Super Mario 3D Land

Hello!  As Alex managed to break her computer and is so unorganised that she didn’t have any other reviews ready, Liz is here instead to bring you the weekly review!

Super Mario 3D Land, as you can probably guess, is a 3D Mario game on the 3DS. Like many others in its series the storyline is that Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom has been kidnapped by the evil Bowser and it is up to Mario to travel through eight worlds to save her. The opening cut scene is not very long and doesn’t actually show Peach getting kidnapped but instead shows Mario and some Toads (cute little mushroom head guys) finding a letter with a picture of Peach in a cage while a Bowser roar is heard followed by Peach’s signature annoying “MARIOOOOO” scream. The adventure then kicks off with Mario at world one.

Having Mario jump around a 3D world adds a whole new dimension to how you play the game. Instead of just going forward and backward, through use of the 3DS’s joystick Mario can go in which ever direction you so desire! This gives great opportunity for many hidden secrets to be discovered and creates levels in so much more depth. But it does come with a downside that Mario can now fall off in more directions so you have to be much more precise with where you are going but I reckon this just adds to the fun and challenge of the game.

 Power ups are a very important aspect of Mario games and the power ups in 3D Land are no exception. There are some old favourites like the Mushroom and Fire Flower but there are also some new power ups. In some levels there is a boomerang shaped flower and when Mario touches this he gains the power of a Boomerang Bro allowing him to throw a boomerang which is surprisingly helpful with enemies who are range attacking. Although the Tanooki Suit is not a new power up it does play a major part in 3D Land allowing Mario to travel further as he can hover. Ever wanted to swing a tail around and knock out some enemies? Well now you can. You can also turn into stone and crush things with the Tanooki Suit found in the Special Worlds!

 After the defeat of Bowser in the castle of world eight you expect the game to end but there is actually more adventure to be had and that comes in the form of the Special worlds! The special worlds can be travelled to by a newly formed pipe in world one and Mario once again has to defeat the castles in all eight worlds again but it is a different experience. One of the main differences is with the colour. Instead of the usual bright blue colour the sky is red and pink and at the toad houses it is grey with grey particles floating in the atmosphere. What I really enjoy about the special worlds is that there are little challenges in each level this may just be that the star coins are in different places but the more excitingly it could be a timed run through or even being followed by dark Marios copying your exact moves not allowing you to stand still for very long or go back on yourself. The secret worlds lengthen the, otherwise too short, adventure in a more abstract way.

 As 3D Land is on the 3DS it uses StreetPass to connect with other people who have the game. StreetPass is activated when two powered on 3DSs pass by each other. In 3D Land it shows the highest score other people have gained in differently levels labelled as “rival’s score”. But the most significant use of StreetPass is allowing Toad houses and mystery boxes to be replenished. In many other Mario games the toad houses are ‘one time use only’ but 3D Land allows them to be renewed and therefore letting you get more power ups in the time of need. Mystery boxes are new to Mario and are a way of collecting Star coins outside of levels. The mystery boxes are fun as they have little challenges in them which often consist of a small number of enemies to be beaten.

 Despite all the new things, I still found 3D Land to be a bit boring. Don’t get me wrong, I still really enjoyed it but to me the whole game seemed too easy. Admittedly I did find some levels hard but I soon completed them after attempting each one a few times. After playing Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 these particular 3D effects are not new to me and in comparison to Galaxy, 3D Land is small and not as challenging. What I found when I did fail too many times on one level is that you can have an Invincible Tanooki Leaf where all that can harm you is falling off things and lava. This addition made the game even easier and means that if you are struggling with a level you can just whizz though it with no consequences. To me this really took away any remaining difficulty the game had left as even during Bowser fights I could not be hurt making them very easy. I suppose the Invincible Tanooki Leaf could be very helpful for people who are stuck on a certain level and who see no end in sight but it still seems a bit too overpowered to me.

 Super Mario 3D Land is different from the usual 2D platformers using the 3Ds features well but it feels too simple and doesn’t present much challenge to an experienced gamer.

Pi: