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Thursday 21 February, 2008
Gameplay:
When I started playing the second session my sickness started to make me feel...crappy to say the least. Unfortuantely this probably influenced my unfounded hatred for the character Mallow. "A Tadpole who look nothing like a frog!" Already infuriates me for some reason. The fact that Mallow is your second character and can't throw a punch to save he...she...it's life made me defend with the creature until Mario's glorious turn came around. He attacked and one shotted enemies that Mallow was dealing nearly nothing too. Now I know what you are gonna say, yes Mallow is the Healer/Wizard and the Thudershock spell is very useful especially versus your first "Smithy" the boss was called my companions inform me, but the damage is less then half of Mario's normal attack! Granted for a player who didn't master the defense A button mashing right off the bat that has to be a life-saver, yet I doubt my hatred for Mallow is unique.
The story thus far had Mallow lose his Green Coin which his uncle gave him to buy a very specific "Cricket Pie" at the Shop in Mushroom Kingdom. Upon getting to the kingdom he is promptly robbed by an alligator and cries up a storm (Literally) then proceeds to forget why he was crying.
Directly after crying he forgot why originally had his masculine shower fest. (it was defined in the game as a he... but I'm not risking it.) This feat actually made me want the crocodile on my team for the entire chase and eventual fight with him... that is until he actually was intimidated by Mallow.
Anyways upon returning it seems Mushroom Kingdom was invaded by Shyguys again whilst you were away. So after promptly killing over 9000 of these little cretins you end up fighting a gigantic bouncing spring key with magical fire powers. Just call him Smithy. The demeaning part of this battle was his small horde of bouncing Shyguys which made Mallows Lightning attack useful.
After his defeat the plot moves on and Mario gets his first star! But wait what's this? Mario needs to visit Mallow's uncle? See it on the next Episode of Ogre-Knight's game reviews whilst sick and feeling like chucking Mallow out the window!
Design:
The innovative A button pressing to actually improve your defense and attack sore is a nice addition to get players more involved in the moment of the game, it got me involved, but I can see someone getting slightly tired of it later. The simple Mario RPG aspect throws the player for a loop in terms of game design. Although Square keeps to their RPG legacy and innovations with the out of world and in world systems that fit with Mario so well. Still some fans must have been hurt since their favorite Italian has fallen to the turn-based way. All in all however I still rate this game a 5.
Out of the few levels I've seen thus far each one ha a very different means of completion. While the first level was overly short and "Plot heavy" the following two were each very similar in appearance, but very different in actual completion. Where in the second level the goal was simple "Fight and Grind!" The second was an actual chase scene with the boss where you must use a bit of speed and trickery just to fight him. The third level came as a surprise, as fights within the town are always a bit strange and unexpected, though it was another "Grinding" level it played too the character's expected strengths, making it a slightly different experience.
Each level provides a new story-driven challenge for Mario. While the earliest stage has a connection to the previous games the concurrent levels seem to each have a personal connection to at least one of the characters other than "save the princess." The fact that each level provides a new challenge and new necessary information to reach it's completion provides a desire for the player to find out exactly how to get through each level. The fact that two major companies combined to make this project is another huge claim to fame.
The use of space seems like that of a traditional Mario level select followed by a game room much like an overworld map where Mario can react as he sees fit. The tone of the game succeeds in being simple and cartoony. Having a similar feeling to it as all successful Mario games. It does this by simply playing on whats already been created in the Mario universe and adding anything that they think would be useful to their game. They managed to pull it off! This game is not that useful at creating social interactions between players. Although an audience did appear for a short time, and this game seems much more plausible to hand over the controller for each individual character. The only thing frustrating to me so far is my head... and Mallow. It is surprisingly difficulty in catching the second Crocodile boss, because of this I would have him steadily progress his AI instead of being that hard to catch from Room 1. This game did give a certain cartoony feel that we may hope to emulate slightly in our game. The game has very little emergent complexity. The entire game seems rather progressive. The reward system always seemed to be right on the money for the payer simply breezing through the game, it was actually nearly dead on in every case thus far in order to get me through my challenges. The cutscenes play an important role in the fact that all the gameplay is generated through their use, as well as Mario's grand mimicry since he is a silent hero.
In short the footsteps of both companies make an impressive mark in every core mechanic and graphic in this game's development. They managed to combine them in such a unique game-play experience that would be insulted if this was not on the classics list.
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