Definitely one of my hottest gaming opinions. Certainly, for one of the first 3D Platformers, it's really solid. When you compare it to what was actually possible, though, such as Kazooie which came two years later...it just falls flat for me.
For one, the OST. Don't get me wrong, the songs that exist are good...but why are they reused so many times? I don't really want to make this a "Kazooie better" review and make it seem like I'm nothing but a Rare fanboy, but really, it seems absurd that they couldn't have spent some time to at least make a unique theme for every single course.
Heck, the first two courses even share the same song! Bob-omb Battlefield, Whom's Fortress, Tall, Tall Mountain, and Tiny-Huge Island all have the same song. Lethal Lava Land and Shifitng Sand Land also share the same song, and they're right next to each other too.
Don't even get me started on the fact that it's absurd that they went ahead and made two separate ice worlds. Why did we need both Cool, Cool Mountain and Snowman's Land? Who thought that was a good idea?
I don't know. Yes, you can argue that Kazooie could pull off having a unique song for every single level because it only has 9, as compared to 64, which has 15...but then that argument falls apart when you see that Kazooie has an OST of over 100 songs when you factor in all of the remixes and variations. Less is more.
Honestly, part of me feels dirty for giving Mario 64 a rating this low. It really isn't a bad game, but I just can't help but find it utterly inferior to not just Kazooie, but absolutely eclipsed by Tooie. With how big and ambitious Tooie was, I really do think that 64 could have been much better if more time was pumped into it.
For one, the OST. Don't get me wrong, the songs that exist are good...but why are they reused so many times? I don't really want to make this a "Kazooie better" review and make it seem like I'm nothing but a Rare fanboy, but really, it seems absurd that they couldn't have spent some time to at least make a unique theme for every single course.
Heck, the first two courses even share the same song! Bob-omb Battlefield, Whom's Fortress, Tall, Tall Mountain, and Tiny-Huge Island all have the same song. Lethal Lava Land and Shifitng Sand Land also share the same song, and they're right next to each other too.
Don't even get me started on the fact that it's absurd that they went ahead and made two separate ice worlds. Why did we need both Cool, Cool Mountain and Snowman's Land? Who thought that was a good idea?
I don't know. Yes, you can argue that Kazooie could pull off having a unique song for every single level because it only has 9, as compared to 64, which has 15...but then that argument falls apart when you see that Kazooie has an OST of over 100 songs when you factor in all of the remixes and variations. Less is more.
Honestly, part of me feels dirty for giving Mario 64 a rating this low. It really isn't a bad game, but I just can't help but find it utterly inferior to not just Kazooie, but absolutely eclipsed by Tooie. With how big and ambitious Tooie was, I really do think that 64 could have been much better if more time was pumped into it.
579
1 year ago