The Captain Toad stages served as fun little diversions in 3D World, these little puzzles that gave the game even more variety than it already had. They were also a fun use of 3D World's sort of "toy world" design and look, creating little dioramas of stages to push and pull at. When Captain Toad was first shown, I remember a lot of people saying stuff like "this makes so much sense, those levels were good enough to be their own game!", and after finally playing 3D World this year I was really willing to believe that, but what works as a side-mode in one game doesn't always work great on its own.
On it's own, the limits of this formula are really pronounced and hard to ignore. Captain Toad stages are fun the first time around, but many of them become not fun to do again for bonus objectives, and what Captain Toad is actually capable of doing in any level is revealed to be pretty limited as well. At it's worst, the game ends up feeling like doing the same three levels over and over again. There are good levels here, but a lot of them aren't until the third chapter, honestly. Too many stages feel like "3D World but you can't jump", which feels completely wrong for what this game should be.
I mentioned bonus objectives, and these can honestly make or break stages for me. Some are fun challenges that make going through the level again worthwhile, like having to figure out how to defeat every enemy, or using a certain level gimmick the least amount possible. The worst to me are the gold mushroom objectives, specifically gold mushrooms that are invisible and need to be found by flashing your light on a specific part of a level. I almost always miss these, and they just aren't fun to find. They're always on some part of the map that isn't obvious, and really easy to pass by without stopping to flash your light on it, especially if you've accidentally turned your light off since it's on the y-button, the same button I'm used to using for running. This might just be something I'm particularly bad at, but any time the bonus objective was "find the gold mushroom" I kind of felt like turning the game off.
There are highlights here, but more than anything Captain Toad just makes me want to play an actual Mario game. The Odyssey levels are cool, but they just make me want to play Odyssey, and everything else in this game is lifted from 3D World, another game I would rather play. Not worth the 40 dollars it usually goes for. Also why does this game have paid DLC, come on man you really expect to put more money on Captain Toad?
On it's own, the limits of this formula are really pronounced and hard to ignore. Captain Toad stages are fun the first time around, but many of them become not fun to do again for bonus objectives, and what Captain Toad is actually capable of doing in any level is revealed to be pretty limited as well. At it's worst, the game ends up feeling like doing the same three levels over and over again. There are good levels here, but a lot of them aren't until the third chapter, honestly. Too many stages feel like "3D World but you can't jump", which feels completely wrong for what this game should be.
I mentioned bonus objectives, and these can honestly make or break stages for me. Some are fun challenges that make going through the level again worthwhile, like having to figure out how to defeat every enemy, or using a certain level gimmick the least amount possible. The worst to me are the gold mushroom objectives, specifically gold mushrooms that are invisible and need to be found by flashing your light on a specific part of a level. I almost always miss these, and they just aren't fun to find. They're always on some part of the map that isn't obvious, and really easy to pass by without stopping to flash your light on it, especially if you've accidentally turned your light off since it's on the y-button, the same button I'm used to using for running. This might just be something I'm particularly bad at, but any time the bonus objective was "find the gold mushroom" I kind of felt like turning the game off.
There are highlights here, but more than anything Captain Toad just makes me want to play an actual Mario game. The Odyssey levels are cool, but they just make me want to play Odyssey, and everything else in this game is lifted from 3D World, another game I would rather play. Not worth the 40 dollars it usually goes for. Also why does this game have paid DLC, come on man you really expect to put more money on Captain Toad?