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Saturday 26 January, 2008
Gameplay:
The next area is the Kero Sewers. It isn't a very imaginative area, with the most interesting part of it being its maze-like quality. To get through it entirely I had to make it past a bunch of rats and fish to reach a button to drain the water. At the end you are confronted by Bellow who Mallow was warned about by his grandfather. He looks like a fat deformed troll dog and it obsessed with tasting my characters, the gimmick for the fight was that he could eat one character (you only have two at this point) temporarily and spray them with poison that inflicts different ailments. After Bellow is defeated a short humorous cutscene is played where Mario and Mallow try to shut the flood gates and are unsuccessful and swept away by the current. Mini-game TIME! Another Mario trademark is their mini-games, and this waterfall challenge is no exception. You get to navigate tunnels and springs that send you elsewhere on the waterfall as you collect items and coins. If you go in tunnels you get to watch a "It's a Small World"-esque cutscene and possibly get items. When it is all done you can pay to be teleported to the top and start the mini-game again for additional coins and prizes. The game starts to pick up right about now, Mallow is informed that he is adopted and joins you to find his real parents, a doll is possessed by Geno who was sent from the heavens to retrieve the Seven Stars, and Mapletown is being showered with poisonous arrows. Geno goes commando and tries to stop Bowyer, the evil entity that is attacking Mapletown. In order to get there you have to follow Geno in the right direction or you get lost in the woods, this can be quite annoying. For some reason there are Donkey Kong clones in the forest that can almost one-hit you at this point in the game which also made this area a colossal nuisance. I finished with one of my favorite boss fights, Bowyer. He can mute a character from casting and shut off whole branches of moves: A = Attack, X = Items, Y = Spells. The best part is Bowyer truly looks psychotic. Great art.
Design:
The artwork of this game is its best feature, vibrant and imaginative; all the characters feel alive. And if the artwork wasn't enough to bring the characters to life the quirky japanese story line and music really adds to cutscenes. Booster's Tower is one such point in the game, Booster is trying to marry the princess and is doing all sorts of crazy stuff to stop you (i.e. hiding behind paints, throwing bombs off a train, and having his Sniffits search curtains to find Mario). Nintendo even has Mario be mute, he never says anything except affirmative and non-affirmative grunts; to communicate he reenacts events or has other people talk for him. Another thing Nintendo retained from previous Mario games are the characters such as Peach, Toad, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Bowser, fireballs, goombas, spineys, koopa troops. As for the gameplay it is extremely basic, you have attack, item use, defend, run away, and spells. The only way to upgrade is weapon, armor, and gaining levels. Standard stuff. Once again, the saving grace is the artwork and quirkiness, your weapons can range from a giant turtle shell all the way to a frying pan. Spells include having a mecho-koopa stomp enemies or a smiley-faced star ground pound the field. Perhaps it simplicity is part of its charm and appeal. While the main story has much to offer players that designers offer unique side-quests that can yield spectacular items. The currency system is two fold: normal coins and frog coins. The normal coins are unlimited where as the frog coins are almost finite (save for a casino). Using normal coins you can buy normal goods but with the special frog coins you can get really ridiculous items that make the game way easier than it already is. All and all if you want a colorful single-player RPG that doesn't really challenge this may be a good pick. Great art, great story, classic Nintendo.
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