Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario PC Challenge 7, by Ralph89
Review Author Roo
Created Feb 12 2022, 4:58 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
My favorite part of this game is how it was apparently made with a pirated copy of RPG Maker.
 
Pros + It's quite novel
+ The soundtrack is pretty good
 
Cons - It just doesn't play very well at all
 
Impressions
Gameplay
3 / 10
The Super Mario PC Challenge series is one of the best examples of "just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD."

People, rightfully or otherwise, criticize the default Clickteam platform movement for being clunky and unwieldy, but when compared to what this game puts out, it's basically a one-to-one recreation of SMW's movement system. The fact that the movement in these games was built on top of an RPG movement system is incredibly apparent; everything moves "in turn," there's a half-second delay between pressing the jump button and actually jumping, it's very hard to jump on enemies without getting hit, fireballs randomly don't hit enemies etc. etc. etc.

The level design is, for the most part, just... kinda bland. The levels mostly just blend into one another, there isn't much of a difficulty curve (aside from the final level being real tough), the first three levels in the final world aren't even "final world-themed," there are more swimming levels than castle levels in the game etc. etc. etc.

Speaking of the swimming levels, if you thought the idea of a platformer made in RPG Maker sounded awful, just wait until you play an UNDERWATER LEVEL made in RPG Maker. The toughest son-of-a-gun on Earth would quake in his boots at the mere thought of Ralph89's immeasurable power.

Another funny (?) thing about the game is that it simultaneously has "a lot of" and "basically no" enemy variation. You see, while there are indeed a lot of different kinds of enemies, they all behave in almost identical ways. I definitely prefer this over just having Goombas and Koopas walking around, but one still has to wonder why there are like three different kinds of Bob-Omb in the game when none of them even explode.

To put it short, it's commendable that someone tried to make a platformer in RPG Maker, but it's not really worth playing unless you want to behold the spectacle with thine own two eyes.
 
Graphics
7 / 10
The graphics are decent. Nothing spectacular, but nothing terrible either. Well, maybe the night levels could've been less dark. Also, like I said earlier, the different enemy graphics are a nice touch.
 
Sound
8 / 10
The soundtrack is surprisingly decent. It's easy to assume from the generic graphics and gameplay that it'd just be a smorgasbord of all the mediocre overworld theme midis we've heard a thousand times before, but there are plenty of tracks here that are anything but.

The sound effects aren't bad either, and it's nice that you can pick your own jumping sound so that you don't have to listen to the ear-grating SMB one.
 
Final Words
4 / 10
Not a very good game, but a decent novelty.

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