After Extremely British Mario 64 (BANJO-KAZOOIE) was a big hit, obviously the world needed Extremely French Mario 64, and here it is.
It's quite beautiful for a game of this type and era, with the painterly style of its stunningly-animated (but otherwise bad) predecessor adeptly moved into 3D. No small task on the N64! Gameplay-wise it is significantly more compelling than the 2D game, but it's mostly just functional rather than truly exciting to play. There unfortunately isn't a real overworld, so you just alternate between unnecessarily involved "oo will 'elp me get zee leed off my zhar of rainbeaus???" story cutscenes and wildly differing-length linear levels with odd structures. For some reason a huge amount of the platforming and obstacles in this game take the form of one-hit or one-mistake equals fail-and-start-over mini challenges that make playing feel like constantly getting on and off a tightrope, which - sorry! - sucks. But there is skill and smarts to the overall design, moreso than some contemporaries.
I respect people's nostalgia for this I guess, but I find it competent at best. Certainly better than GEX.
It's quite beautiful for a game of this type and era, with the painterly style of its stunningly-animated (but otherwise bad) predecessor adeptly moved into 3D. No small task on the N64! Gameplay-wise it is significantly more compelling than the 2D game, but it's mostly just functional rather than truly exciting to play. There unfortunately isn't a real overworld, so you just alternate between unnecessarily involved "oo will 'elp me get zee leed off my zhar of rainbeaus???" story cutscenes and wildly differing-length linear levels with odd structures. For some reason a huge amount of the platforming and obstacles in this game take the form of one-hit or one-mistake equals fail-and-start-over mini challenges that make playing feel like constantly getting on and off a tightrope, which - sorry! - sucks. But there is skill and smarts to the overall design, moreso than some contemporaries.
I respect people's nostalgia for this I guess, but I find it competent at best. Certainly better than GEX.