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In a land where overweight plumbers assault turtles and dinosaurs with radishes...
- Killer Wolf
- 07/08/2012 12:41 AM
- 2746 views
Super Doki Doki World Review by Killer Wolf
An adventure in a far away kingdom of dreams where you fight your way through undead fish, flying turtles, ninja starfish, lava pits, bomb throwing mice and egg spitting dinosaurs all while consuming a steady diet of magic mushrooms, flowers, and leaves? Sounds like a job for Hunter S. Thompson, but since he isn’t around right now, I guess I’ll fill in.
I’ve been looking forward to this release for a long time. I’m old enough for Super Mario Brothers to qualify as one of my earliest video gaming experiences. The videogame landscape, and my taste in general, has changed a lot in the last twenty years. Would puppeteering a portly plumber through a preponderance of platforming challenges hold the same appeal it had for me as a youth? More frighteningly, would I discover that not touching a Mario game since, oh about the time of Super Mario World, would have caused all my finely honed Mario muscles to atrophy almost completely?
The answer to both questions is a resounding “Hell yes!” This has to be the most fun I’ve had, while feeling like a complete spaz, in recent memory.
Gameplay: 4 out of 5
+ The levels are extremely well constructed.
- however… some feel fairly short compared to Super Mario World
+ You are usually given the power-up you need to proceed.
- …due to the challenge level of some maps, holding on to that powerup long enough for it to do you any good is another story entirely.
- The controls feel a little floaty at first, but this has to do more with SMBX than Doki Doki World
+ Once you get used to the SMBX feel, the controls smooth out a lot.
- I noticed a bug where I was able to fly over the first block of Shady Shady Keep, but immediately got stuck and had to quit the level.
+ The absence of a timer gives you that much needed time to figure out a safe path through five screens full of Bullet Bill.
Innovation: 3 out of 5
+ It is a lot of fun to pelt traditional Mario World enemies with radishes, onions, and green pumpkins.
- Beyond the above, and outside a couple of boss enemies, the Doki Doki element is minimal. I was expecting something similar to all the worlds from SMB2, but with a SMB3/SMW style over-world map. A lot of the time, it just felt like I was playing SMW maps with a few places to pull up a radish or a POW box.
+ I was very excited to see the way Shady Shady Keep made use of doors. One of the things I was looking for from this game was the “go through a door and get to the backstage part of the level”…
- unfortunately it was only used as a gimmick, and ultimately distracts from the way to get into the castle.
- before figuring out I needed to drop in the water and go in the pipe, (which admittedly makes sense from a plumber’s perspective) I spent most of the morning going through the level, trying different combinations of doors, believing that if I went through them in the right order, that last one would lead to the castle’s interior!
- the story is entirely forgettable. I was just playing, and I can’t remember it…
+ but it is a Mario game, so I wasn’t expecting a digital recreation of War & Peace.
Music & Sound FX: 4 out of 5
+ Almost every track reminded me of playing Super Mario games as a kid.
- I did experience some scrambled tracks, but I believe that has to do with my audio codecs more than anything else. If someone has the same issues I do, though, it would subtract from their experience.
Graphics: 4 out of 5
+ Almost everything looks the way you would expect.
+ Mario seems to be in fine SMB3 form, which is great in my book.
+ The enemies from different games mix together nicely…
- with the exception of the Penguin(?) boss that breaks through the floor. It really clashed with the rest of the game’s art style.
+ It was nice to see the Doki Doki elements integrated into a standard Mario experience so well!
Re-playability: 3 out of 5
+ There are four characters available
- I didn’t see any real incentive to replay the game with everyone else…
- due to the difficulty of some sections, you might not care to anyway…
- There do not seem to be any secret stages…
Overall: 3.8 out of 5 stars
The more mathematically inclined among you might notice a discrepancy between the score I came up with and the one I posted. When I was filling in the score box for this review, I noticed that it took a 4 star rating to equal "good." This is a good game/pack of levels and it deserves to be labeled that way, even if there are a couple minor issues that knock it down a peg or two in my book.
The levels are well designed and provide a solid challenge. Some of them are timed out just perfectly to be maddening. You just finish a complicated series of jumps and run to build up steam for the next, only to smack into a well timed fireball or other aerial hazard.
There were moments where this game made me want to stare into a mirror and rip my face off, Poltergeist style, but at the same time it kept me coming back because it is just that well made.
If you've ever enjoyed a Mario game, download this and start playing it.
Hey, what are you waiting for?
