Review: 4 Things I Loved About Super Mario 3D Land (And 4 Things I Hated)

Mario's latest romp on the 3DS has been kind of a mixed bag for me.  I want to believe the masses, and claim that 3D Land is the best game available for the handheld at the moment, but I can't bring myself to do it.  Besides, that honor has already been taken in my eyes.  For every enjoyable quirk I find in the game, I encounter an equally annoying aspect that seems to put a damper on all of the fun.

Imagine the Fire Flower, but with much less practical use.

Mario, I want to love you, but sometimes you just make it too hard for me to admit it.  At the same time, you have a charm that's impossible to ignore.  So, allow me to organize my thoughts in an indecisive, wishy-washy fashion, just for you.


I Loved...
1.  The fact that 3D was actually important
Say what you want about the 3DS's innovative glasses free 3D, but at the end of the day, very few people can admit to the fact that it has actually caused any change in the industry.  Most of time the new technology has been used as a gimmick, with games utilizing colorful moving backgrounds for the sole purpose of making something look like it's popping out.  The 3D did nothing to change gameplay.  Instead, it offered a neat little visual gimmick more than anything else.  During times when I played Dead or Alive Dimensions, I would actually find myself turning the 3D completely off, as to avoid any hiccups in the frame rate.

Super Mario 3D Land is one of the first games I've encountered that has made the 3D worth keeping on for the entire experience.  Mario didn't just employ the usual visual tricks.  Instead, the developers looked for innovative ways to take advantage of the new dimension.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed by their efforts.

This isn't just a stack of blocks in a corner.  The two blocks
beneath the coin and clock are actually directly above the tube. 

The little perception tricks that this game pulls are entertaining, and add a lot to the whole platforming experience.  After all, how can you jump onto a platform if you don't exactly know where the platform might be?  That's where the 3D comes in.  And that's why it's awesome.

Still, with so much potential for visual creativeness, it's a shame that...


I Hated...
1.  The emptiness of the levels
3D Land set out to create a blend between the "old" and the "new" Mario.  In other words, Nintendo wanted to mash together elements of the 3D Mario Galaxy with the 2D New Super Mario Bros.  While this offers a great deal of potential, it seems as though the developers used this as an excuse to create minimalistic looking levels.  The fluff was cut out of the environments, and everything was just floating in the middle nowhere.  Because, you know, that's how Galaxy did it, after all.  What the player is left with, however, is a bland looking level design.

Note the abundance of open space.

 Even in levels that were full of enemies and moving platforms, the design just seemed to contain the bare minimum, with little in terms of backgrounds or personality.

Enemies?  Check.  Platforms?  Check.
...Alright, that's about all we need, right?

In Galaxy, the levels may have been broken chunks of mass floating through the air, but there was a purpose to them.  The smaller, more minimalistic levels often played with gravity in order to present a new element to the game.  The larger levels were actual planets, with trees, buildings, waterfalls, you name it.  It was still just a level in the middle of space, but at least there was something going on in it.

Above:  More than just a floating rock in the sky.

3D Land's levels are just levitating pieces of the basic necessities, nothing more.  This makes them feel particularly boring and forgettable, which is practically a mortal sin in a Mario game.

So, Nintendo, if you're going to try to blend parts of Galaxy into your game, don't just put a bunch of platforms in "space" and call it a day.

You're lucky I can be pretty forgiving, because...


I Loved...
2.  The loose platforming sections
After I just got done complaining about the emptiness of this title's levels, it seems kind of foolish to compliment it about the exact same thing.  But I'm going to do it anyway!

SM3DL's open level design sometimes gave the player room for some creative, free form platforming, which was a nice change in pace for the series.  You could be at the highest point on a tower, jumping down a vaguely established path to the finish.  Or, you could take a leap of faith and create your own shortcut as you bypass a bunch of the enemies and platforms.  The jump was risky, to be sure, but it was your choice to make.

Same picture, different scenario.
You could jump all the way to the bottom, if you wanted to.

Granted, this loosely structured platforming didn't excuse the obnoxiously empty level design, but it at least offered some compensation.

What I really enjoyed were the levels that were almost maze-like.  You knew where the flagpole was to finish the level, but if you wanted to finish with all of the Star Coins, you had to explore.  There was no right or wrong direction to go as you searched the level, which was a concept that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Just a big tower with the finish line at the top. 
Get there however you want.

It's a shame that levels like these were few and far between.  However, their presence was enough to garner my attention, and make me enjoy the game just a little bit more.

And I needed a reason to like the game more, because...


I Hated...
2.  Needing certain power-ups in order to get Star Coins
This was a frustration that I experienced more times than necessary.  I would see a Star Coin, just out of my reach, and would think to myself, "There's no way I can possibly get that!"  Except, it was possible.  If I could glide with the Tanooki Suit.

You are NOT getting that Star Coin without it.

