Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario Bros. & The Midas Machine - FINAL DEMO, by Team Midas
Review Author DJ Coco
Created Jun 19 2014, 12:25 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
Giving this game a full 10 on all aspects was clearly my enthusiasm taking over. Playing a even more polished version now, I notice many things still wrong with this game. I didn't play far back then and I probably put graphics before quality, but with this final demo I will take a more objective look at this game.
 
Pros + Many details
+ Well programmed
+ Unique concepts
+ Takko
+ Collectibles and secret exits
+ Some cool level themes
+ Playable Wario and Waluigi
+ Custom graphics and music
 
Cons - Weak level design
- Clashing graphics in some areas
- Questionable and inconsistent art decisions lead to unfair deaths
- Some low-quality sound effects
- Some glitches here and there
- Overall lack of polish
 
Impressions
Gameplay
8 / 10
The gameplay is very nice. The engine seems almost flawless. But the further you play, the more imperfections you notice. There's a few bugs here and there, though nothing that really hurts the game too much. The controls were tweaked to work better this time round, though swimming and climbing still feels awkward. My biggest gripe however is the level design. While solid for the most part, few levels really stand out and most levels are just mediocre. Some just don't really use the real potential of a level, don't know how to introduce gimmicks to create a nice flow or just flat out punish you in Sonic Unleashed style for not knowing what was up ahead, like that one golden mushroom in the cactus ball rolling level.
 
Graphics
9 / 10
The graphics are gorgeous. However, not everywhere. Some of them seem more artsy than others, causing the game to look a little inconsistent at times. Then it's also really hard to tell what is solid and what's a jumpthrough at times (while it follows the same scheme as NSMB, it doesn't work here due to the level design). In the ice level it even changed the jumpthrough rules all the way back to SMW's style of handling it. Sometimes you also just don't know whether it's an object you can stand on or it's part of the background. It's mostly in combination with the level design that these graphics make for some unfair deaths.
 
Sound
8 / 10
The music is good, mostly remixed if I'm not completely mistaken. However, they sound very MIDI-ish. Some more high quality music would have been highly appreciated by today's standards. Sound effects are good, but the walljumping SFX is really low-quality, and some SFX are also completely absent.
 
Replay
10 / 10
Collectibles and secret exits make for quite some replay value.
 
Final Words
9 / 10
This game isn't bad by any means. It just could have been so much more if polish was added to this game. Overall, it's worth your time, despite the mediocre level design and other flaws it might have.

Comments
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Syr
Jun 19 2014, 6:03 PM
Despite all of the problems above, you were a bit too nice with the score. From what I read, this sounds like a 7/10 or 8/10. But I agree with some of the problems from what I played so far. But this game is very well designed. I like it so far.
 
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DJ Coco
Jun 19 2014, 6:50 PM
Quote (Syr on Jun 19 2014, 7:03 PM)
Despite all of the problems above, you were a bit too nice with the score. From what I read, this sounds like a 7/10 or 8/10. But I agree with some of the problems from what I played so far. But this game is very well designed. I like it so far.
I would have given the game an 8.5, but it rounds up to 9. A 7 sounds too harsh for me, despite all the flaws, as the game still is a quality title with lots of effort put into it.
 
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