Mario 3D World Review
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Channel: Matthewmatosis
Views: 455,150
Rating: 4.9118171 out of 5
Keywords: review, analysis, critique, retrospective, comparison, mario 64, mario sunshine, mario galaxy, mario 3d world, super mario 64, super mario sunshine, super mario galaxy, super mario 3d world, platformer
Id: 1D-geFXZiZk
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 32min 41sec (1961 seconds)
Published: Sun Mar 22 2015
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No matter what the agenda or perspective, this is the quality of critique that I like to see in video games. It's not just how thorough he is, it's his intellectual honesty that really does it for me. Whatever the topic, Matthew often brings up multiple explanations or thought experiments to explore an issue, not just railing home his own point of view. It's really refreshing to see someone so capable of steamrolling a game (or idea) take the time to step back and consider his own potential biases.
I definitely agree with his opinion that this game feels less like an adventure. There was a post in /r/wiiu that described this game as being just a series of obstacle courses with no unifying factor and that's a great way to describe it. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game and I had a great time playing it, especially with friends, but I would love a Mario game on the WiiU that is more adventure based and story driven rather than just a hodge-podge of different stages.
I'm disappointed this series is over. I enjoyed it greatly.
Amazing review as always, I thought he was going to be more negative about this game due to his complaints about the series restricting Mario's movement more and more, but he impressed me yet again by looking further and analyzing the game more in-depth and talking about how all of the elements of 3D World work together.
Frankly, I agree with him that 3D World is one of the most fun games I've played in years, from beginning to end and finishing Champion's Road was a triumphant, yet sad experience for me since I knew that there wasn't any more content to explore in the game. Maybe I can go through it again with some friends so I can get an excuse to play it again.
I love these reviews. I get so stoked whenever I see them in my subscriptions list. That said, I think the decision to restrict Mario's movement is more important to the game design than he gives it credit for.
This is the most unique camera in a main Mario game since 64. It's pulled back a fair bit more than usual, and the angle is almost isometric. And since it's built for multiplayer, you can't center the camera behind the player in the same way you could in previous games, and you have the possibility of three other characters cluttering up your space. This leads to less visual feedback in regard to which angle your character is facing at any time.
The restricted movement system is Nintendo's answer to this, guaranteeing that the player can only go in one of eight directions at any time, cutting down on the possibility for error, and lowering the difficulty bar. Considering that Mario games are primarily meant for children, and that Champion's Road provides enough challenge for a seasoned Mario veteran anyways, I think that this is a fair choice to make when designing this game.
I like Matthews videos, but I have to take issue with how he keeps saying that SM3DW is sub-par visually. When I was playing this game, I was constantly asking myself if I'd ever actually experienced an HD game before (FWIW, I've always gamed on the best resolution available). The art direction and everything else about this game absolutely shines, so I'm a little confused by this part of the critique. Other than that, another fantastic review.
Matthewmatosis is one of my favorite reviewers because he somehow is extremely blunt and spot on with his criticism, and doesn't pull any punches despite also clearly being very fond of the subject matter, yet he's also never mean or overly harsh, just honest. If you haven't seen them, check out his Zelda series reviews.
Great review. I'm bummed out that the Mario reviews are over. They were all great, except I was a bit disappointed with the SMG2 review, though that can partly be explained by it's direct sequel nature.
Anyway, there were a couple things I wish he would have touched on.
The multiplayer system was super fun, but I found that it broke down if one of your friend's decides to be a dick and starts sprinting for the finish. The people who don't keep up go offscreen and get bubbled up. They have little control and it seems like the sprinter can win by grabbing a few coins or enemy kills along the way. It's a dick move, but if it works, then people will be tempted even if only for part of the level. I wonder if the camera would have been better if it followed the second to last person (distance from goal not points). That way one person can't stall by not moving and the other people can't rush ahead. People would be more likely to try to get all of the points in each area before moving on. I suppose that would make a problem for hard areas where the most skilled area needs to take the initiative to beat the area. You wouldn't want people who can't keep up stealing the camera for the skilled person in the challenging area. But in that case maybe the people could just push the button to go into a bubble while the skilled person completes the tricky part. I don't know :P
I wish he would have mentioned Peepa's Fog Bog, Sunshine Seaside, and Sprawling Savannah. These areas had linear parts but they also had some big open atmospheric areas to explore that felt like awesome throwbacks to some of the open levels of Mario 64 (maybe Sunshine too, I haven't played it yet). Even though there are some more engaging platforming sections, chasing down a bunny while in my cat suit during the sunset in Sprawling Savanna is one of the standout memories I have from the game.
This is the first I've seen of his reviews, I know what I'll be watching for a few hours.
Just finished his Mario 64 video, and so far I love his critique. It seems well thought out and executed, and pretty insightful for someone like me who knows diddly about game/level design.
You know, I mentioned that Mario was locked to 8 degree movement a while ago on reddit and no one believed me...