MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Hello Fangaming Collection, by Hello
Review Author	Vg Lizards
Created	Nov 25 2015, 7:37 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview

Well this is it the 10 year anniversary during these years Hello have probably pumped out more 2D Mario platformer than anyone in the entire world (even more than Nintendo them self I think) it even got to the point that he became a running joke on this site. All jokes aside whatever you like his games he deserve credit for going on for so long.

The biggest shortcomings of his games though was always that they all shared too much similarities in terms of sound, gameplay and graphics and sadly this game is no exception.

Pros

-The game runs smoothly
-No game breaking glitches as far as I have seen
-I though the towns with the behind the scene story of each level was a neat and charming addition
-Collectibles in each levels (personally I did not go for them but it's still a nice addition).
-I like that the overworld is nonlinear
-I liked that the game autosaves after each level making it easy to continue where you left off

Cons

-The majority of the levels are just not very interesting
-Some questionable collision detection
-Some of the enemies feels unfairly overpowered
-The exaggerated use of light effects
-The underground cave remix (that theme to me was bad enough to be listed as a flaw).
-The exaggerated use of voices (it just don't fit).

Impressions

Gameplay 5 / 10	The gameplay is for the most part pretty inoffensive the biggest crime this game commits is really that it's just not very fun/interesting. Best thing the game has going for it is that it runs really smooth. I never experienced any lags and the controls even though I had to get bit used the physics (mainly how Mario falls like a rock when you jump) works very well. Especially if you have access to the a gamepad and JoyToKey then the game controls like dream (at least for fangame standards). I also did not experience any obvious glitches that ruined my experience in any way so kudos to you Hello you know how to make a platformer that plays well. But sadly the level design itself is where game just falls apart. Most levels are really short if you are not going for the cds they can be beaten in about 2-3minutes and they don't really have any interesting gimmicks that makes them memorable either. There are occasionally some interesting levels like for example the purple pipe maze where you pickup blocks of different colors where each block had their own effect depending on what color it was and I did enjoy these moments but these levels are sadly few and far between and for the most part I just breezed through each level before I even got time to realise what I just played. Another problem is that when the game occasionally becomes hard it's for the most part for the wrong reasons. This is the hardest one to explain since what makes those levels frustrating is mostly problems that are exclusive for that level alone. For example if you push the run/pickup button while you stand on a pickup block Mario will automatically pick up the block you stand on without you having to press down first. This would be fine if there was not any levels where you platform on pickup blocks above bottomless pits which is not the case in this game and it gets really annoying when you fall to your death due to this easily fixable problem. To make matters worse there are also moments where you have to pickup blocks that blocks your path while standing on pickup blocks and in this situation Mario will pick up the block under him and the one in front that you try to pickup and fall to his death. Another problem is that some of the enemies are just too overpowered particularly swoopers and blargs. They do not appear in many levels but when they do it's guaranteed that you are not going to have a good time. Blargs have the weirdest collision detection I ever seen in a 2D platformer I swear I was standing at least 1cm away from him but I still got hit and swooper is just way to fast making it really annoying to dodge. There more minor flaws here and there but these are the ones I felt that need to be mentioned. Like a said most of these flaws are level specifics and the game overall is fine in terms of mechanics I just wich the levels you make us go trough where more fun. Maybe next time you should try and make a collaboration game so you don't have to make up all of the levels all by yourself?
Graphics 3 / 10	The core graphics are fine it's mostly SMB3 sprites with some custom graphics and little bit SMB 1 and 2 for good measure. It all works fine and I honestly don't have any issue with it. What I have a issue with is the exaggerated use of lighting and shadow effects. There is even a light effect on the fireball in the daytime overworld levels just why? This would be fine if it was just some parts of the game that had this but it's everywhere and it overall just makes the game unpleasant to look at. I know you want to make the game look more modernise but this is not the way to do it. And I think it's sad since the graphic would otherwise look pretty good but it all falls part because of this one detail. On the positive site the Monty Mole sprite was pretty cute though.
Sound 3 / 10	The music is a mixed bag for me. The majority are just remixes of older Mario themes none of them really stuck but they did what they set out to do which is to give the levels flavor. So music wise it's mostly fine with the exception of the terrible techno remix that plays in the cave levels a know it sounds like a minor thing but that theme single handedly ruined any fun I could have had with the cave levels it was that bad to me. The biggest problem with this game soundwise though is the exaggerated use of voice clips (I start to notice a running theme here). They do not fit the game at all and I really think the game would have benefited from just using standard 16 bit Mario sound effects instead.
Replay 6 / 10	The are definitely some extra content for the completionist with the hidden cd in each level but mainly because I did not like most of the levels in the first time I don't really feel like going back for them but for what it's worth it does add some replay value for someone who is enjoyed the levels more than I did so I am not gonna hold it to much against the game.

Final Words

To say the least this game convinced me that the Hello engine have to potential to do amazing things but the uninteresting levels keeps this entry from being anything better than mediocre at best.

Don't give up Hello

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Comments

	TheTwelfthRocket Dec 19 2015, 10:57 PM
Nice review!


	SMBXfan May 28 2016, 10:27 PM
"Don't give up Hello" 10/10. Great encouragement. EDIT: Even though he never listens to the reviews.

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