Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@LtSarge Interesting to hear about how Beyond Two Souls kind of subverts expectations, given their design choices with Heavy Rain and Detroid: Become Human. I definitely need to pull the trigger on their older titles one day. Especially this one, since it sounds like it offers a unique experience that's distinct from their other major releases.

Nice write-up!

@LtSarge
I enjoyed this also a few years back. As usual on my first play I have to make all the morally correct decisions and be the good guy. I had much more fun going through second time and doing all the evil stuff. Did you play through multiple times?

@LtSarge I only skimmed a bit of the review as I have yet to play it, but good to see another very positive opinion of the game on here. I plan on playing it soon hopefully, as I've had it for a while but just never played it. Probably partially because it was divisive with people when it came out, but after loving Detroit: Become Human when I played that several months ago and remembering loving Heavy Rain way back on the PS3, it shot up my list of games in my backlog.

@Elodin I think it's worth a second shot. Do get back to me if you decide to give it another go, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

@Th3solution Yeah I think Beyond was a great experiment and I'd love to see more like it from QuanticDream in the future. It definitely felt more immersive than the other titles, that's for sure.

@Ralizah Oh yeah, for sure. If you do give it a try, let me know what you think about it!

Thanks!

@RogerRoger I appreciate the kind words! Yeah, I haven't read much about Beyond before because I've barely seen anyone talk about it. Which is too bad, because it really is a great game. Hopefully more people will play it. Maybe it could be a choice for Game Club? I think it'd be a fitting game for that.

@sorteddan Unfortunately no, I just don't have the time to be replaying games. But I can definitely see the potential for multiple playthroughs as there were a lot of moments where you could be evil. I decided to just play it safe since I wanted a positive ending and I was satisfied with what I got.

@KilloWertz Nice one, yeah definitely give it a shot as it's such a good game. Let me know what you think about it when you get around to it!

@RogerRoger Great Syphon Filter write-up! It's remarkable to think what a jump it represented coming from Bubsy 3D, of all games. I never finished this game as a kid, mostly because I was too busy giggling about the unnecessarily brutal taser deaths in this game, but it's good to hear it mostly holds up (until the final hours, at least) and made the transition to 4K well.

Although I'll say:

THAT is a tremendously big claim.

Also curious about what you meant by this bit:

Fantastic read, as usual. I'm looking forward to your write-up on Syphon Filter 2!

@RogerRoger I guess everyone has to start somewhere, eh? I was actually reading an interview where they talked about the game's development, and it's probably lucky the game turned out as decent as it did.

The english voice work in MGS1 was less solid outside of Hayter. And even with Hayter, it was less "great voice acting!" than it was just an incredibly iconic performance. It helps, of course, that the PS1 was in the infancy period of video game voice acting, since console games didn't really have the space to include it before the advent of CD technology.

"Syphon Filter is an accessible blend of popular genres successfully distilled into a mid-length, well-presented product, one with a flair for the cinematic that has a small handful of its own ideas and refinements, but is still kinda safe and derivative, albeit not offensively so."

That's actually a really good summation of what people have taken to calling the Playstation model. Their first-party output has become the video game equivalent of MCU movies, I think.

@RogerRoger yet another interesting review to read. I have no interest in the games, since I'm not a fan of playing retro style games, but that doesn't stop me form reading and enjoying your reviews.

@RogerRoger Be honest: you were mercilessly bullied every day for years by someone who relentlessly pelted you with copies of Sonic CD, weren't you?

By the way, I'll never not be baffled and put off by the whole Sonic 3 / Sonic and Knuckles / Sonic 3 and Knuckles thing! I feel the same emotions when people try to explain it that old people probably did in the 90s when their kids tried to explain what the internet was, or when anyone who isn't a tech geek has cryptocurrency explained to them.

