Gaming I admit, I was wrong about SM3DW

[Thomas83Lin]

I recommend going for a 100% run, that's how I got the most enjoyment out of it. the later levels can get challenging.

 

[ForteGospel]

I didn't defend CoD. I used CoD as an example of precisely what Nintendo does, especially in this past year with a flood of unoriginal Mario for the struggling Wii U, as well as what they did on the Wii with the New Super Mario Bros. thing that leaked onto the Wii U as well when it should have stayed on the DS where it belonged. With games like Galaxy being possible, Nintendo has clearly become too desperate to give two shits about even trying to innovate in the series. I also don't recall bashing Mario 64, Sunshine, or Galaxy. If I'm not mistaken, those are excluded or strengthen my argument, as I used Galaxy as an example of what should be done, and completely exclude the N64 and Gamecube from my argument.

Of course, if you want to put words in my mouth and make assumptions, I'm sure the Nintendo fanboys will eat it up.

Try again?

your point is still invalid as mario 3d was an innovation for the franchise... merging the 2d level based mario with the 3d open world mario into a new idea... and they have spanned that series into 2 games, not 5 not 10 not 15, only 2.

now if you look back you can clearly see a pattern in their development:

new handheld mario exploring a new direction safely -> multiplayer console mario using that new direction
new super mario -> new super mario wii
super mario 3d land -> super mario 3d world

but is that enough to go and say that nintendo is milking the same ideas over and over and over again? i disagree

is it enough to say that nintendo is milking the character itself? well thats over 25 years of using him... yet every single game sold accordingly and got good critics score. unlike sega that get 2 good sonic games then we have 5 years of crap...

every single company that has been using the same mascot for over a decade is guilty of that, the only difference is if they can maintain the momentum of good games and nintendo has not yet failed

hell even new super mario bros u got a meta critic of 84 and the dlc a meta critic of 77, new super mario bros 2 with a meta critic of 78.

super mario 3d land with meta critic 90 and 3d world 93

not only they are able to maintain that momentum but they also improve it

 

[McHaggis]

I was the same with SM3DW, I didn't have much interest but I bought it for my kids at Xmas. I just got around to playing it myself at the end of last month, after watching them play I was really impressed. It has pretty much everything I wanted in a Mario game since Super Mario World. More levels, more power-ups, more variety (e.g. Captain Toad levels, mystery houses). I was expecting a game that felt rushed because they needed to fix the Wii U, a game that wasn't particularly bad, but disappointing (like Super Mario 3D Land).

I think actually playing the game would clear any doubts people have.

 

[Arras]

While it may not be innovating the Mario formula, the level design in this game is amazing. Nearly every level feels fresh and adds something new. The soundtrack is great too. The only thing I don't really like is all the green stars that are just "yeah go get a cat suit and climb every wall in the entire level".

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Honestly, I can't see it.

I mean, every level is made up of cubes (or other simple objects) and because of that there's little variety in level design. Many of the environments are just so flat and empty. Sunshine Seaside is a perfect example of this. It's mostly just a flat plane with little hills, which is ridiculous. Every single underwater level is the same, sidescrolling through a flat, mostly empty space. There might be a small group of enemies here and there, but because it's a 3D game you can just move past them.

If any other game tried to get away with this lack of effort it would be condemned as shovelware. But it's Super Mario 3D World, and it's illegal to dislike any aspect of 3D World, under rule of blind fanboy-ism.

My point is that they designed the levels with 2D games in mind (obviously), but that meant forgoing all the benefits of having a 3D environment. No complexity, no variety, it's just platform-to-platform. No adventuring, just mindless jumping.

I can agree with you that a lot of the levels are designed in that way, but I was more thinking about the style of the different levels, not so much the linearity of them. They are a bit linear but less so than in SM3DL at least. The level design in Super Mario Galaxy was certainly much better. You make a very valid point, but apart from what you mentioned, the levels are quite varied and fun. The "flat" design of the levels isn't neccessarily a bad thing, when used well it can provide quite a challenge, and it makes for a lot of good hiding spots for green stars.

 

[SnAQ]

I haven't yet finished the two remaining stages, one due to the 10sec limit and the other.. lack of memorisation and timing.

I hear you man!
I actually gave up, i will never ever finish the game 100%