New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) Review

My review for New Super Mario Bros. Wii is up over at TheGameReviews now.  To be entirely honest, I had some difficulties writing this review.  It took me a bit to figure out why that was the case, but I believe I tracked down the culprit, my perception of the audience.

I had to write, and re-write paragraphs because I felt that the material was belittling the reader.  It was explaining things that any gamer, casual, hardcore, young or old, would obviously have a grasp on.  Mario gameplay is so basic, and so pervasive in the medium that articulating it without drab comparisons to titles gone by became a challenge.  Because of this I ended up focusing a large portion of the review on the truly new stuff, specifically the co-op feature.

I owe a thanks to Joe DeLia for straightening me out, and making the review more encompassing of everything the stellar game has to offer.  Either way, New Super Mario Bros. is the Game of the Year for the Wii.

Here’s a snippet:

NSMBW is a platformer that plays very similarly to 1992’s Super Mario World, with Princess Peach once again taken hostage by Bowser’s cronies. The first few levels quickly introduce players to a handful of new power-ups, including a high-flying helicopter hat and the enemy-freezing Ice Flower. The latter is particularly devious, as it allows the pitcher to use his cryogenically-frozen minion as a stepping stone to a secret area or even as a handy projectile to slide across the ice. While these power-ups add some spice to the platforming, the difficulty is the only area where New Super Mario Bros. Wii feels notably different from its predecessors. Sure, everything is fairly simple from the get-go, but the challenge quickly ramps up to the point where even the most skilled platforming pros will have their skills taxed to the breaking point. Just try not to hurl the Wii Remote when you miss the same jump for the fourteenth time.