It's a pity they couldn't work out the rights to the songs composed by Jackson. Music is such a huge thing when you're revisiting something from the past. There's an old anime show I absolutely loved as a kid that finally got re-released on blu-ray recently, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy it once I realized the closing song had been replaced with something more generic sounding because the distributor either couldn't or didn't want to pay for the rights to secure it. It seems silly, since it doesn't even impact anything in the body of the show itself, but it just felt... wrong. So I can't imagine revisiting a game with a classic, highly-regarded soundtrack, only to discover certain tracks were replaced entirely.

Out of interest, how much do the cutscenes add to the game, in your opinion? And the extra modes, if you tried those.

Super Mario 3D Land
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Completion Status: 100% across two playthroughs as Mario and Luigi

The seventh console generation was a rough one for me. Sony seemed to have lost its groove after two generations of industry domination. Japanese console gaming had all but died on the vine and, in its place, countless brown-grey Western multiplatform blockbusters had taken root. It was a period of time that caused me to almost give up the hobby. Discovering Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii revitalized my passion for the medium, though, despite my misgivings with the hardware itself. I was eager to jump back in with Nintendo for the first time since... well, really, I hadn't been big on them since the NES. And the perfect opportunity presented itself when I discovered that Nintendo was releasing a slate of new Mario games to rescue its new handheld, the Nintendo 3DS, from its floundering launch sales. The one that really caught my eye was the new Mario platformer they were developing for it.

Super Mario 3D Land was a pretty big deal when it was first released in 2011. Granted, now that we have the Switch, which is able to play nearly every 3D mainline entry in HD, it can be difficult to keep in mind how cool it was to have a fully original 3D Mario game that was exclusive to a handheld. Aside from the DS port of Super Mario 64, though, all previous handheld Mario games had been 2D sidescrollers. This felt like a vision of the future. While this entry has largely been eclipsed in subsequent years by its bigger home console brother, Super Mario 3D World, I decided to revisit this entry for the first time since the game originally launched more than a decade ago to see how it held up. While its an imperfect game, and I'll discuss that, I will say that, after readjusting to the 3DS' weird little analog slider, it was like slipping on a comfortable pair of old shoes.

The pitch for the 3D Land/World games has always been that they're something of a middle-point between the design principles of the obstacle-based side-scrolling Mario games and the much more exploratory 3D ones. That's true of both games, but 3D Land inarguably leans more heavily into the 2D side of the design equation. While both games feature broadly linear levels, 3D World featured much... wider areas. Some of this was to lean into the more heavily exploration-based gameplay of other 3D Mario games, I'm sure, but it was also probably meant to account for that game's focus on multiplayer action. Being strictly single-player, 3D Land focuses on making its levels very tightly designed, which I actually found to be a boon in certain respects, as it's able to concentrate its platforming challenges in a way 3D World's levels simply couldn't. It certainly feels like what you'd get if you took levels from a 2D Mario game and translated them into three dimensions. This feeling becomes even more pronounced when you consider that you collect medals in each level (three exactly) in order to unlock the game's later worlds, like you would in a New Super Mario Bros. game.

What comes along with that is also the length of traditional 2D Mario levels. The vast majority of the levels you'll play in this game are incredibly short, even taking into account some backtracking and slowdown in order to find all of the collectibles. Combined with the content density of these levels, this leads to the game having a feel to it that has never been replicated by another 3D Mario game subsequently. It's also very ideal for a handheld game, as you know you can sit down for 3 - 5 minutes and be guaranteed to have an absolute blast in the process.

It follows that the game is also far less bloated than 3D World was, especially if you're going for 100% completion. That game, in addition to larger levels, featured a wide cast of characters to complete level challenges as if you wanted to max out the stars on your player profile. The process is considerably more streamlined here. In order to do everything, you need to collect three medals in every one of the game's sixteen worlds (eight normal ones, and eight special ones that unlock after you beat the story), touch the top of every flagpole at least once with any character, defeat Bowser, complete each level with Luigi, who you unlock after beating the game initially (as mentioned, these levels are short, so it's a simple thing to blow through the game as quickly as possible), and then complete the special unlockable level at the very end with both characters. That's it. No giant in-game spreadsheets needed to make sure some giant roster of characters has touched the top of every flagpole in every level, although the game does helpfully let you know when you run up to a level which of your characters has beaten it.