An adventure in a far away kingdom of dreams where you fight your way through undead fish, flying turtles, ninja starfish, lava pits, bomb throwing mice and egg spitting dinosaurs all while consuming a steady diet of magic mushrooms, flowers, and leaves? Sounds like a job for Hunter S. Thompson, but since he isn’t around right now, I guess I’ll fill in.
I’ve been looking forward to this release for a long time. I’m old enough for Super Mario Brothers to qualify as one of my earliest video gaming experiences. The videogame landscape, and my taste in general, has changed a lot in the last twenty years. Would puppeteering a portly plumber through a preponderance of platforming challenges hold the same appeal it had for me as a youth? More frighteningly, would I discover that not touching a Mario game since, oh about the time of Super Mario World, would have caused all my finely honed Mario muscles to atrophy almost completely?
The answer to both questions is a resounding “Hell yes!” This has to be the most fun I’ve had, while feeling like a complete spaz, in recent memory.
Gameplay: 4 out of 5
+ The levels are extremely well constructed.
- however… some feel fairly short compared to Super Mario World
+ You are usually given the power-up you need to proceed.
- …due to the challenge level of some maps, holding on to that powerup long enough for it to do you any good is another story entirely.
- The controls feel a little floaty at first, but this has to do more with SMBX than Doki Doki World
+ Once you get used to the SMBX feel, the controls smooth out a lot.
- I noticed a bug where I was able to fly over the first block of Shady Shady Keep, but immediately got stuck and had to quit the level.
+ The absence of a timer gives you that much needed time to figure out a safe path through five screens full of Bullet Bill.
Innovation: 3 out of 5
+ It is a lot of fun to pelt traditional Mario World enemies with radishes, onions, and green pumpkins.
- Beyond the above, and outside a couple of boss enemies, the Doki Doki element is minimal. I was expecting something similar to all the worlds from SMB2, but with a SMB3/SMW style over-world map. A lot of the time, it just felt like I was playing SMW maps with a few places to pull up a radish or a POW box.
+ I was very excited to see the way Shady Shady Keep made use of doors. One of the things I was looking for from this game was the “go through a door and get to the backstage part of the level”…
- unfortunately it was only used as a gimmick, and ultimately distracts from the way to get into the castle.
- before figuring out I needed to drop in the water and go in the pipe, (which admittedly makes sense from a plumber’s perspective) I spent most of the morning going through the level, trying different combinations of doors, believing that if I went through them in the right order, that last one would lead to the castle’s interior!
- the story is entirely forgettable. I was just playing, and I can’t remember it…
+ but it is a Mario game, so I wasn’t expecting a digital recreation of War & Peace.
Music & Sound FX: 4 out of 5
+ Almost every track reminded me of playing Super Mario games as a kid.
- I did experience some scrambled tracks, but I believe that has to do with my audio codecs more than anything else. If someone has the same issues I do, though, it would subtract from their experience.
Graphics: 4 out of 5
+ Almost everything looks the way you would expect.
+ Mario seems to be in fine SMB3 form, which is great in my book.
+ The enemies from different games mix together nicely…
- with the exception of the Penguin(?) boss that breaks through the floor. It really clashed with the rest of the game’s art style.
+ It was nice to see the Doki Doki elements integrated into a standard Mario experience so well!
Re-playability: 3 out of 5
+ There are four characters available
- I didn’t see any real incentive to replay the game with everyone else…
- due to the difficulty of some sections, you might not care to anyway…
- There do not seem to be any secret stages…
Overall: 3.8 out of 5 stars
The more mathematically inclined among you might notice a discrepancy between the score I came up with and the one I posted. When I was filling in the score box for this review, I noticed that it took a 4 star rating to equal "good." This is a good game/pack of levels and it deserves to be labeled that way, even if there are a couple minor issues that knock it down a peg or two in my book.
The levels are well designed and provide a solid challenge. Some of them are timed out just perfectly to be maddening. You just finish a complicated series of jumps and run to build up steam for the next, only to smack into a well timed fireball or other aerial hazard.
There were moments where this game made me want to stare into a mirror and rip my face off, Poltergeist style, but at the same time it kept me coming back because it is just that well made.
If you've ever enjoyed a Mario game, download this and start playing it.
Hey, what are you waiting for?
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No, I made my way through it eventually, it was just the one that stuck with me the most after playing. I think I spent more lives on it than the rest of the levels combined! (Slight exaggeration)
author=kentona
I sense that you had a love/hate relationship with level 3-6 Shady Shady Keep
Killer Wolf, was that the last level you played? I notice it's the most commented-on level.
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