| F0X said:
That's my problem at least, I don't want it to be more accesible. Mario is already pretty damn accesible. Treating my like I don't have any idea what I'm doing made me hate the game. Now I agree that at some point the formula has to get mixed up, and Nintendo had two ways to do it. 1. Make the worlds much bigger, more freeroam, more secrets, more stars. Or the 3D land approach: Small simple levels that guide you to a goal with little to no secrets or freedom. It really angers me that they went with the second choice.
The second choice makes some level of sense for a handheld title, particularly one meant to make as much use of the 3DS features as possible.
I would say the 3D hurt the game more than helped it. They were so focused on making the 3D usefull, that they forgot to make some of it fun. It bothered me to say the least. I play Mario games to have fun, not to see why 3D is good. Really I would say 3D land has almost nothing in common with 64. 3D land is far more a 2D game than a 3D one. Everything you do is straight forward. There isn't much of anything other than straight in 3D land actually.
The commonalties with 64 aren't apparent in the level structure. There are levels featuring certain ideas that appared in Super Mario 64, including the cannon (which should've been used more often in my opinion). The point really was to take the 2D formula and put it in a 3D perspective, and they pretty much did just that. A lot of the enjoyment depends on whether or not you greatly enjoy the 2D Mario formula in the first place.
Why does 3D land get to be bland, but no other 3d mario game gets that pass. Each Mario game has brought something new asethetically to the table. 64 looks entirely different from it's predecessors, Sunshine looks wildly different from any Mario game, and the galaxy games both have a style not seen in any other Mario game. How does just saying "It's ok that it's bland because it looks like Mario" give it a pass? Now I don't think that a traditional 3D mario game would have been affected by the 3D affect like you said, but if linear levels are truly good for 3D, why does 3D world get to be the way it is? Hell, it's not even on a handheld, and yet it's somehow ok to have fixed camera linear levels.
It doesn't get a pass... and I think I worded my point wrong. Its visuals attempt something different by combining elements from previous games, which is a reflection of the gameplay. Depending on perspective, that could either mean it ends up looking bland or looking like some sort of colorful, abstract homage. Or a blandly colorful, abstract, homage. This is another thing that could be rather subjective, though undoubtedly the game was designed in a way that playing without 3D wouldn't result in experiencing the presentation in full. A very tight line is being walked here.
My problem with 3D world it feels in every way like it was made for the 3DS. It has those shorter timed levels, it's built with fixed camera's which was made to help the 3D effect, it has midi soundtrack because why orchestrate a soundtrack for a handheld game right? I didn't even like any of this stuff on a handheld so why would I like it now?
I'm not sure yet. I know that the game was from the start meant to be a sequel to 3D Land built from the ground up for Wii U, adding multiplayer to the mix, but I also don't get the sense that it's taking advantage of Wii U's capabilities. Well, it's taking advantage of Wii U to do things that EAD Tokyo couldn't accomplish in 3D Land, but not much else. I also don't understand the point in trying to preserve 3D Land's general feel to this extent. If 3D World was really in the spirit of 3D Land, it would take inspiration from different past Mario games. Instead, it seems content with bringing back SMB2's multiplayer. This is why I want to get my hands on the game, though. To determine where the focus is and where the inspirations lie. It might be more than I see on the surface at the moment.
I do miss the orchestrated soundtrack. Though I do remember the first Super Mario Galaxy 2 trailer featuring a midi version of what would later be an orchestrated theme...
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