Thursday 21 February, 2008

Game Play
I love Super Mario RPG so much so I wish they made another one on a on the Wii. The game is done really well by the best RPG designers I know Square Enix. For starters the graphics were uncommon for the SNES it was almost 3D. The game play consisted of exploring new areas clearing waves of enemies group by group, avatar by avatar. The fight was turn based so it wasn’t that heart pumping but syncing your button pressing with your attack did keep you on you toes. A multitude of special abilities also made defeating those tougher opponents more fun. Like Mario’s infamous jump attack and fire balls. Some moves did seem to affect some foes but that made it more challenging to find out which moves where more affective against certain foes. The game still drew me in by its story line but that should be the case with any RPG.



Design
As far as innovations go I’m not as knowledgeable with gaming in the 90’s but Super Mario RPG was the First RPG in the Super Mario Francise made my Square Enix. That said how can the game turn out bad? The only Innovation that caught my interest was the fighting system. I am not used to choosing my attacks and then timing them accordingly to the on screen avatar. What makes this game amazing is first off its Narrative. People have always wanted to play an RPG with Mario in it so here you go.My favorite design elements would be the character models done almost 3D, its similar to the GBA title Golden Sun but years ahead. The SNES is mainly a 2D system but I believe they did a decent attempt at showing the potential with the SNES with Super Mario RPG. What Bugged me was the level design. The levels were very small and they looked like they were floating in a sort of space limbo. But aside from that the levels were great. They incorporated puzzles and rewards as you went along. Along with that as you progressed with the level the multitude of enemies increased along with variety. Different enemies with different strengths and weaknesses offered a nice challenge. Conflicts in the game are fairly straight forward as RPG’s go. You have the main quest along with side quest. It remains pretty standard as far as that goes. As I said before the game keeps players interested with the narrative. As you progress you meet up with new friends and fight new foes and unravel the epic that is Super Mario RPG. Like most Mario games this game keeps the same clean fun childish tone. This are clean crisp and cartoony. For the most part this game doesn’t encourage play with others. Like most RPG’s you are probably going to play the majority of the game by yourself. If I had to change one thing in the game I would make that levels much bigger. The small levels made it too confined. This game is defiantly a game of progression no doubt. The letters RPG kind of give it away form the start.The reward system was prefect you got little rewards frequently by defeating waves of enemies and you got bigger rewards by defeating bosses. Cut scenes are essential to an RPG, this game is no exception. The whole introduction of this game was a giant cut scene.

This is all right, and the gameplay sections hold together well, but the design section, while long, is rather disjointed and a bit shallow. Next time it would be better to concentrate on a few aspects of design in detail instead of covering many all at once.

Amy Leek (grader)