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Wednesday 20 February, 2008
Entry #2
GAMEPLAY
Super Mario 64 is a game full of puzzles. The primary ones involve finding a way to reach or uncover several stars from each world. Its clear the designers put quite an amount of thought into these puzzles, for they hardly ever feel repetitive. From having to get to the very top of a level to fighting some big baddy to collecting hundreds of coins to races against opponents or time to using a multitude of hats that have varying effects on Mario - flying, turning to metal, becoming intangible... Really, the list of challenges presented to the player is quite large. With all the variety presented to the player, it makes sure the game never feels dull or repetitive. Sure, you are always collecting more stars, but it always feels like you are making progress and having fun while doing it.
The camera system is handled very cleverly in this game, both in explanation and actual player interaction. As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a brief introduction of the camera at the beginning of the game. What exactly is going on is you find out you actually have a little camera man following you around on a floating cloud, documenting your trip through the castle. It shows him at the beginning, and later in a room with a mirror, you can see him reflected and following closely behind Mario, a cute addition in my opinion. As for actual controls, the player is allowed easy access to rotating the camera as well as being provided different modes. The first and default mode keeps its distance but centers on Mario, allowing a good view of surroundings and anything that may be charging in your direction. The second gets in close and stays directly behind Mario, used for situations that need more carefully handled and precise controls, such as crossing a narrow pathway. I feel this allowed a lot of control over the camera for the player, minimizing annoyance and making for a more overall fun gameplay.
DESIGN
I like how the game set up access to all its levels and how easy it is to traverse and go back and forth between different zones. First, there is the castle area that serves as the main, central point. Withing the castle, there are several portraits, all portals to the separate levels. At first, the player is limited to only one world beyond the castle. However, as they further gameplay and get more stars, slowly more possibilities open up to them. They can either chose to see a world through to the end, collecting every star and finding every secret, or they can skip a world all together, or somewhere between the two extremes. It is possible to complete the game without ever having visited certain worlds. It is also possible to skip ahead a few worlds then decide you want to go back and explore another world further. So, in a sense the story is fairly linear, but the player is allowed a fair amount of control to the point of picking and choosing what they want to do and playing through the game in a different order than may have been intended.
In this game, Mario got a serious upgrade from his past incarnations. In previous games, he was mostly limited to one kind of jumping, one kind of punch, and a few power-ups, such as shooting fireballs. But when Mario got introduced to the 64, a whole new slew of attacks and special abilities came with him. No longer limited to a simple hop, the player can now do several different amazing leaps, all unique and useful in their own way. For example, Mario could now long jump, throwing himself across a large, gaping abyss. He could also wall hop, leaping into a wall and bouncing off and being able to do so repeatedly, going higher and higher, allowing access to the tallest of structures. I think it was great that this was designed into the game. It made exploration more fun and interesting for the player, as well as providing several tools for puzzle solving. Plus, it was a very unique aspect to the game, practically turning jumping into the series' trademark.
Flying in the game gave me mixed feelings. When Mario 64 was first introduced, the flying was actually rather impressive. This feeling of gliding through a free, 3D environment among the clouds was quite a sensation. However, the controls were always rather frustrating. They are in fact quite similar to the Super Mario World, involving attempting to keep Mario afloat by waggling the joystick up and down to a certain rhythm, all the while watching nervously as you slowly lost altitude. I'm not sure if there was really a better way to handle it, making it more fun and yet still challenging. However, I will say that there were several hours lost to the bonus level solely made for flying among the towers and nothing below you but endless blue.
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