That special level, by the way, is much like the one you unlock in 3D World, but far less brutal in comparison. 3D Land draws a significant number of its design elements from Super Mario Galaxy 2, including making the hardest level in the game a reward for completing everything else. Like in 3D World, there are no checkpoints or power-ups, but it's reasonably approachable if you go in with multiple raccoon suits so that you can tank hits and flutter through some of the stage's hairier sections.

I suppose the major drawback to 3D Land's consistent level design philosophy is that, in some respects, it all feels a little too orderly. Like the New Super Mario Bros. games, 3D Land feels content to maintain an entertaining but mostly unremarkable level of quality that it rarely deviates from. It's content to be a solid platformer and nothing else. As a result, the often radical sense of creativity in some of 3D World's stages is missing here. Which, again, is also a feature of the 2D games.

It also resembles the 2D games insofar as the boss fights suck. Like in recent 2D Mario games, you're stuck with fighting Bowser and his children. Some of the fights with Bowser are indeed quite fun, but there's very little surprise to be had when going into a boss fight in this game. This is probably the area where 3D Land differs most sharply from 3D World, which more resembles the 3D sandbox games in terms of having a unique set of creative boss encounters. That simply isn't true here: the way bosses are implemented is a snore.

3D Land isn't a creative dead-end, of course. While many elements of it feel like they're riffing on design influences from previous games, the sort of level design it pioneered was unique to the series at the end. It also introduces a number of new design elements (switchboards and flip panels are featured prominently, and both made their debut here; the other is a sort of vehicle on a rail that's always moving forward or backwards, depending on where you're standing on it, which makes for some interesting platforming challenges when the game starts throwing enemies at you, and the latter causes a series of panels to flip out into space, creating platforms for you to jump on, but these notably only last for a few seconds before they start disappearing), enemies, power-ups, tools (my favorite is the propeller hat, which will send Mario hurtling upwards toward the screen, and can be a bit startling when you have the stereoscopic 3D enabled), etc.

Nintendo's major Mario releases on their platforms have a tradition of showing off what the hardware is capable of: Mario 64's incredible full analog 3D freedom was as good a showcase as you could possibly have wanted for the N64's primitive yet legendary analog stick; Mario Sunshine uses the GameCube controller's analog triggers to control the water pressure released by Mario's FLUDD accessory; Mario Galaxy's control scheme on the nunchuk and wiimote shows off how you could use pointer controls and platform in tandem; Mario Odyssey showcased the Switch's HD rumble, motion gestures, and so on (although it could be argued that the biggest hardware capability it was demo'ing was the ability to play such a gorgeous, console-quality game on a portable device); and so on. In the case of the 3DS, the new feature was obviously the stereoscopic 3D functionality, and 3D Land makes great use of it. Players can choose between presets that either make the visuals pop out of the screen or add a sense of depth to it. While the game is playable without the 3D enabled, it really makes the game pop in a way that just wasn't possible on a non-3D handheld. The added visual depth can also make it significantly easier to estimate where you need to move to make a jump, and to accentuate the focus on visual depth provided by 3D, there is a LOT of vertical level design in this game.

There are also these fun, optional mystery box challenges that will reward the player with a star medal if they can navigate a level that functions as a sort of optical illusion. With the 3D off, the level geometry will look impossible to navigate, like something out of an MC Escher illustration, but turning on the 3D unravels the visual effect and allows the player to collect the medal. These, crucially, are not required for 100% completion of the game, thus not locking out completionists who can't or don't want to use the 3D effect, but it's a fun little bonus element for those of us who play with the 3D enabled.

Also worth mentioning that, as usual with 3DS games, the screenshots on this page don't really reflect the actual image quality of the game when played on the system. ESPECIALLY with the 3D enabled, which increases the perceived resolution of the on-screen image and makes everything look clean and sharp in a way that is impossible to re-create here. This is a long-standing issue with 3DS games thanks to the unique nature of the system's visual gimmick.

