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Monday 21 January, 2008
Gameplay:
Continuing on the quest we meet a number of stereotypic parody characters, including the orphan who's questing to find his parents, the wise old frog that fills you in on the details (and is named Frogfucious), and a doll brought to life by a shooting star. The gameplay remains standard RPG fare, with lots of the same fight repeated so that you can level up to keep up with the enemies. The minimal equipment and character development means there isn't anything too special about finding all the treasure chests; especially since a lot of the chests contain coins and I've already found an upper limit of 999 coins that you can carry.
You do occasionally run into a minigame, which can be entertaining. Looking around I found one that involved jumping on tadpoles to play a song, and playing the correct one let you purchase new items. Another one has you riding barrels and jumping to collect coins. The minigames seem well spaced and are somewhat enjoyable.
Design:
The game seems to be aimed at a young crowd who are familiar with Mario, but may be unfamiliar with the RPG genre. To this end it seems very well designed. The characters often make self-depricating remarks about Bowser having kidnapped the princess again, the colors are bright and cartoonish, and the action is very simple and straightforward. This would have been a great game when I was seven.
The choice to simplify the gameplay to such a low level, however, make it uninteresting when thought of as an RPG. The minigames, while well spaced, are also fairly simple and after a quick read of the directions provided they require very little skill/thought to complete.
For its time and age group, Super Mario RPG is a great game. For anyone who enjoys an engaging storyline and a complex RPG system this just plays too much to the cutesy audience.
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