MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Super Mario Bros. 4 (Demo 1), by LangtonLion64
Review Author	Unfounded
Created	Mar 28 2014, 7:01 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview

So, Super Mario Bros 4, eh? Ambitious title, I must say, promising to be a sequel to SMB3. Can the gameplay match it? Let's take a look...

SMB4's gimmick is the ability to switch dimensions at pretty much any time within the level, essentially giving us two levels in one. But it doesnt work as well as it should. I'll explain soon...

Pros	+Switching dimensions is an inventive and fresh idea +It's Mario, for better or worse +The jetpack is awesome!
Cons	-Switching dimensions can be annoying -A lot of it feels like re-tread of SMB3

Impressions

Gameplay 7 / 10	Ok, so you want to know why switching dimensions isn't great? Because sometimes when you switch you'll be right on an enemy or a pit of death! It feels annoying as you have no idea where these things will be! will admit it would be hard to fix this. Maybe make Mario have a tiny bit of invincibility when switching, like the bit of invincibility he gets after he gets hit. And the pits... Well, you can switch to the other dimension when you fall, at least. The rest of it is essentially SMB3, besides the awesome jetpack item, in my opinion even better for flying than the raccoon suit, although it can't attack. All in all, besides that one annoying thing I mentioned earlier, it works well. Just make sure to fix that problem.
Graphics 9 / 10	SMB4 plays the safe route by ripping its graphics from SMB3. Kinda strange to name it "Super Mario Bros 4" if it looks exactly like SMB3, isn't it? Oh, I forgot to mention the buzzy beetles, ripped from SMB1. They don't look good against the other graphics, but that's one enemy. I will say, well done on making the different dimensions look incredibly different to each other. It makes the dimensions feel unique to each other, and the main reason why I'll give the graphics my seal of approval.
Sound 6 / 10	Not much I can say, here, just your everyday Mario tracks and sound effects. Unless I haven't got up to a level with a wildly different soundtrack. Nothing new, but at least it doesn't sound horrible, and that's what's important.
Replay 6 / 10	Eh, I couldn't really say I'd want to replay it a lot. It would have been nice if there were secret spots you could find by switching dimensions, but I don't think that was taken into account. Also, having two levels in one would be better if you weren't constantly fearing what you might run into on the opposite dimension. Sorry, I had to bring that up again. Still though, it's not like I'd never play it again, it is fun.

Final Words

A great concept for a Mario game let down a bit by the concept constantly causing annoyance and frustration. The rest of the game is fun, works well and when it doesn't inflict rage, switching between dimensions within the level is pretty sweet.
But that dimension-hopping problem I talked about desperately needs fixing.

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