Review Information
Game Reviewed N/A, by N/A
Review Author CM30
Created Aug 31 2015, 8:59 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
Super Mario 2D Universe is a beautiful looking game. With gorgeous 2D sprite graphics, nicely remixed Mario music and lots of nice little effects and things added in, it's a game that certainly appeals in terms of satisfying the senses.

The problem?

It's also a beautifully cookie cutter game. It's a game which to put it bluntly, has zero depth to it. So why is this game the virtual equivalent of candy floss? Well, let's find out!
 
Pros The graphics are fantastic and work together really well.
The music is decent, with some nice remastered versions of standard Mario songs.
The level design is... not ridiculously hard or unfair.
 
Cons It's an engine clone. The creator has added nothing interesting to the formula except nice graphics and music.
The difficulty is so low the game is boring as hell.
No boss fights, even in the castle level.
No gimmicks at all, so nothing stands out about any level.
Levels are copied from real Mario games, including the non retro ones.
 
Impressions
Gameplay
5 / 10
And here's the game's biggest issue. Put simply, it's boring.

Unfortunately for the creator, that's the biggest sin a work of fiction can ever commit. So why's Super Mario 2D Universe so boring?

Because while it's somewhat decent in the physics sakes (not amazing, just decent), it adds absolutely nothing new to the Mario formula. It looks bright and cheery and sounds great, but at its heart, it's just another dull hello clone.

Let's start with the new ideas. Put simply, this game has none. There's a few grass lands, an ice level, a beach level and a castle. They're... pretty much what you expect. But the big problem with them is that nothing interesting is done with these ideas. Does the cave have mine carts, rolling boulders, cave ins or angry moles throwing pick axes? No.

Does the castle have an attacking airship fleet, giant screen filling blarggs, cannon sections, falling spike pillar gauntlets or an epic boss fight at the end?

No.

It's just... typical bland Mario levelness straight out of the New Super Mario Bros series. What's more, these levels probably ARE straight out of the New Super Mario Bros series, since the game also 'steals' a ton of level designs from actual Mario titles.

This is bad enough in the 'retro' levels, where whole designs are taken from SMB 1-1 (where have I seen that before? Oh wait, a million fan games), a NSMB game's desert, Super Mario Land 2 level 1 and what appears to be start of New Super Mario Bros 2. But even the non retro levels seem like they take ideas from other sources.

And when they don't? Well, the level design ends up being about as easy and dull as when they do. Put simply, this is not a hard game. Put even better, this is just about the very opposite of a hard game, the kind of platformer you might give to a three year old to teach them how video games work.

Add all the lives you get for reaching the top of the flag pole (you'll easily manage this in most levels) and how short the levels feel, and you've got a game which you can blaze through in about 30 seconds to a minute a piece.

The result is a game so hollow and empty that it's not really any fun to play.
 
Graphics
9 / 10
Without a doubt the strongest part of the game, Super Mario 2D Universe looks amazing. With a mix of Kopejo's grass land and cave tilesets and other graphics from Shikaternia and Super Mario Bros X.org, the game actually looks a lot like what a GBA New Super Mario Bros game would be like.

Adding even more here are some of the nice little effects, like the glowing lights in the cave, the butterflies in the grass levels and the ominous dark skies in the castle area. The redone version of Kopejo's grass tileset into an icy wonderland was great as well.

So why just a 9? Because a couple of levels (like the Mario Land 2 style one) just didn't feel as graphically well done as the others. But it's good for the most part.
 
Sound
10 / 10
Your standard array of Mario songs, remixed or remastered as necessary. You've got Cool Cool Mountain from Super Mario 64 for ice levels, Super Mario Land 2's main theme for that retro level, a Super Mario World remix for the final one... it all goes with the game rather well and doesn't get repetitive at all.
 
Replay
1 / 10
What replay value? It looks nice, but this is a game so devoid of challenge that you can beat it in under 15 minutes. The level design itself has the odd rainbow star to collect, but given that they're just fancy Yoshi Coins with no real purpose, you won't replay the game for them.
 
Final Words
5 / 10
Super Mario 2D Universe is one of those games which is all style, zero substance. With level design so easy and bland it makes New Super Mario Bros look like Ghosts n Goblins and and ideas so dull and unoriginal that they make New Super Mario Bros 2 look like a Picasso piece, Super Mario 2D Universe is just not worth playing.

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