Bowser's Fury has got to be one of the most cleverly and wonderfully crafted platformer x open world hybrid games I've played by far. Bowsers Fury drops Mario into a mysterious world called Lake Lapcat, an environment filled with obstacle courses, cats, and challenges each island. It's surprisingly well paced with how each provides a series of challenges and nick knacks to discover, on top of a gigantic godzilla type foe looming in the background.
AESTHETICS AND STYLE:
Bowsers Fury integrates the concept of a mysterious island well into the Mario brand, being a bunch of blocky ruins, and landmasses akin to the typical Mario structure, aswell as brimming with life from enemies to silly cats, and the shrubbery. Things turn up a notch as Fury Bowser awakens from his slumber and the atmosphere suddenly changes to dark and danger as the sky turns to black and the world is illuminated by the fiery breath of Fury Bowser, which I think is great!
GAMEPLAY:
Now for the meat and potatoes of this expansion. As said from the beginning, Bowser's Fury is such a wonderfully crafted open world x platformer game, where you're given the freedom to visit each island (you unlocked) and go at it your own pace, aswell as old areas adding new additions and challenge as you return. On top of all this, it's hosted in one singular world, making travel and exploration practically seamless, with quick loading when warping between the islands.
I feel I had to mention this eventually but yes, Bowser's Fury is full of reused 3D World assets, but I feel it's done very tastefully in this game, they're all integrated to the environment or feel like they're built with intention and challenge, paired with original terrain environments, not to mention everything is well sewn into the Mario aesthetic, it feels fresh and unique, utilizing everything the devs have in their toolbox and craft something new out of it.
One of the prominent aspects throughout this whole adventure is this gigantic beast, Fury Bowser, who drops by every few minutes and drops massive stakes, rains fireballs and blast a laser of fire towards you, it adds a feeling of tension whenever you're in a current course but you have this big lad blowing a fuse and firing a beam of destruction around you.
It gets sicker as you claim enough cat shines to scare him away in the meantime, but once you get enough, you unlock the Giga Bell, which allows Mario to absorb it and turn into Giga Cat Mario (practically Super Saiyan Mario) in a raw kaiju battle in the middle of the ruins, as you toss his stakes back and slam on his stakes back and slam him.
MUSIC:
The score is just as whimsical as any other Mario song which is great, I find myself jamming to some of these for a while. One part I do want to mention is bowser's sick theme whenever he drops by, as the soothing world is engulfed in madness and destruction, it's paired with heavy metal and what sounds like an interpretation of Bowser singing, which is so sick to hear!
STORY:
It's a mario game, no one really goes for the story lol.
CRITICISMS:
As wonderful of a package Bowser's Fury is, I do have a few gripes with it, tho are very minor.
- Bowser specific blocks that can only be destroyed when hes around is cool at first but then feels a bit tiresome, as I have to wait for a whole cycle for him to pop back out, to which I'm likely doing something else in the meantime, and couldn't travel back or couldn't remember what spot I specifically want him to strike, and before you know it, he goes back to sleep, so it's sorta optimal to just wait around in idle till he spawns back.
- This criticism carries over to 3D World as lava damage doesn't work like in Odyssey, so touching it is just insta death, I've tried using the invincibility star ability and still die, so that's a bit infuriating on a few puzzles.
- Don't get me wrong, yes Bowser spawning in makes courses much more intense and is overall a cool function but it oftentimes feels a bit bothersome, esp in challenges where I'm sort of struggling and want my peace. It also does feel a bit repetitive. It's also extremely bothersome late game where he just doesn't leave, making the cats I'm trying to retrieve constantly evil, or just generally obstructing, so I choose to die to reset Bowser.
- Performance issues aplenty, especially as you unlock more of the world and in 2nd play, as more assets or environments are loaded, the switch is really huffing and puffing out those frames as the slowdown occurs everytime Fury Bowser pops in, it's much apparent when going for the Lucky Isle shines, but generally yeah, the performance tanks a bit here and there late game.
- Overworld bosses are an absolute breeze, I mean I don't really go or expect super challenging bosses in Mario, but they are super easy to deal with, it's more of a minigame than a boss if anything, which I guess is just general Mario bosses (Fury Bowser's boss is fun tho)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Bowser's Fury is a delightful take on open world Mario, integrating Mario's platforming aspect well into the seamless world design, a well paced adventure that's just the right amount of length (personally), and just an overall charming product, if I were to rate this, it'd be an 8/10, great stuff!
