Super Mario 3D Land

Miraculous plumber in 3D

Welcome to the 2nd 'Web Master Talk column'. Today we have Nintendo's latest Mario game called 'Super Mario 3D Land' on its newest handheld console, the 3DS.

I sincerely hope you've heard or played some Mario games before. Mario games are basically a game which requires you to move from the beginning of a level to the end, without falling in a hole or being killed by enemies.

This game, as of January 2012, is the best game that shows off how much 3DS console can perform in terms of graphic and 3D performance, which makes it easy to distinguish the depth of the surrounding terrain of the game. The power of 3D makes it easier for people to know and sense where to jump and land to the platform they want to make their way to. Not only that, this game enables you to choose from 2 modes of 3D: pop-out and sink-in, which players can choose to their likings (all other existing 3DS games uses sink-in mode).

This is also the first game that kind of requires you to turn on Nintendo 3DS's 3D mode because you can move (left, right, up, down with plenty of levels which you have to jump up higher or jump down under) all around the surrounding and areas in this game, which requires you to sense the depth of these platform and path to survive to the next level. By turning off the 3D, you'll have a difficult time judging where to land or jump on to fast flying platforms, which usually cost you an UP (AKA: another try, Mario life).

This game is pretty easy in the first few worlds and the difficulty steeps up and up. Those who crave hardcore gaming, you can rest assured that this game gives you plenty of challenge. Especially, around world 8 and onwards those are very challenging for even professional gamers to pass them (I'm pretty sure you'll lose many UPs before you can pass these levels, as I did).

Not only that, when you took care of the infamous Koopa (Fat dragon - Mario's nemesis) at the end of world 8, you'll get plenty of extra worlds to extend your game play (another 8, to be precise). These extra worlds will give you even greater challenge than the challenging world 8. And they are much more complicated then the main game worlds, with many levels make you to rush to the exit with in less than 1 minute.

For those perfectionists, you'll have plenty of time collecting giant gold coins scattered around in all levels. Being lucky will get you some of these precious coins but you'll need to be very skillful to collect them all.

If we talk about level designs in this game, you'll find variety of length, difficulty and sizes, which is pretty ideal for both casual gamers and hardcore players.

Nearly all levels has their own uniqueness with plenty of secrets and collectives, which make it easy to remember, pretty much like the original Mario World in the old days. The secrets and collectives in this game will take both luck and keen eye to find them, especially in the time-limit levels that you have scarcely 30 seconds to play around with.

Most of new power-ups in this game are pretty much balance. You'll find boomerang suit that give you the ability to toss boomerangs at foes, which can be even more effective than the traditional fire flower power-up if you practice well. Or the Tanuki tail power-up that lets you hover in the air for a while, which give you the advantage of reaching faraway places. These two power-ups, when used skillfully, will give you an upper hand against the enemies and sometimes required to find secrets in the levels as well. But all the power-ups will perish with only one small touch from the troublesome foes.

This game has the best graphic capability for the 3DS console to date. It has plenty of similarities to Mario Galaxy game on Nintendo Wii home console (with no space travelling like that game though). The game is very vibrant and colourful with plenty of little touches and gimmicks such as leaves those can be burnt with fire or frogs those will croak when you approach them.

Nintendo also has put in 3DS gimmicks such as gyroscope control for you to look around the level when you look in to in-game telescopes or Street Pass capability for you to share power-ups to your friends and vice versa.

All in all, this is THE game you should have for your 3DS console.

More reviews next week. Keep in touch, guys & gals.

Mr. John
Student-weekly.com
Web Master team

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