REClassic
3 reviews liked by REClassic
This review contains spoilers
For the first time in over a decade, it feels like the Mario franchise is finally back on track. For the first time since Galaxy 2, I was actually truly happy playing a main series Mario game. This really feels like the 2D Mario we should have had by NSMBU.
Wonder finally overhauls 2D Mario from a visual standpoint, giving it a full paintjob full of vibrant colors, good art design and expressive animation. There's a personality and soul injected into every bit of this game, little animations and easter eggs hidden all throughout depending on a variety of factors, little things that the franchise never cared to do before. It really puts into perspective how barebones 2D Mario has been for so long, even as someone who's always been fully aware of that and was a frequent critic.
Alongside a visual overhaul, the game also puts its best foot forwards in terms of level design and level gimmicks, using the Wonder gimmick to provide consistently interesting and engaging gimmicks and setpieces that keep you engaged. The collectibles are fun to find and obtain, and the game thankfully doesn't have a ridiculously bloated secret world for once, just having one final world with a set of challenges for those who go for it.
It's not all perfect though. The bosses are honestly, truly awful, which is honestly more of a flaw than usual here, considering how the game makes an extensive effort to revamp the Mario formula wherever possible. There are three types of bosses in this game, Bowser Jr, Airship Reactors, and the final boss. You fight Bowser Jr three times, each fight with him being the usual 3 or so hit affair with Jr spinning around in his shell and making changes to the arena, and thats about it. The Airship reactors are running across a small conveyor belt and avoiding like two things, and then jumping on a button. The final boss is okay, but also a head and hands boss with a rhythm gimmick. The game doesn't even have a boss in every area, some areas ending with an anticlimatic final "level" that doesn't really test skills. The bosses are a genuine sore spot here, completely failing to evolve, and honestly taking steps back from what was in prior games. The music is also just kind of background noise as per usual in 2D Mario games, outside of Bowser's related tracks, nothing I'd really listen to outside of the game. Some level gimmicks and Wonder gimmicks don't quite hit the mark either, and it definitely feels like they could've gone a lot further with the gimmicks and level design in a lot of ways. Hopefully a sequel will improve even further on this game's ideas and give a truly excellent Mario platformer, I'm not quite sold on this game being a 9 or a 10 lol.
This really does feel like the level 2D Mario should have been ages ago, so it feels a little annoying that it took so many games to finally get to this level of quality. This is the best 2D Mario by a fucking landslide though, I don't even think its remotely a competition.
Wonder finally overhauls 2D Mario from a visual standpoint, giving it a full paintjob full of vibrant colors, good art design and expressive animation. There's a personality and soul injected into every bit of this game, little animations and easter eggs hidden all throughout depending on a variety of factors, little things that the franchise never cared to do before. It really puts into perspective how barebones 2D Mario has been for so long, even as someone who's always been fully aware of that and was a frequent critic.
Alongside a visual overhaul, the game also puts its best foot forwards in terms of level design and level gimmicks, using the Wonder gimmick to provide consistently interesting and engaging gimmicks and setpieces that keep you engaged. The collectibles are fun to find and obtain, and the game thankfully doesn't have a ridiculously bloated secret world for once, just having one final world with a set of challenges for those who go for it.
It's not all perfect though. The bosses are honestly, truly awful, which is honestly more of a flaw than usual here, considering how the game makes an extensive effort to revamp the Mario formula wherever possible. There are three types of bosses in this game, Bowser Jr, Airship Reactors, and the final boss. You fight Bowser Jr three times, each fight with him being the usual 3 or so hit affair with Jr spinning around in his shell and making changes to the arena, and thats about it. The Airship reactors are running across a small conveyor belt and avoiding like two things, and then jumping on a button. The final boss is okay, but also a head and hands boss with a rhythm gimmick. The game doesn't even have a boss in every area, some areas ending with an anticlimatic final "level" that doesn't really test skills. The bosses are a genuine sore spot here, completely failing to evolve, and honestly taking steps back from what was in prior games. The music is also just kind of background noise as per usual in 2D Mario games, outside of Bowser's related tracks, nothing I'd really listen to outside of the game. Some level gimmicks and Wonder gimmicks don't quite hit the mark either, and it definitely feels like they could've gone a lot further with the gimmicks and level design in a lot of ways. Hopefully a sequel will improve even further on this game's ideas and give a truly excellent Mario platformer, I'm not quite sold on this game being a 9 or a 10 lol.