AESTHETICS AND STYLE:
Bowsers Fury integrates the concept of a mysterious island well into the Mario brand, being a bunch of blocky ruins, and landmasses akin to the typical Mario structure, aswell as brimming with life from enemies to silly cats, and the shrubbery. Things turn up a notch as Fury Bowser awakens from his slumber and the atmosphere suddenly changes to dark and danger as the sky turns to black and the world is illuminated by the fiery breath of Fury Bowser, which I think is great!
GAMEPLAY:
Now for the meat and potatoes of this expansion. As said from the beginning, Bowser's Fury is such a wonderfully crafted open world x platformer game, where you're given the freedom to visit each island (you unlocked) and go at it your own pace, aswell as old areas adding new additions and challenge as you return. On top of all this, it's hosted in one singular world, making travel and exploration practically seamless, with quick loading when warping between the islands.
I feel I had to mention this eventually but yes, Bowser's Fury is full of reused 3D World assets, but I feel it's done very tastefully in this game, they're all integrated to the environment or feel like they're built with intention and challenge, paired with original terrain environments, not to mention everything is well sewn into the Mario aesthetic, it feels fresh and unique, utilizing everything the devs have in their toolbox and craft something new out of it.
One of the prominent aspects throughout this whole adventure is this gigantic beast, Fury Bowser, who drops by every few minutes and drops massive stakes, rains fireballs and blast a laser of fire towards you, it adds a feeling of tension whenever you're in a current course but you have this big lad blowing a fuse and firing a beam of destruction around you.
It gets sicker as you claim enough cat shines to scare him away in the meantime, but once you get enough, you unlock the Giga Bell, which allows Mario to absorb it and turn into Giga Cat Mario (practically Super Saiyan Mario) in a raw kaiju battle in the middle of the ruins, as you toss his stakes back and slam on his stakes back and slam him.
MUSIC:
The score is just as whimsical as any other Mario song which is great, I find myself jamming to some of these for a while. One part I do want to mention is bowser's sick theme whenever he drops by, as the soothing world is engulfed in madness and destruction, it's paired with heavy metal and what sounds like an interpretation of Bowser singing, which is so sick to hear!
STORY:
It's a mario game, no one really goes for the story lol.
CRITICISMS:
As wonderful of a package Bowser's Fury is, I do have a few gripes with it, tho are very minor.
- Bowser specific blocks that can only be destroyed when hes around is cool at first but then feels a bit tiresome, as I have to wait for a whole cycle for him to pop back out, to which I'm likely doing something else in the meantime, and couldn't travel back or couldn't remember what spot I specifically want him to strike, and before you know it, he goes back to sleep, so it's sorta optimal to just wait around in idle till he spawns back.
- This criticism carries over to 3D World as lava damage doesn't work like in Odyssey, so touching it is just insta death, I've tried using the invincibility star ability and still die, so that's a bit infuriating on a few puzzles.
- Don't get me wrong, yes Bowser spawning in makes courses much more intense and is overall a cool function but it oftentimes feels a bit bothersome, esp in challenges where I'm sort of struggling and want my peace. It also does feel a bit repetitive. It's also extremely bothersome late game where he just doesn't leave, making the cats I'm trying to retrieve constantly evil, or just generally obstructing, so I choose to die to reset Bowser.
- Performance issues aplenty, especially as you unlock more of the world and in 2nd play, as more assets or environments are loaded, the switch is really huffing and puffing out those frames as the slowdown occurs everytime Fury Bowser pops in, it's much apparent when going for the Lucky Isle shines, but generally yeah, the performance tanks a bit here and there late game.
- Overworld bosses are an absolute breeze, I mean I don't really go or expect super challenging bosses in Mario, but they are super easy to deal with, it's more of a minigame than a boss if anything, which I guess is just general Mario bosses (Fury Bowser's boss is fun tho)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Bowser's Fury is a delightful take on open world Mario, integrating Mario's platforming aspect well into the seamless world design, a well paced adventure that's just the right amount of length (personally), and just an overall charming product, if I were to rate this, it'd be an 8/10, great stuff!
Reviewed on Feb 24, 2023