More or less the same as it ever was.

I really do wish this was a Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze situation where I'd come out of this replay with a newfound appreciation, but unfortunately, I'm still not too keen on Super Mario 3D World. It's been a decently relaxing and fun playthrough, don't get me twisted! But there's still a lot of particulars that rub me the wrong way...

While I understand why it controls the way it does, I don't really jive with how limited and stiff it feels to play (Well, compared to the other 3D Marios). While the shift from full analogue to 8 way movement severely hampers Mario & Co.'s more complex moves, it does make the flagpole jump and special zones a cinch to pull off. Nobody wants to fail these climactic and joyful little moments just because of a slight twitch of the thumb, right? What I can't justify is STILL how awkward it is to start sprinting, especially when the 2D games had it all figured out in the 1980's! It's like driving a car with a spluttering engine with how stop and start it feels, in sharp contrast to the the smooth speed gradients of the rest of the series. I'm not naive enough to have expected them to fix these things, but it's the main reason why I kept my distance from this port for so long...

Perhaps more soul crushing is that the art direction is still as depressingly sauceless as ever, especially so after Odyssey's overabundance of style. I do genuinely love the work that went into the character and enemy models, but it's hard to appreciate them when the level theming is so, so general in nature. Nothing links them together in any meaningful way, and (outside of lazy gestures to the wonderful stage theming of SMB3 and the half-assed geometrics of SMW), the overworlds are baron wastelands that clinically represent some sort of environmental climate and very little else. Killing Miiverse, in effect, also gutted this game of a large part of it's original identity, like a government body scrubbing away layers of graffiti for a block colour paint job. There's no real heart behind any of it, to push it above being anything other than 'decent enough', despite aging incredibly well on a technical level, you know?

But hey, at least the music, in direct contrast, is still the best a Mario game's ever sounded? Not really sure what happened at the company that allowed their musicians to completely pop off during what's otherwise an aesthetically void period of their catalogue, but I'm all ears for it! And while I haven't said too much about the gameplay as a whole (it really is just 3D Land 2 in oblique projection), it runs a little faster now and collectibles are less of a hassle to collect, making it a smoother experience overal- Well, outside of the touch screen sections, but that's just the nature of porting a Wii U game, isn't it...

I initially thought it was a little strange that they bundled this with Bowser's Fury. Wouldn't you want the bold next step in Mario's journey to stand on it's own? But yeah, no, it totally makes sense after playing them back to back. They're both moderately fun experiences hampered by a lack of strong artistic and conceptual direction, settling instead on a generally high quality level of polish more than anything else. For the gamers, this is honestly what matters most, but as someone with a critical aesthetic eye, I can't help but feel underwhelmed that they'd return to something so... plain.

It's still fun regardless, but alas, it's more or less the same as it ever was.

I don't think it's fair to rate this, as I haven't played nearly enough to rank it amongst my completed list of games, but man... Nothing short of disappointed with Ghost of Tsushima. While I can lay the blame on the game itself for being so vapid to play and Sucker Punch for developing something so milquetoast after the InFamous titles, it's honestly all on me for fooling myself into thinking I'd enjoy an open world game for once. It can be nice to play a game like this every now and then to experience what's in vogue, but it's probably for the best that I dip out now and find something that I like playing wholeheartedly, rather than slog through a 30 hour epic solely because the same development house made games I liked 10+ years ago.

Ever feel like a whole game is designed purely for you and your taste in gameplay, aesthetics and general vibe that you cannot even fathom giving it anything less than a perfect score? Like in spite of limited-even-for-the-time camera controls, slightly overambitious mechanics and repetitious objective design, there's so much appealing, hyper specific things of interest vying for your attention that you're consistently engaged from the get go, right up to the end screen? The sort of thing that you just know you'll be hyperfixated on for months, listening to the OST on loop, memorizing it's script down to the syllable and doodling all the characters for no other reason than for pure adoration for it all?

Well, I'm pretty sure that's Poinie's Poin for me right now. I'm losing my mind at just how at home I felt playing through this early 00's treasure trove of saturated colour, psychedelic pop/rock/IDM/acid fusion soundscapes and some truly off-kilter writing (with the VA to match)! Like, I keep trying to find some sort of flaw or catch or asterisk here that prevents me from recommending it to other 3D platformer/PS2 game/90's cartoon aficionados, but... no, it really is just that easy! Go play it somehow if this (or any of the other review here) intrigue you, it'll be 6 hours you won't forget!!

It's Coolio To The MAX!!!