This really does feel like the level 2D Mario should have been ages ago, so it feels a little annoying that it took so many games to finally get to this level of quality. This is the best 2D Mario by a fucking landslide though, I don't even think its remotely a competition.
Sonic Superstars
2023
Honestly had a fucking blast with this game. Honestly some flat out incredibly designed levels that are a total blast to replay through and get faster and faster at playing, with different characters having different ways to go about tackling them. Egg Fortress Act 2's time reversal gimmick was an especially high point for me personally.
The music in places is pretty weak, some of the bosses definitely fumble the bag, are way too reliant on OHKO moves, and last way too long with no checkpoints to soften the blow, but a majority of the other bosses are honestly rather fun and designed pretty decently. A couple of stages in the Extra Mode are definitely kind of bad, Golden Palace Act 2's redo definitely being a low point in the game.
But asides from those fumbles here and there, this game's an absolute blast for me and I can definitely see myself replaying it, and cant wait to give the multiplayer a shot. Definitely ranks above Sonic 1, 2 and CD on my Classic Sonic list, but below 3&K and Mania I think.
The music in places is pretty weak, some of the bosses definitely fumble the bag, are way too reliant on OHKO moves, and last way too long with no checkpoints to soften the blow, but a majority of the other bosses are honestly rather fun and designed pretty decently. A couple of stages in the Extra Mode are definitely kind of bad, Golden Palace Act 2's redo definitely being a low point in the game.
But asides from those fumbles here and there, this game's an absolute blast for me and I can definitely see myself replaying it, and cant wait to give the multiplayer a shot. Definitely ranks above Sonic 1, 2 and CD on my Classic Sonic list, but below 3&K and Mania I think.
Honestly had a complete blast with this game. The gameplay was just fully evolved from both Miles Morales and especially the original, this is some of the best and most fluid movement in any open world game period, and the combat was significantly improved, with more complexities and options for both characters and for all types of enemies. Its amazing how the simple addition of a parry can improve the combat so much and help deal with enemies that could otherwise be a lot more obnoxious.
The story is overall very solid and well told. I've heard some issues from friends in regards to how some things were adapted from the comics (I'm not the most fond of this version of Venom, even if it works very well within the framework of the story, he feels more like a Knull-type figure), I think the story on the whole was very enthralling, with a very fast pace. When the story gets going, especially later on with Peter's tenure with the Symbiote, things move a mile a minute with insane setpieces and awesome plot moments and really fun action.
The gameloop was honestly just addicting, I usually don't complete open world games fully, but in this game I was just entranced, going from side quest to side quest to collectible to collectible simply because it was just a fun thing to do.
If I have any major complaints, the game is buggy. I suffered a multitude of crashes, a few major bugs, issues that required a checkpoint restart, and multiple instances of bugs so major that they required a full game restart. Most of my other issues with the game are rather minor, but I feel a 70 dollar product should absolutely not ship with consistent crashing issues like this. There's no performance issues, and I didn't run into consistent minor bugs that made the experience on the whole an issue, but severe bugs like these were definitely a detriment. Luckily I never lost much in terms of progress.
The story is overall very solid and well told. I've heard some issues from friends in regards to how some things were adapted from the comics (I'm not the most fond of this version of Venom, even if it works very well within the framework of the story, he feels more like a Knull-type figure), I think the story on the whole was very enthralling, with a very fast pace. When the story gets going, especially later on with Peter's tenure with the Symbiote, things move a mile a minute with insane setpieces and awesome plot moments and really fun action.
The gameloop was honestly just addicting, I usually don't complete open world games fully, but in this game I was just entranced, going from side quest to side quest to collectible to collectible simply because it was just a fun thing to do.
If I have any major complaints, the game is buggy. I suffered a multitude of crashes, a few major bugs, issues that required a checkpoint restart, and multiple instances of bugs so major that they required a full game restart. Most of my other issues with the game are rather minor, but I feel a 70 dollar product should absolutely not ship with consistent crashing issues like this. There's no performance issues, and I didn't run into consistent minor bugs that made the experience on the whole an issue, but severe bugs like these were definitely a detriment. Luckily I never lost much in terms of progress.