Super Mario Run - First Impressions

Thu 15 Dec 2016, 20:20

original title was review but i realized i have way more thoughts about this game that i need to write down for a review

I played it for an hour, just rushing through the levels (Tour mode or whatever it's officially called), like I always do with Mario games, and here's my short review.

Played on iPhone 7. I payed for the game with my own money.

Pros:

• Fun. The concept is simple to get into, but also hard to really understand properly
• Music. I think it's the same songs from NSMB/NSMBU, but slightly remixed. I really liked them.
• Looks good. As far as a phone game can go, it looks good

Cons:

• Not that many levels. They were polished though so I guess it justifies the $10
• Slight performance issues. I played on an iPhone 7, and at times it felt like the game ran at 40-50 fps. At some points there were also some short stutters
• Cheap deaths. Because you can only run in one direction, this causes some cheap deaths if you get fooled by the developers to jump for a block or coin or something
• Not consistent/easy to tell which levels you are allowed to jump into a wall to turn around
• Always online requirement. Personally I don't really mind this as it's rare nowadays when I don't have a internet connection, but I can definitively see the criticism.
• Bowser fights are a joke. You can either:
  • Try to run under him
  • Try to jump over him
  • Stand still and die
  • To consistently win: get a mushroom and just run into him and abuse invincibility

Whatever it's a phone game. But it's fun.

Here are some screenshots: