed is absolutely amazing. Again, a gameplay video showcasing this would totally fit the context of this review.

I think the Ultimate Warp Zone is such a neat concept for a Mario game. The pipes that lead the player to the various worlds are labeled in a unique, dare I say profitable, way. The labeling suggests which world the player is accessing. The player then enters another hub area where the stages are. By hitting a block near the stage entrance, a pop-up message appears to tell the player the title of the stage, who made the stage, and an approximate difficulty rating. There are also warps directly to stages from the Ultimate Warp Zone. Those can be identified by the Help Block nearby the pipes.

I also really like the distribution of lives in this game. There's 15 hidden extra lives to be had before you even get into the Ultimate Warp Zone. There may be some in the Ultimate Warp Zone that I haven't found. Those hidden blocks, along with all seen blocks, replenish(!) when the area repopulates, which seems to occur each time I died. Don't get me wrong, dying is never a good thing, and should be avoided at all costs. However, having so many lives at my disposal really helped this game. They allowed me to feel out a stage, and form a strategy of clearing it before making a more serious attempt.


Summary:
My beefs with this game are, for the most part, aesthetic. They will vary from gamer to gamer. Some gamers, like me, will absolutely loathe the auto-scrolling levels. Others would welcome the challenge. I seriously doubt anybody would backtrack as often as I did in normal play. Hence, that leaves the only glaring flaw, the only real complaint of substance I have against Super RMN Bros., is not being able to enter "Break Bowser's Blockade".

I had way too much fun sliding down those hills in "Max McGee's Wild Ride" and "Underground Run". However, I realize that not all gamers are interested in getting to Point A to Point B in a fastest way possible. The whole Ultimate Warp Zone thing pretty much speaks for itself, I think. As for the quantity of lives, I suppose that might actually deter the more "hardcore" audience.

This is my third attempt at writing a review for this game. The first two were denied because, long story short, I gave a review score of 5/5. Upon closer inspection of this review, it became clear that I could not justify giving the game that high a score. Even in it's current incarnation, I spend a little too much space ranting about "what's bad", and don't use enough space ranting about "what's good". In other words, I wasn't reading my own review, weird as that sounds.

Yes, I had fun playing this game, and I firmly believe that others will garner similar enjoyment. I originally thought that giving a game a "5" would "spread the word", but I realize now that such would be a terrible abuse of the rating system. A score like that needs to be earned. I'm actually glad the first two were denied, in this respect.

BOTTOM LINE: 3/5

Posts

Pages: 1
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
You finally made it! Too bad some of the text near the top of the review is unreadable due to the background cloud images. I definitely agree with your last point regarding ratings.
Damnit I thought I fixed the entrance to Bowser's Blockade (the problem is probably that the pipe and airship hover but the entrance to the level doesn't move. You can't use the entrance unless you're lined up properly which only happens when the airship+pipe are at the highest (or lowest) point in it's little hover).

Re Autoscrolling levels: It's funny that each auto-scrolling level does it in a different manner. Skyjinx lets you advance the level but you can never go back, Kentsnowna restricts you to the same area, and Bowser's Blockade has the player scroll against the level instead of the level scroll against the player. They're all terrible though and thankfully there aren't many autoscrolling levels.

Anyways, thanks for the review!
You can just preface the first 15 or so lines of the review with empty lines. That way the text will start after the clouds.

EDIT:
An auto-scroll level had to be attempted!

EDIT2:
Also, MAKERSCORE FOR EVERYONE!
Yeah, we needed an autoscrolling level. Thankfully there just weren't many (3/43? not badat all really)
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
I'm glad you liked my ride level.

XD
It's interesting how you use the bolds.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
15 empty lines looks about right. Now we can see everything!
Pages: 1