Super Mario 3D Land Review

Is this a true 3D Mario or is it a major platforming flop?

Spoilers...

Back at Nintendo E3 2011, we were given our first glimpse of what would later be known as "Super Mario 3D Land". At first I was really hyped and excited for this new 3DS game, but did it the enjoyment last throughout the adventure?

Is it a good adventure? Read on to find out...

In the opening cutscene of the game, we witness a “Tanooki Tree” which holds Tanooki leaves (naturally - Ed) but during a dramatic storm, we’re shown all the leaves get blown away until it’s completely wiped of its brown goods. The next morning, Mario and some Toads see the following photograph in a winged envelope hurry to Peach's aid...

THE PHOTOGRAPH...

 

Upon beginning the game the player encounters a New Super Mario Bros. Style world map, breaking up the gameplay into different levels. When I started up the first level, I was at first mesmerized by the game – the sheer graphics and 3D function just blew me away. I still can’t fault the graphics for they were truly stunning. On top of this, most of the soundtrack was superb too! The main theme (which reminded me of the music in “Super Mario Bros. 3”) and the final boss music was truly epic in every way!

The gameplay was pretty good too – most of it was a standard Mario action which you all know to expect from a 3D Mario game. However I don’t really like the idea of a 3D game taking on so much a 2D Mario game has. The star medals and the flagpole didn’t suit so well in the game because I prefer collecting stars a la “Super Mario 64”. I had hoped that 3D Land would stay true to its roots, but of course it hasn’t. Though I have grown used to this by now I would expect it to be better executed in “Super Mario 3D World” the game's (sort-of) sequel.

There isn’t much variety in power ups however. You have the Super Mushroom, Invincibility Star, Fire Flower combo again with the new Boomerang Suit and the return of the Tanooki leaf. Don't expect you can fly though. You can't. This item only gives you the ability to flutter Yoshi style, which was a real disappointment – as I hoped it would allow me to fly and see it in a 3D game. Also, they have introduced the stone Tanooki leaf which allows you to turn into a statue to stay out of harm’s way like the original Power Leaf allowed you to do in SMB3. Pretty handy if you ask me. And there’s the white tanooki leaf, making you invincible.

Also the P-Wing item returns from “Super Mario Bros. 3” except it teleports you straight to the end. I would have hoped that it would give you help like the quick guide in “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” as that would have been more helpful to the player rather than just dumping them at the very end of the stage. It's the game's way of saying "You're even worse than rubbish so just go ahead and cheat."

The new power up introduced (as we briefly mentioned earlier) is the Boomerang flower which transforms Mario into a boomerang bro (pretty much). The only problem is he can only throw 1 boomerang at a time. I was hoping at least two, like normal boomerangs do.

Good idea, but not properly executed.

The game incorporates the 3DS gyroscope, so when looking through binoculars you tilt the 3DS in whatever direction you want. This is one amazing feature and it really is cool to get to use the gyroscope in such a way.

The game features an extensive story mode which has in all 16 worlds, with about 6 levels each. It took me a week to truly beat the game, as the special 8 worlds were annoying to say the least. Also to unlock the final stage, you must get the top of every flag pole (both as Mario and Luigi) and get every star coin in the game. Yeah that was a real toughie.

All in all, the game plays fairly well. But due to the annoying difficulty of the final special worlds, and the incorporation of the 2D formula to 3D, I must give it an 8.5/10. James the editor has given it a score of 7.3 so we have come to an average of 8.0/10. I would get it if you really want to play through the whole of the game.

 

We will review Super Mario 3D World when it comes out in Christmas 2013 – be sure to stick around to see what we've got to say.

 

7.0
out  of  ten                                                                                                              Reviewed By Christopher Nguyen