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'It's only Mario', you might argue. If you've played one, you've played them all? Wrong. Despite the familiar settings and scenery and quintessentially 2D Mario 8-world setup, New Super Mario Bros. Wii strides ahead of previous incarnations in the franchise with the addition of multiplayer! That's right, 4-characters, one screen!
The multiplayer element was always going to cause some furor, of course. Mario has always been largely single-player and at the times it pushed the multiplayer boat out it was a 'take-it-in-turns' effort! But having 4 players on one screen has, for me, pushed NSMBW right onto the podium of Mario games. The cut-throat world of popping other players bubbles - you can hit A if you think you're about to die - has caused umpteen arguments at (what WAS) HALO Night!
The madness is compounded further when a fast, frantic and particularly perilous section of any given level pops up. Not only is it a fight for survival, but there are often times when keeping your teammates alive (as is the true objective - our sessions are somewhat counter-operative to Shigsy's intentions!) is the only way to survive yourself!
The game looks gorgeous and has that incomparable weight to the movement that you've come to expect and love with Mario games. For multiplayer it's remarkable, as for single-player, I couldn't tell you. The multiplayer aspect of the game was such a draw for us that we made it a priority at HALO Nights to complete the game AND THEN rerun the whole thing to collect the gold coins!
We've had so much fun as a group with NSMBW that I can't help but recommend it. It's been out a while now, so perhaps you've just happened on this review by chance or you're new to gaming. Either way, from one human being with a love of great gaming to another, I wholeheartedly recommend this game. If you can find, snatch, steal or employ 3 other people to play it with you, everything else will fade into the background for quite a while!
Enjoy! :D
'It's only Mario', you might argue. If you've played one, you've played them all? Wrong. Despite the familiar settings and scenery and quintessentially 2D Mario 8-world setup, New Super Mario Bros. Wii strides ahead of previous incarnations in the franchise with the addition of multiplayer! That's right, 4-characters, one screen!
The multiplayer element was always going to cause some furor, of course. Mario has always been largely single-player and at the times it pushed the multiplayer boat out it was a 'take-it-in-turns' effort! But having 4 players on one screen has, for me, pushed NSMBW right onto the podium of Mario games. The cut-throat world of popping other players bubbles - you can hit A if you think you're about to die - has caused umpteen arguments at (what WAS) HALO Night!
The madness is compounded further when a fast, frantic and particularly perilous section of any given level pops up. Not only is it a fight for survival, but there are often times when keeping your teammates alive (as is the true objective - our sessions are somewhat counter-operative to Shigsy's intentions!) is the only way to survive yourself!
The game looks gorgeous and has that incomparable weight to the movement that you've come to expect and love with Mario games. For multiplayer it's remarkable, as for single-player, I couldn't tell you. The multiplayer aspect of the game was such a draw for us that we made it a priority at HALO Nights to complete the game AND THEN rerun the whole thing to collect the gold coins!
We've had so much fun as a group with NSMBW that I can't help but recommend it. It's been out a while now, so perhaps you've just happened on this review by chance or you're new to gaming. Either way, from one human being with a love of great gaming to another, I wholeheartedly recommend this game. If you can find, snatch, steal or employ 3 other people to play it with you, everything else will fade into the background for quite a while!
Enjoy! :D