Sound is, unfortunately, the area where SM3DL suffers most. It was a bit jarring to rediscover how limited and basic the music in this game was after enjoying the gorgeous and jazzy compositions that featured in 3D World. The music is serviceable, but largely lacks pop, and a few themes reoccur way too often. Like this one:

It's... fine for the first level, but I really hope you like it, because it feels like this pops up in 70% of the levels in this game.

Other tracks are largely just drawn from other Mario games from the past. Like this one:

It's ripped straight from Super Mario Galaxy, although the track itself is a remix of a piece of music from Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES. But the remix was at least new in Galaxy. It's not new here.

That's not to say the music is all terrible. I liked this theme, for example, even if it is roundly inferior to the remix it received in 3D World:

In general, though, one will understand why I took to playing this with the sound off for the second playthrough. Pretty disappointing considering how amazing some of the 3D Mario OSTs have been.

Super Mario 3D Land isn't a game that will blow anyone away in 2022, but it's a very comfortable game. From the length to the content of the game itself, it's something that's pleasant to turn on and unambiguously enjoy in small bursts. Yet it's impossible to ignore that however good it is as a handheld Mario game (my favorite original handheld Mario title of all time, frankly), it doesn't live up to the ambitious design heights of Mario's best 3D games. Many would argue that it doesn't need to: as a handheld exclusive, its limited scope and condensed level design makes it the perfect portable game to enjoy in small breaks. However you choose to approach it, however, lack of musical diversity aside, the quality of its construction is unimpeachable, and this very early launch year title still stands as one of the system's best platformers. A solid 7/10 for me.

@RogerRoger Rog, suffice it to say I’ll terribly miss your reviews. That being said, I wholeheartedly support your devotion to writing on a professional level. Although I’m far from a professional editor with any kind of know-how, I have no doubt you have the right stuff to be a published author. I don’t always comment (although I frequently do 😄) about your posts, especially when I don’t have any experience with the game under discussion, but I almost always skim your work and end up being drawn in to your deft prose and ultimately entertained by it.

The thought has often occurred to me that many of the reviewers on this thread could easily be getting monetary compensation for their work. There is simply some excellent reviews being posted regularly, with yours among them. I think many of our Push Square forumites could be dropping these reviews freelance to various sites or publications, but I hear the pay is hardly worth the effort until a reputation is built. I feel that what Ral has cultivated here has been an excellent playground for stretching people’s writing and critiquing skills. I’ve certainly learned a lot from reading and posting.

Of course, to clarify — I know you well enough to realize your pursuit of professional writing probably isn’t driven by a financial motive, rather you have a passion for the craft. And that’s why you’ll be successful.

I look forward to hearing if/when you get published, should you feel inclined to share the information down the road. But I also hope your writing doesn’t pull you away to the extent you’re not able to drop by this and other threads to regularly share your thoughts on things from Star Wars and James Bond to marmite and socioeconomics. Besides, I believe there’s a screenshot competition a few months away!

@RogerRoger First of all another fantastic review that I throughly enjoyed reading.

Second of all "It means that attempting to 100% these games is now, er... what's the opposite of "insurmountable", is it "mountable"...? No, that sounds wrong. Very wrong. Anyway, it's doable."
This still sounds very wrong 🤣 Although if something was mountable this surely means its higher ranked than just doable? I'm talking about gaming I assure you 🤣.

All bad jokes aside, I will miss Reading your reviews and I will keep this short because I type on this site on my phone and it becomes a big of a nightmare doing long winded post buy honestly mate, your writing has been top notch and you should do what you want to do with it, I'm sure you will be great! Write what you want to write and see where it goes, doing nothing will only ever leave you with the feeling of what if. When you do have a best seller though just put a little nod to RogerRoger in there so all us at PushSqaure can smile when we realise we have a super star author in here with us 😀 Good luck

@RogerRoger I wish you the best of luck pursuing your dreams and I hope you will succeed. I know for sure that everyone that really follows this topic can see your writing qualities and will cheer their hearts out for your succes.

