NSMB2 is an exceptional game in the eyes of reviewers

[TomaTito]

the_dengle said:

noname2200 said:

Do reviewers really care much for LBP? I thought the reviewer consensus on that one was largely indifference, at least as a platformer. I don't think Kirby was particularly shined on either, at least not for anything beyond its art style. I admit, my perception could be wrong though.

I see where you're coming from regarding how 2D platformers are more common now than 3D ones (although I'd hardly label them as "a dime a dozen," especially when the bulk of them are more puzzle than platformer). But I don't put as much weight in that, since other games in crowded genres continue to get high plaudits. This generation has been saturated with shooters, WRPGs, brawlers, and sandbox games, yet this doesn't stop reviewers from slapping 90+ scores on Uncharted/Gears/God/Assasin's/Mass Effect/whatever 3+. Perhaps the evolutions within those titles elude me, since I admit I'm not a huge fan of those genres,* but the changes between UC 1 to 3, or Gears 1 to 3, for example, don't strike me as anything more than minor tweaks.

@ the bolded, LBP has a 95 metascore; LBP 2, a 91; LBP for PSP, 87. Although Kirby's Return is sitting at 77, Epic Yarn and Canvas Curse are both at 86. Mass Attack has an 83. All of those games (excepting Return to Dreamland) are better than New Super 2, judging by their Metascores.

As for the rest, I think you missed what I was saying a bit, which is understandable because I'm bad at words. I'm saying the reason it's relatively "okay" that the Gears of War series hasn't changed much from 1 to 3 is because the third-person shooter genre as a whole hasn't changed much between those games. Likewise, there haven't been many amazing first-person shooters since Modern Warfare that completely reinvented the genre (the way Half-Life and Halo did before then). The series doesn't appear as stagnant as it is because there isn't anything (or much) not stagnant in the same genre to compare it to. So much has happened in the 2D platformer genre in the past 6 years that many critics feel the New Super Mario Bros. formula is dated. It's old-fashioned, it's retro. Imagine if Half-Life 2 hadn't been like Half-Life 2, and had just played like an expansion pack for the original Half-Life, and you're close.

Can you tell me what evolution has happened in the 2D platformer genre in these past 6 years then? I wasn't aware the genre has developed even further, is it: Story? Art style? Puzzles? Bite-sized levels? User-created levels?