It's ffffffffffffffffINE!!!!
Like, seriously, it's just fine. It's good and nothing amazing. It's very much the MGS Ground Zeros or KH 0.2 of the Mario series, something very short as an appetizer for something (hopefully) much better down the road.
I really liked the platforming challenges and the game flows really well since you never stop collecting shines, and the fact that every level inhabits one space means there is never any down time. It's like if Odyssey didn't have a story and let you explore the entirety of each world from the get go, except with some actually good platforming challenges unlike Odyssey.
The whole thing with Bowser waking up to interrupt your progress every few minutes had me miffed at first, but there's always something to do, some things requiring Bowser to begin with, so it began to bother me less as the game went on
It's cool to see that there are elements of every 3D Mario in here, but it's disappointing to see it fall short when compared to every other 3D Mario in one key area: the setting. This world is such a bland and lifeless place to inhabit and explore. Every other 3D Mario game, even 3D Land and 3D World on occasion, stand out because of their imaginative locals, and this game doesn't even scratch the surface of the creativity in the entire rest of this series.
I will likely still go back and collect all of the cat shines, but this is not a game that captured my imagination in any way.
Like, seriously, it's just fine. It's good and nothing amazing. It's very much the MGS Ground Zeros or KH 0.2 of the Mario series, something very short as an appetizer for something (hopefully) much better down the road.
I really liked the platforming challenges and the game flows really well since you never stop collecting shines, and the fact that every level inhabits one space means there is never any down time. It's like if Odyssey didn't have a story and let you explore the entirety of each world from the get go, except with some actually good platforming challenges unlike Odyssey.
The whole thing with Bowser waking up to interrupt your progress every few minutes had me miffed at first, but there's always something to do, some things requiring Bowser to begin with, so it began to bother me less as the game went on
It's cool to see that there are elements of every 3D Mario in here, but it's disappointing to see it fall short when compared to every other 3D Mario in one key area: the setting. This world is such a bland and lifeless place to inhabit and explore. Every other 3D Mario game, even 3D Land and 3D World on occasion, stand out because of their imaginative locals, and this game doesn't even scratch the surface of the creativity in the entire rest of this series.
I will likely still go back and collect all of the cat shines, but this is not a game that captured my imagination in any way.
Reviewed on Oct 12, 2021