@RogerRoger Screw stopping doing reviews here to pursue writing novels. Chasing childhood dreams is ridiculous, just like having childhood dreams that just get crushed and then you work at Starbuck's or Walmart your whole life....

Kidding aside, good luck with pursuing your writing career. There is nothing to add that people haven't already said, but your reviews here since I've become a bigger part of the community here have been fantastic. They were always a good read (I sometimes actually read the whole thing.... lol). Lastly, I hope you never have a good enough gaming experience from this day forward so you never get the urge to write a review again.... I mean once again, good luck.

@RogerRoger Oh wow. Not what I was expecting to read this morning. Although I had the feeling something was up with you based on the tone of some of your posts.

Coming from someone who is something of a coward, and who has squandered countless opportunities for advancement and personal growth in my life, I can attest there is a lot of truth to the idea that, no matter how you feel in the moment, it's the chances you never take that will haunt you to your dying day.

So yeah, if you've had a realization about yourself, if there's a story in there that's been screaming to come out since you were young, then go for it. We probably only get one chance at life, after all. And you definitely have a unique voice that people respond to.

If you have any issues in the process of writing your novel, if you feel discouraged, silly, or like you're unable to mirror the images in your head with the words on the page, also know that such experiences are normal as well. Writing is necessarily hard: it's forging order from the chaos of electrical signaling in our brains. It's almost magical, in a way.

Just remember, no matter how often you stumble, you only truly fail when you give up. Everything else is just a part of the process.

Welp, that's enough cliches for now. Don't be a stranger now!

Neon Genesis Evangelion. A psychological thriller/mecha anime from the mid-90s that had a gargantuan influence on Japanese media, and is at least partially responsible for the resurgence of anime as a medium around that time. Video games, also. Stuff like Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears drew heavy inspiration from it.

The software I used was the Google search engine. Unlike my Vita, I never hacked my 3DS, so I currently have no way to create or export screenshots, unfortunately.

It sounds stupid, but I'd probably play my 3DS more if it had such a functionality. I hate having to use other peoples' screen grabs.

@RogerRoger I don’t know you well enough to get away with saying this but I’m living on the edge today: About time! And Godspeed!!!

@RogerRoger Well, even my cold dead heart will read a "goodbye" post. Obviously in this sense just your reviews are going bye bye, but still, you get the idea.

Things are back to normal though as I only read my part of your post...

@RogerRoger The best of luck with your novel, definitely follow your dreams! I know what you mean about this being a great place to hone your writing skills, I definitely know that I want to pursue journalism now after putting pen to paper (fingers to keys?) on a few formal reviews and lots and lots of informal reviews. It’s also true what Ral says, it’s what we regret not doing that haunts us most. I’d rather something not work out than not giving it a go in the first place!

@RogerRoger I'm so happy to hear that your experience writing reviews here has had such a great effect on your confidence! I lurk on this forum a lot more than I actively post, but I have to come out the woodwork and say this time that your reviews were easily a big part of the experience. I feel bad for never replying much before, but luckily there were a lot of other people who were making sure you knew your work was appreciated! Hell hath truly frozen over if we're losing you of all people in this thread now. Who else could I have counted on to turn me onto Life is Strange 2 and ruin my life, haha? Selfishly, I hope there'll be plenty of games in your future that you just can't help but write about... but I hope more so that working on your novel will really end up being your dream come true. It's a hard and terrifying prospect to chase your dreams and I have so much respect for you for taking the jump. And hey, I'm certain that after our many exchanges about Mass Effect back in the day you know a thing or two about good writing, so I'm not all that worried! Maybe give us a tease on what it's about...? You know, to tide us over with you leaving us all hanging for the next half a year if not longer! Hehe.

Best of luck, Roger. I'll reach out again when you're a big shot writer and want something from you. 😜

@RogerRoger I just wanted to reach out and wish you the best of luck! It's daunting starting something new and I hope that different form of writing brings you joy, first and foremost 😀

@RogerRoger
Thanks for all the times your words have made me laugh or the times I've just been astounded by your way with words.
Best of luck pal, hope it all works out for you.