Super Mario, more dynamic than ever
Nintendo have been milking the Mario franchise for a great many years, and they have produced more than their fair share of stinkers, so how does this free installment in the Mario franchise hold up?
It holds up a darn sight better than most of the others, but that is not saying much considering the legacy of terrible games the Mario franchise has produced. It is a Mario game that harks back to the very popular first Mario games.
Back to Basics Again…And Again…And Again
The Nintendo Company has tried plenty of times to change the way the Mario games are played, and occasionally they have had some success. For example, the first Mario Kart game was the first time the company had moved away from a side-scrolling platform game and still created a good game. However, their many failures with different types of Mario games often leads them back towards a side-scrolling game, and that is what Super Mario Run is all about. The aim of the game is to get through the level before the timer runs out. All of the old characters are present, from the mushrooms to the tubes, a there are still plenty of coins to collect. Why do people love Super Mario Run so much? Is it all due to nostalgia? No, it is not. Some are going to argue that nostalgia is the biggest reason people like it, but it simply isn’t true. The reason it works so well is because it is a genuine and organic upgrade of the previous games. It is an upgrade because Mario’s movement is far more fluid, and the pace of the game has been increased, but not in the “Too fast to seeing” manner that Sonic the Hedgehog was. The game does have a few extra functions, such as being able to propel yourself from a sidewall in order to change your direction of descent, but that is an upgrade that Mario was sorely in need of. The animations are smoother, the controls are easier, and the environments are not too saturated. Nintendo has finally realized that better and more graphically enhanced backgrounds are not what the franchise needed,the franchise needed a strong re-engineering of the core game controls and functions. The game feels like an organic upgrade of the first game without adding a bunch of sparkles and screen glares. Is the game difficult? No, it is not. The game is not as brutal as the early Mario games, but that is not a negative point. The game is not difficult because you can hone your player skills to help maintain your momentum during the game. The better you are at the game, then the less often you have to stop and analyze the environment for a safe route.
Conclusions
Forget the old Mario games, pretend this is a new indie game that has just hit the market and form your opinion from that standpoint. You have to admit that this is a very addictive game and that maybe the addition of a clock was a good thing. The old Crash Bandicoot games died off because most people spent their time collecting things rather than ploughing through the game, but Super Mario Run doesn’t have that problem. The aim of the game is to jump and run your way through the levels without being hit too often, and you are going to have a lot of fun doing it. '
