MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Super Mario Bros Doomsday (Demo), by BuzzNBen
Review Author	SRGPaladin
Created	Oct 2 2015, 2:13 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview

What I see here is a game that has a lot of potential. It gives me confidence that the creators can make something great.

But even in demo status, it is horrendously executed.

When I saw this was in demos, I thought, "Maybe the game's not totally polished and maybe it's lacking content, but they'd like to showcase the mechanics, so people realize the game will be fun, right?"

This should never have been put in demos. Exhibitions like this should remain in WIP.

Now don't get me wrong: I can see (at least in terms of gameplay) where this can go, and it has the makings of a superb Mario World-style fangame.

But as it is, I see nothing here worth showcasing. Just an engine in alpha state and a relatively unoriginal and undeveloped story about Bowser teaming up with almost every Mario badguy ever.

Pros	+feels like SMW +dat SNES pixel transition!
Cons	-collision detection -custom spriiieeeetes...ew -Crystal Falls

Impressions

Gameplay 5 / 10	This is a valiant attempt to recreate the physics of SMW, including those of the powerups e.g. the cape feather, and if the engine was well built, I'm sure this would be marvelous. But the engine's glitchy, and that kinda ruins everything. Specifically, the collision checking is the game's weakest point. Everywhere I go, on average about once per level, strange things start happening; there's no doubt about it. I fly and fall through solid walls at varying angles and velocities, I hit piranha plants that have already withdrew into their pipes, I retain falling behavior after landing on a moving platform, Goombas get stuck in the ground and can't move around...Imagine pretty much every bug you've ever seen that's indicative of bad collision checking. I'm probably seeing it here. Except for wall-jumping. None of that, thank goodness. There's just so many examples that happen so often, I'm tempted to ask you to consider scrapping the physics and starting anew. Fortunately, the variety of collision checking errors is not indicative of their quantity; they happen just sparsely enough to make the game playable. Nonetheless, they must be fixed! Now, on to the design bit of gameplay. The level design sucks overall. That simple. There are actually some decent levels, those that feel handcrafted, but the rest are junk. They often include redundant elements, sometimes within the same level even, and likely are not showcasing the non-physics side Saturn's engine the way they could be. They seem like they were thrown together for the sake of MOAR LEVELS and CHANGE OF THEME with insufficient regard for what's actually in the levels. I can tell, since I've done this in the past myself. Now in regard to enemies...well, actually, aside from their placement in the levels (which falls under level design, see above), I have no real complaints. Except for the physics stuff of course. And the graphics glitches. (see below) Any further critiques on gameplay would be overshadowed by everything mentioned here, so I'll leave it at that.
Graphics 5 / 10	Usually passable, but mostly unoriginal, a la SMW. And where there are custom sprites, they're clashy as all get out, especially the badguy sprites in the cutscenes, omagosh... Additionally, there is a profound lack of visual niceties e.g. scenery. It seems as though, with the outlying exceptions of few levels, only the bare minimum needed to make the level intuitive was added to the background. No innovation or sense of immersion besides the scrolling background texture. (Ironically, the intuitiveness was still broken by the gameplay.) Now, aesthetics aside, there were just some flat out bad-looking things. To name a few: the horrible text box scaling the occasional background shake when getting powerups (if it's intentional, it still doesn't look good) darkness effect follows Mario after death, and the artifacts surrounding it can be clearly seen; very messy. the enemies walking...facepalm walking BACKWARDS? There are just so many things that need work here, just like in gameplay mechanics. However...on the positive side, I can't help but congratulate the game makers on creating authentic-feeling filters, such as the underwater background ripple, but especially the SNES pixilation transition. Very nice job there.
Sound 6 / 10	On sfx, including gameplay sounds and "voice acting", nothing to complain about, aside from my typical gripes on lack of innovation and immersion. It lacks creativity, but it still checks out. On music, I was upset by the disparate styles and lack of thematic unity. It's literally a lot more difficult than it sounds to select preexisting pieces from different authors written at different times, and still fit a game's theme. The unity in theme was further worsened by the fact that the music was from many different games.
Replay 2 / 10	Some levels I wouldn't mind doing again. But the bulk of it felt like a really bad blackbox testing session. The lack of quality makes for lack of replay value

Final Words

I see both great and manageable ambition here. However, this game is getting bogged down by the devil in the details.

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