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Friday 25 January, 2008
GAMEPLAY
Playing Super Mario World for a second session proved to be more rewarding than the first. My partner and I were simply addicted, oftentimes screaming because we both would die at the same locations or at just the sheer frustration of some hard levels. Level after level, I think we began to grow much more sensitive to the controller, being smoother and getting through levels with more grace and agility.
I am not a huge video game fan and really have never really been, but Super Mario World has me. Like the first session, the game was simply a process or flow, getting from the beginning to the end and like machines–we did. Those around us began even to get jealous of our newfound addiction and demanded that they play!
DESIGN
There were two major aspects that stood out to me when playing Super Mario World. One included the vast variation of levels there were. I think initially what drew me to the game and I’m sure many others, is the array of levels I was able to play: caves, trees, cliffs, haunted houses, clouds, and more! As each level progressed, the environment changed and as well as its bad guys. These bad guys became much better at attempting to hurt me as I progressed. For example, more towards the beginning, bad guys would attempt to just jump on me and further into the game there came to be bad guys who would spew multiple fireballs in my direction. Also what was interesting was at the end of some levels there were bosses. These bosses oftentimes were very different from the bad guys within levels, giving them a more ‘special feeling’ when fighting them, This was a change from the typical beginning/end playing, I had to begin and not only get through the level, I had to beat a boss in order to advance. This only made the playing experience much more addicting and fun.
The second aspect of design that really stood out to me was the sound in the game. It was all just so classic! There was a very wide arrange on songs that went with and fitted with each level that were really corny and yet at the same time so awesome. It gave the game a really fun feeling and really creates the mood for which you play in. Some sounds that really stood out in my mind were: the noise that occurs when you get a coin, when you are small Mario or Luigi and you get a mushroom that makes you grow, the ‘invisible mode’, and when you die. These are all so classic sounding and again, I think this classic-ness is what really contributes to the awesomeness of Super Mario World.
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