And that's only to name one example.  There are moments where you have to light torches with the Fire Flower in order to access a room with a Coin in it.  Other times, you have to use the Boomerang power-up to throw a projectile past your reach in order to nab one.  Still other sections require that you smack a wheel with your tail a bunch of times in order to raise a platform up to a secret area.

If you don't have the right power-up during these parts of the game, you're screwed.  You have to go back to a previous level to get the power-up you want, beat the level, and then go back to the place with the Star Coin.  As a person who wanted to get all of the Coins, this was absolutely infuriating.  Not only did I have to replay a level I had already beaten, just to get a simple power-up, but I also had to replay the level I had just finished in order to pick up the straggling Star Coin. 

During moments like these, my forward progression was inconveniently put on hold, and I never enjoyed myself when they happened.

Thankfully, this frustration never lasted forever, because...


I Loved...
3.  The nice challenge in the Special Worlds
While the first half of 3D land was fairly enjoyable, I will admit that it was a bit too easy for my tastes.  The Star Coins were always in plain sight, and didn't require me to go too out of my way to get them.  The platforming sections were forgiving, and there was almost always something to land on when you needed it.

Then, everything changed when I started tackling the Special Worlds after finishing the main game.

Soon, I was searching for Star Coins adamantly, checking every nook and cranny to make sure I didn't miss anything.  The platforming sections became challenging, and I died more than my fair share of times when trying to complete them.  To me, these Special Worlds felt like an entirely different game.

Each of these platforms fall after you step on them.
Tread lightly...

On top of that, the new levels featured a couple of engaging little tricks that kept things interesting.  The "dark Mario" levels got me to think about how I moved around in the world as I tried to manage a deadly game of "Follow the Leader."  Also, the 30-second levels forced me to act quickly, while scrounging for those once useless time bonuses.  Both of these new styles of play, on top of the unique level designs, made 3D Land seem much more exciting to me.

Cue increased heart rate.

Although the Special Worlds aren't available until after you beat the game, they were still very much worth the effort to unlock.

And thank God they were, because...


I Hated...
3.  The lack of themes in each world
Quick, Mario fans!  Tell me, what world is this?

If you said "Giant World" from Super Mario Bros. 3, you'd be close enough.  Now quick, what's this world?

The Forest of Illusion from Super Mario World?  Very good.

Now, tell me.  Which world in Super Mario 3D Land is this?

Hint:  It's not "Ice World"

If you answered, "I haven't the slightest idea," you're not alone.  Truth be told, none of the worlds in 3D Land have any sort of theme.  Heck, pretty much all of them have some kind of ice level or spikey dungeon level.

An iteration of this level is seriously in every world.

This results in a hodge-podge of forgettable worlds, made up of the same looking levels.  Very few of them have any quirks that set them apart.  As a result, the separation of the worlds is completely arbitrary, and totally pointless.  Not the best way to structure a memorable experience...

But that's okay, because...


I Loved...
4.  The fact that it was actually fun
This may seem like a throwaway reason to like a game, but it's actually kind of a big deal for me.  After playing video games for over a decade of my life, it has become increasingly harder to avoid getting bored.  When you play games for as long as I have, few things seem to acutally surprise you, and only the most unique titles seem to hold your interest.  Playing though some games these days feels like an exercise in patience.  I beat them for the sole purpose of seeing it through to the end, and moving on.

Fortunately, Mario was able to break that rule.  He's been around longer than I have, and I still found his latest outing to be entertaining.

Some things just never seem to change.

Maybe it's just because I have a weakness for platformers, but I can't deny that 3D Land is a quality title that held my attention up to the end.  That's a feat that I feel at least deserves some recognition, so the least I can do is give it some.

Thank you, Mario, for not being a completely tedious chore.

However, I can't say that your game was an absolute pleasure to play, because...


I Hated...
4.  The fact that it had next to no original ideas
Of all the words that could be used to describe 3D Land, "unique" is definitely not one of them.  Almost everything from this game has been lifted from a previous installment in the series.  It gets to the point where the folks at Nintendo seem to be attempting to entertain a bunch of nostalgia-drunk 5-year olds by making reference after reference to previous titles.

"Hey guys!  Remember those poison mushrooms from
Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels?
We put those in here!  Sweet, huh?"

"Remember the airships from Super Mario Bros. 3?
We put a bunch of those in here too!"

"I bet you missed those hairy looking vine things from Super
Mario World, so we brought those back again!"

"Hey, so we heard you guys liked the raccoon tail from
Super Mario 3, so we went ahead and put it on
freakin' everything!"

When looked at from a "big picture" point of view, 3D Land has no identity of its own.  It's just a compilation of a bunch of stuff that was popular in past years.  And as a person who has never played Galaxy 2, I was a bit let down to discover that even the fun "dark Mario" levels had already been done before.

...Dammit...

This lack of uniqueness was aggravating.  I felt like I was being pandered to, or even tricked.  It was as if Nintendo was trying its hardest to avoid coming up with any new ideas.  Instead, it decided to release a game that was about as original as an apple in a massive bag of bigger, better apples that were more worth your money.

And those other apples were more entertaining, too...