Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario Bros: Crimson Hours, by Hello
Review Author NovemberJoy
Created Dec 19 2016, 3:11 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
It's fun throughout its very short length, although the blood and gore is very out of place.
 
Pros +Guns and grenades add to the gameplay
+Level design is fairly decent throughout
+Presentation isn't bad
 
Cons -The physics are very odd at times
-Springs are buggy and can get you stuck
-The boss battles are uninspired
 
Impressions
Gameplay
6 / 10
It's fairly standard Mario gameplay, with guns and grenades added in. The story's not particularly creative, but it works, and it sets the dark'n-edgy tone well. The game doesn't have very many levels to work with, but it introduces enough new game mechanics that they shouldn't bore you throughout their relatively short length, and each level feels like it has just the right length, ending right about the point where it feels like it should. The level design has an unhealthy obsession with springs, but that's one of the only major complaints with it.

Where I can complain, though, is in how the physics work. Each ceiling has an odd force-field extending a bit below it, and you immediately lose all momentum the instant you hit it, which makes it very hard to make jumps with a low ceiling. This also has a second effect, in that you can get stuck on a spring if the ceiling is too low - you won't be able to move left or right, and you'll have no choice but to commit suicide with your infinite supply of grenades. I have a feeling that might be part of the reason they were added in the first place...The two boss fights didn't feel especially great, either. They were both so easy that I defeated them easily on my first try, and they both follow the same pattern - dodge extremely predictable attack pattern, hit the boss. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
 
Graphics
5 / 10
It's just the same Black Squirrel tileset used in many of Hello's other games. It works for what it is, but it isn't exactly eye-candy. There are a few custom assets that aren't directly out of the Black Squirrel tileset or any official Mario game, but they look very out-of-place and have significantly lower quality than everything else.
 
Sound
7 / 10
There aren't very many music tracks, but they all fit the mood of the game fairly well. I didn't like that one of the songs had vocals, but that was a fairly minor thing. The sound effects are just there, for the most part, and there's nothing there that stands out.
 
Replay
3 / 10
Although the game is nice enough to give you 99 lives when you finish it, there really isn't much to do after you finish the final level. There are a few A-coins to collect in each level, but that wasn't enough to keep me playing past the ending.
 
Final Words
6 / 10
It suffers from several issues, but they don't stop it from being fun for the short amount of time that it lasts.

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