Hands On: New Super Mario Bros Wii

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We all know what to expect when playing a new Mario game: great level design, catchy music, vibrant graphics and having to save that stupid Princess that always ends up getting captured (honestly if I were Mario I’d would of given up in the N64 days). One thing that is still relatively untouched in the Mario series is co-op. In recent iterations co-op has been a nice add on. This time however, co-op is this adventure’s hook to get us all loving that chubby under-worked Plumber.

The word co-operative should be used comparatively because the gameplay borders on more of a versus mode, while at times you need to work together to reach certain platforms and coins. Most of the time I spent playing was trying to get one up on my fellow players, collecting coins and mushrooms before anyone else got to them. One distracting part of the game is when one player collects a mushroom, the game will then pause for a second for everyone else. While this has always been the case in Mario games, it can really throw you off when playing co-op. There were many times when I’d be running to make a jump and just before I press the jump button, the game freezes because someone has collected a power up and I missed the slot to jump and this would result to me plummeting to my death. Whether Nintendo did this intentionally we’ll never know, but it does make for some great camaraderie with your friends and family.

With four players on the screen at once, it was understandable to see that the level I was playing wasn’t as dense from what we’re used to in previous Mario games. There is a lot going on and many things to get in your way, without a complex level design. However, I’m sure that the demo was early on in the game, so I’d be curious to see what they can do with level design catering for three extra players.

Though the game is in standard definition, it still looks great. If there is one Developer that should know how to make their games look great, it’s Nintendo. It plays smooth with no sign of slow down, which leaves you to just blame your co-op buddies for why you keep dying all the time. It’s a simple yet refreshing idea for the Mario series to go and one that will be perfect for family fun, something that (we all know) fits right into the Wii’s demographic.

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2 Comments

  1. Andi_Bailey says:
    November 4, 2009 at 6:25 pm

    When it comes down to it its really only between PS3 and Xbox, and when you look at whats important, i.e Games, it really just comes down to preference. Theres only one game available only on Xbox that i want to actually play (Mass Effect). That's why I'm a PS3 boy. Before it was Bioshock but now we go that tooooo :D

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Author: Mike Chinn