For all the marketing Nintendo had for this I was expecting something unique to break the old formula. It would make sense considering most other Nintendo franchises have seen major evolutions but unfortunately this is more of the same although the levels are all very unique, the defining feature here is that each level has some unique gimmick to it.
I have huge gripes with Nintendo treating Mario as a franchise that has to be extremely easy, it was one of my main issues with Mario Odyssey and it continues here as well. The levels in this game are incredibly trivial and there is rarely a moment in which obstacles are compounded to create some challenging mix of different mechanics, this is probably due to the fact that the game refuses to build on something before switching to the next mechanic. What other people may like here is what I ended up dreading, that joke people make about water levels in video games being the worst because they change a mechanically solid game into something completely different happens here in nearly every level. A majority of wonder flowers result in you having to fiddle with a different control scheme or witnessing a canned event, it gets tiring fast and the random wow factor doesn't work out when the surprise is getting to play a boring minigame.
I also don't understand the purpose of badges, it feels like they were added ontop of the game towards the end of development with how I've been able to break some levels by using them. Levels aren't designed around the badges and the badges generally make the game far easier so I'd usually avoid using them. It's a great concept in theory but I really dislike the execution here, they're basically glorified cheatcodes.
The constant narration from flowers is also incredibly annoying and I don't understand why it exists, they generally make the game feel like it's bordering on baby sensory content when I'm constantly hearing the same guy make comments in the genre of ERM well that just happened!
I wish the overall structure of this game was different but it's still the same old formula, which isn't a terrible thing as the level design is still solid and it's consistently of a pretty high quality. I just think all the new things added here don't add any value and only make the game worse. It feels like when adding new stuff they prioritized the wow factor more than considering if it's actually fun or should be in the game.
ALSO WHY IS THERE A STORY WHY IS THERE SO MUCH FUCKING DIALOGUE I HAD TO SKIP SO MUCH DIALOGUE IN THIS GAME WHO CAME UP WITH THE IDEA THAT 2D MARIO WAS MISSING OUT ON A STORY LIKE WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THAT WHY DO I GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE FLOWER PEOPLE
I have huge gripes with Nintendo treating Mario as a franchise that has to be extremely easy, it was one of my main issues with Mario Odyssey and it continues here as well. The levels in this game are incredibly trivial and there is rarely a moment in which obstacles are compounded to create some challenging mix of different mechanics, this is probably due to the fact that the game refuses to build on something before switching to the next mechanic. What other people may like here is what I ended up dreading, that joke people make about water levels in video games being the worst because they change a mechanically solid game into something completely different happens here in nearly every level. A majority of wonder flowers result in you having to fiddle with a different control scheme or witnessing a canned event, it gets tiring fast and the random wow factor doesn't work out when the surprise is getting to play a boring minigame.
I also don't understand the purpose of badges, it feels like they were added ontop of the game towards the end of development with how I've been able to break some levels by using them. Levels aren't designed around the badges and the badges generally make the game far easier so I'd usually avoid using them. It's a great concept in theory but I really dislike the execution here, they're basically glorified cheatcodes.
The constant narration from flowers is also incredibly annoying and I don't understand why it exists, they generally make the game feel like it's bordering on baby sensory content when I'm constantly hearing the same guy make comments in the genre of ERM well that just happened!
I wish the overall structure of this game was different but it's still the same old formula, which isn't a terrible thing as the level design is still solid and it's consistently of a pretty high quality. I just think all the new things added here don't add any value and only make the game worse. It feels like when adding new stuff they prioritized the wow factor more than considering if it's actually fun or should be in the game.
4 Comments
It's so odd that the main idea here is that each level begins as a fairly generic and safe Mario level and then you finally get something unique upon grabbing a wonder flower although they are always cut short... I wonder, if things could've been better if levels were just the wonder flower mechanics instead of you having to search for them. I would've loved to see a dedicated quiz level or playing as a goomba, or that weird slime mechanic being developed into entire levels rather than them just teasing you with something new and then ending immediately after you get a grasp on it. What I really yearned to be different though was the overall structure of levels and such, I dislike that it's still just a world map and each level is just searching for three collectables and running to the right. I would've loved to see some brand new idea on what a Mario level could be, ANYTHING than just running to a flagpole.
Also agree. As it stands Mario Wonder doesn't do anything exceptionally well at all. Want tight and fun regular 2D Mario? Play Mario 1/3/World or the NSMB games. Want gimmicky levels that are full of ideas (with whole levels dedicated to them) and charm with a core gameplay that supports it? Play Yoshi's Island. By trying to play both sides Wonder ended up being this bland and jumbled mess. Some levels in Wonder have the Wonder Flowers mesh better with the regular start by building upon the idea that was introduced, but then again it achieves that by simply throwing chaotic curveballs that give the middle finger to what would otherwise be smooth difficulty curves. So substantially nothing has changed, it does the same thing but not as well as what we've already been served.
Ic... I should really go back and play nsmb Wii again, I genuinely find the aesthetic more comfy than wonder. I've never been huge on Mario but I should try yoshis island with how you described it I think I'd enjoy it a lot. Kirby 64 was the last platformer I played and I loved it a ton! But I never got around to playing the other games ¯\_ >.>_/¯
Juoh
7 months ago