Super Mario 3D Land

Your typical Mario, with a new 3D look a bunch of ideas that you will keep playing for. Beware if you have a 2DS, because for some levels, 3D is essential. Good game if you are a Mario fan, and if you are not, it is a good place to start.

Super Mario 3D land was the first 3D Mario to play in the same way as classic Mario, and this is both a blessing and a curse. I will always love and prefer the sandbox and open nature of 64 and sunshine, however I feel that the more classic style was a perfect fit for Nintendo’s new platform.

Although the game doesn’t feature a hub world or massive open levels like other 3D Mario’s, in terms of the number of levels it was certainly one of if not the biggest Mario games to date. The game featured 8 worlds in the main campaign and 8 more challenging bonus worlds once the credits have rolled. For completionists this game is loaded with new challenges even after you have rescued the princess from Bowser. On top of that, the challenge to get a golden flagpole on every level and collect the 3 star coins hidden in every stage means that there is rarely a time there isn’t anything to do.

The gameplay is classic Mario refined and at its best. Stomping goombas has never been more satisfying than it is in 3D land (atleast before odyssey came out). One problem I have with the basic controls though are that Mario only moves in 8 directions, even thought the full movement of the circle pad is available. This makes some missed jumps feel unfair and hard to judge. I love a challenging game, but I don’t like feeling ripped off. The use of a run button rather than having the circle pad be sensitive to different speeds also felt quite outdated, however this could be due to hardware limitations.

The level design is incredibly creative and varied. I love that the developers haven’t limited themselves to certain world themes as it allows each individual level to explore its creative mechanics and ideas, and also provides plenty of visual variety. However the game never reaches the same level of level design, creativity and variety as the galaxy games that came before it.

One area where the game really doesn’t do as well is the boss fights. The bosses consist of Bowser, Boom Boom and Pom Pom. I love when a game gives you unique and never before seen bosses, which requires a new way of thinking in-order to defeat it. The galaxy games were excellent at this, but 3D land uses the same 3 fights over and over again.

3D land uses the 3DS’s hardware features perfectly, and was the first game to truly justify the 3D effect. Gyroscope can be used at certain points in levels to spot secrets in the distance, Star coins and the goal. The 3D effect is honestly something I’ve struggled without in future Mario games due to its incredible usefulness here. Jumps feel so much more accurate and depth perception is much clearer. The game also has secret rooms with optical illusion type puzzles which can only be solved by using 3D which is cool.

The game lacks any kind of multiplayer mode which is fine considering the single player experience is so fleshed out, but is something worth noting.