Negative points first. Using 3D World's controls for an open world Odyssey-style game feels restricting; while the cat and tanooki suits work fine in this environment, Mario's basic move set feels uncomfortable with much of the platforming. Bowser's fury being set on an uncontrollable timer (unless you have a Bowser Amiibo, gross) almost completely ruins the game's pacing. Since many of the shines are only obtainable during this fury state, I spent a lot of time near the end of the game just patiently waiting for the next cycle, not touching the controller. I also disliked the amount of water around the islands--in the first half of the game, when you have no means of teleportation--if you find yourself in the water, you'll be swimming in there for what feels like forever. Furthermore, it seems that you have very little control over Bowser Jr. who often feels unresponsive and glitchy.

Complaints aside, I can say that I had a lot of fun with some of those shines. The game mostly feels, as intended, like an Odyssey/3D World hybrid, but I also sensed level design inspiration from Galaxy and stylistic choices which are more aligned with Sunshine's artistic vision (in fact, I would say it's probably the closest Mario game we've got to Sunshine so far). While a bit simplistic, most shines are straight-forward and enjoyable.

Bowser's Fury is a short, rough and incomplete game, but it is also an interesting new concept which offers an interesting idea of what might be next for 3D Mario games. However, I'm glad they didn't release this game on its own. It's a fine game, but for someone who already had played 3D World on the Wii U, I feel like Bowser's Fury is most certainly not worth the big price of the bundle.