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Back in Time
Despite all the recent moves to 3D, Nintendo have given the guy a retro treatment again in New Super Mario Bros Wii. Name sound familiar? It should, New Super Mario Bros first arrived on the DS to rave reviews. But this isn’t just the same game on a bigger screen, oh no. This game is all brand spanking new.
If it ain’t broke…fix it?
New Super Mario Bros Wii uses some of the ideas from the DS version, but its what the game adds that effects it the most. Sliding platforms that use the Wii remote, new costumes for Mario (a Propeller and a Penguin!) and the removal of that over-the-top Mega Mario all go some way to giving an old game a new polish. Then comes the explosion; 4 players.
Platform Party
Yes, you can get 3 friends around for a game and play through the levels or just beat each other up for coins. You can even play co-operatively. With four of you on screen and everyone after all the coins they can pocket the game just becomes a manic free-for-all until you realise that working together will benefit you all.
Mario World
Ok, look under the bonnet and it’s not that different to Super Mario World, but with 2.5D graphics, the four player element and perfect balance of reward and risk this is the Mario game to top them all.
The graphics are shinier and brighter than ever before, the levels seem more balanced too and the years of experience that went in to making all the previous games, including the 3D ones, have been used here.
Super Cheat
By far the biggest upset to some gamers though comes in the form of the SuperGuide. If you fail a course 8 times then you get the option of letting Luigi play through the level for you. You can stop him whenever you want and play again, but this does allow younger or less experienced players to perhaps see levels they may not have got to themselves or to persevere rather than giving up.
It’s testament to Nintendo’s current strategy of catering to casual gamers, but in the end it’s just another form of difficulty level, just like choosing Easy from the main menu and, most importantly, it’s optional.
If you don’t want direct help then you can use coins found in the game to ‘buy’ videos which give you a demonstration how to do certain parts of the game. This is a great idea and made even better due to some of the skills shown off on the videos, obviously played by Mario experts.
Old and New
So, New Super Mario Bros Wii is something old, something new, but most importantly it’s something magical in the same way as any good Mario game should be. If you enjoyed any Mario platform game in the past then this will be a sure fire hit and if you’ve never played one before this is the perfect place to start.
9/10
Back in Time
Despite all the recent moves to 3D, Nintendo have given the guy a retro treatment again in New Super Mario Bros Wii. Name sound familiar? It should, New Super Mario Bros first arrived on the DS to rave reviews. But this isn’t just the same game on a bigger screen, oh no. This game is all brand spanking new.
If it ain’t broke…fix it?
New Super Mario Bros Wii uses some of the ideas from the DS version, but its what the game adds that effects it the most. Sliding platforms that use the Wii remote, new costumes for Mario (a Propeller and a Penguin!) and the removal of that over-the-top Mega Mario all go some way to giving an old game a new polish. Then comes the explosion; 4 players.
Platform Party
Yes, you can get 3 friends around for a game and play through the levels or just beat each other up for coins. You can even play co-operatively. With four of you on screen and everyone after all the coins they can pocket the game just becomes a manic free-for-all until you realise that working together will benefit you all.
Mario World
Ok, look under the bonnet and it’s not that different to Super Mario World, but with 2.5D graphics, the four player element and perfect balance of reward and risk this is the Mario game to top them all.
The graphics are shinier and brighter than ever before, the levels seem more balanced too and the years of experience that went in to making all the previous games, including the 3D ones, have been used here.
Super Cheat
By far the biggest upset to some gamers though comes in the form of the SuperGuide. If you fail a course 8 times then you get the option of letting Luigi play through the level for you. You can stop him whenever you want and play again, but this does allow younger or less experienced players to perhaps see levels they may not have got to themselves or to persevere rather than giving up.
It’s testament to Nintendo’s current strategy of catering to casual gamers, but in the end it’s just another form of difficulty level, just like choosing Easy from the main menu and, most importantly, it’s optional.
If you don’t want direct help then you can use coins found in the game to ‘buy’ videos which give you a demonstration how to do certain parts of the game. This is a great idea and made even better due to some of the skills shown off on the videos, obviously played by Mario experts.
Old and New
So, New Super Mario Bros Wii is something old, something new, but most importantly it’s something magical in the same way as any good Mario game should be. If you enjoyed any Mario platform game in the past then this will be a sure fire hit and if you’ve never played one before this is the perfect place to start.
9/10