I was one of those people who used to think this game was just plain average, but after my second replay, I've backtracked on this mindset. It is a good game, however a lot holds it back from being great.
The movement is frankly incredible, this is the best feeling 3D platformer ever made. Traversal is incredibly easy, and the cappy bounce trick isn't super hard, but it is fun. It's not complex or deep traversal, but it does feel great to run around in. The world design lends itself to traversal being super fun, moons and purple coins normally lead you to the next destination, so progression feels natural. Doing the mini moon challenges is fun, collecting tons of moons from bite sized challenges is entertaining and snappy. However this comes at a cost I'll explain later. The capture mechanic is really neat for a powerup idea, the captures are basic and gimmicky, but they do spice things up from time to time. And the originality of this game compared to recent Mario games is frankly refreshing, the kingdom variety and inhabitants are such a treat to see, it oozes creativity and passion unlike something like New Super Mario Bros 2 or Mario Tennis Ultra Smash which are the worst examples I can think of.
The main issue I have is how little concepts are fleshed out, the difficulty curve in this game simply doesn't exist, or is too minor to notice. I never felt like the game was getting any harder from start to finish. One moon in Jurassic Kingdom was as easy to collect as one from Luncheon Kingdom. Due to the nature of moons, most are simple to collect, and offer mini ideas like platforming sections or gimmicks, but the sheer number of them come at the cost of fleshing out ideas, so there are cool ideas, but ultimately, they aren't used to their full potential due to the nature of each challenge being bite sized. It really is an issue of quantity over quality, I always find myself slightly disappointed when there is a fun platforming room for a moon but it's beatable in 20 seconds, it presents a fun idea, but it's swiftly abandoned. This is why I prefer Super Mario 3D Worlds gameplay, because levels fully flesh out platforming ideas and gimmicks even if that game is soulless when it comes to originality. I really think Bowsers Fury fixed where this game faltered for me.
Despite my gripes with this game, I still found it to be incredibly fun 7 hour journey. I'm glad I gave the game a second chance.
The movement is frankly incredible, this is the best feeling 3D platformer ever made. Traversal is incredibly easy, and the cappy bounce trick isn't super hard, but it is fun. It's not complex or deep traversal, but it does feel great to run around in. The world design lends itself to traversal being super fun, moons and purple coins normally lead you to the next destination, so progression feels natural. Doing the mini moon challenges is fun, collecting tons of moons from bite sized challenges is entertaining and snappy. However this comes at a cost I'll explain later. The capture mechanic is really neat for a powerup idea, the captures are basic and gimmicky, but they do spice things up from time to time. And the originality of this game compared to recent Mario games is frankly refreshing, the kingdom variety and inhabitants are such a treat to see, it oozes creativity and passion unlike something like New Super Mario Bros 2 or Mario Tennis Ultra Smash which are the worst examples I can think of.
The main issue I have is how little concepts are fleshed out, the difficulty curve in this game simply doesn't exist, or is too minor to notice. I never felt like the game was getting any harder from start to finish. One moon in Jurassic Kingdom was as easy to collect as one from Luncheon Kingdom. Due to the nature of moons, most are simple to collect, and offer mini ideas like platforming sections or gimmicks, but the sheer number of them come at the cost of fleshing out ideas, so there are cool ideas, but ultimately, they aren't used to their full potential due to the nature of each challenge being bite sized. It really is an issue of quantity over quality, I always find myself slightly disappointed when there is a fun platforming room for a moon but it's beatable in 20 seconds, it presents a fun idea, but it's swiftly abandoned. This is why I prefer Super Mario 3D Worlds gameplay, because levels fully flesh out platforming ideas and gimmicks even if that game is soulless when it comes to originality. I really think Bowsers Fury fixed where this game faltered for me.
Despite my gripes with this game, I still found it to be incredibly fun 7 hour journey. I'm glad I gave the game a second chance.