It's weird having this attached to 3D World, because I think it demonstrates very few of 3D World's real strengths. Where 3D World was tight, lean, and bursting with variety, Bowser's Fury, despite it's short length, can't help but feel strangely padded.
I loved how open this game felt: jumping off a lighthouse after finishing a level onto Plessie and speeding off towards the next challenge on the horizon never failed to be exhilarating. Unfortunately, the actual levels I think leave a lot to be desired. A new camera angle can't disguise the fact that this game recycles a lot from 3D World's platforming challenges, though there are a few new ideas here that are joyful to play through. What makes this worse is how repetitive these levels are: whilst sometimes the blue coin and key hunt challenges recontextualise a level enough to make it a fresh experience, too often they just have you repeat a level over again without a way to vary it up. You can't just make me fight Boom-Boom again and call it a new thing, Nintendo, especially when you've already made me fight them so many times before.
Bowser himself is a mixed bag. The first time he appears and FFX's Otherworld kicks in, it's an absolute riot. But familiarity breeds contempt, and I found myself getting irritated by his interruptions before long. I think I would have preferred less frequent, but more scripted and involved sequences rather than him showing up every 5 minutes to breathe down my neck. The Fury Cubes are, in particular, a massive misstep imo: there's nothing interesting or fun about standing next to a set of cubes and just waiting around for Bowser to blow them up for you.
Don't get me wrong, Bowser's Fury is still a very fun 3D platformer, but even at its 5 hour length, it overstays it's welcome. I'd love for Nintendo to learn from Bowser's Fury, but I don't want this to be the shape of Mario going forward.
I loved how open this game felt: jumping off a lighthouse after finishing a level onto Plessie and speeding off towards the next challenge on the horizon never failed to be exhilarating. Unfortunately, the actual levels I think leave a lot to be desired. A new camera angle can't disguise the fact that this game recycles a lot from 3D World's platforming challenges, though there are a few new ideas here that are joyful to play through. What makes this worse is how repetitive these levels are: whilst sometimes the blue coin and key hunt challenges recontextualise a level enough to make it a fresh experience, too often they just have you repeat a level over again without a way to vary it up. You can't just make me fight Boom-Boom again and call it a new thing, Nintendo, especially when you've already made me fight them so many times before.
Bowser himself is a mixed bag. The first time he appears and FFX's Otherworld kicks in, it's an absolute riot. But familiarity breeds contempt, and I found myself getting irritated by his interruptions before long. I think I would have preferred less frequent, but more scripted and involved sequences rather than him showing up every 5 minutes to breathe down my neck. The Fury Cubes are, in particular, a massive misstep imo: there's nothing interesting or fun about standing next to a set of cubes and just waiting around for Bowser to blow them up for you.
Don't get me wrong, Bowser's Fury is still a very fun 3D platformer, but even at its 5 hour length, it overstays it's welcome. I'd love for Nintendo to learn from Bowser's Fury, but I don't want this to be the shape of Mario going forward.