Hey steemians, how are you? Welcome to a new edition of The Review, today in this section we will talk about a video game that has been praised by many and criticized by others, a game that for many is a masterpiece. Today in The Review we will talk about Super Mario Odyssey.
Before I start, I remind you that in The Review videogames are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 100 under the following parameters: History, playability, graphics, soundtrack and other technical aspects.
Anyway, enough of chatter and start once with the review of Super Mario Odyssey.
SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY
Super Mario Odyssey is a videogame created by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch and premiered on October 27, 2017. The video game like most of its predecessors belongs to the genre of platforms, a genre where the ability to overcome the various obstacles that are presented to the player in any scenario or world is required, normally to overcome such scenarios or worlds it is necessary to move at the same time as we perform jumps, rebounds, swings or any other kind of acrobatic movements to overcome obstacles, in these video games it is also common to resort to the elements of our environment to overcome the challenge that we raised the world or the scenario that we face. This genre is famous among the most "classic" players for titles like Crash Bandicoot, Megaman, Limbo, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, between others.
And although previously I mentioned that this is a platform videogame, it also belongs in a certain way to the open world genre or adventure, because this videogame offers us more than small "worlds", Super Mario Odyssey offers an open world with several Kingdoms to which we can go during our adventure.
The game "debuted" so to speak in the first trailer of the Nintendo Switch published in October 2016, but it would not be until January 13, 2017 that the game would be presented officially.
HISTORY
The story of Super Mario Odyssey is not something that I would especially highlight. The video game tells the classic story of the saga; Mario VS Bowser.
We embody Mario in a new adventure in which we will travel through several Kingdoms thanks to the Odyssey, a hat-shaped ship, in order to rescue the Princess Peach from the evil Bowser who is planning to force her to marry him. Although this time our villain has the help of the children or subjects of Madame Broode, The Broodal's, but he will not be the only one who has new allies, since we will have the help from our friend Cappy, a magical being with the appearance of a hat that will allow us to become or transform into different beings.
Our attempt to rescue the Princess Peach will take us to travel many Kingdoms, either in New Donk City or in the Kingdom of Bowser we will have to face different dangers, but with skill and skill we will be able to overcome each of these .
CHARACTERS
Before I mentioned that in Super Mario Odyssey we played Mario, but he will not be the only character we will see in this new adventure, since there are many characters that we will find in this videogame. And due to the existence of a large number of characters that appear in this title I will only present the main ones, which are:
Mario:
He is an Italian plumber who currently lives in the Mushroom Kingdom, but he is more than just a plumber, he is the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom and has saved many of the inhabitants of that Kingdom, especially the princess of the same, the Princess Peach. Mario is a noble person, humble and of good heart, he does not care how many threats he has to face in order to save the people who need his help.
Cappy:
A magical being with the appearance of a white top hat that becomes the main ally of Mario in this adventure to be able to rescue the Princess Peach and her sister Tiara. He will accompany Mario and help him to overcome the enemies that stand in his way.
Princess Peach:
The Princess Peach she is the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. Being the regent of the Mushroom Kingdom has faithful servants who care for her, but these are unable to protect her from Bowser, she will have to be rescued by Mario and Cappy to prevent the force to marry the evil Bowser.
Bowser:
It is a huge Koopa compared to the others and its shell has sharp spikes, plus it also has bracelets with spikes which will use to hurt anyone who gets in his way. He this time has kidnapped the Princess Peach in order to force her to marry him, but not everything will be so easy for this villain as Mario and Cappy will not allow him to leave with yours
Los Broodal:
It is a group formed by the children/subjects of Madame Broode. They are beings with an appearance similar to that of rabbits and come from the dark side of the moon. The group consists of Topper, Spewart, Harriet and Rango, and are directed by Madame Broode. They will be the allies of Bowser and will try to defeat Mario and Cappy at all costs.
ANALYSIS
Super Mario Odyssey is a video game which I feel that his story is somewhat empty by the fact of reusing the classic formula of "hero who must defeat villain to rescue the damsel in distress", but good To think about this at this point in life is a little irrelevant due to the fact that this is the essence of the Super Mario saga, so for this reason we will quickly move on to the next point, the gameplay.
Nintendo has once done something really impressive with this title by adding new mechanics that allow us to play with Mario in a way never before seen, allowing us to do a bit of parkour and also letting us own or transform ourselves into other beings with the help of Cappy. This power that gives us Cappy which allows us to transform ourselves must be inspired by the power that the character Kyrby has of the saga of the same name. And good is this is the great ability with Mario in this installment, counting on more than fifty transformations, and I think the interesting thing about all these transformations is that none of them feels that they have created it, because yes, we will need each one of them to defeat different enemies or to solve a puzzle at some point of the adventure, this makes all transformations have its moment of glory and none of these is completely useless.
I think it is also interesting that we do not have the option to use the classic Mario powers, which we obtained after consuming objects such as the fungus, the star or the flower of fire. All these powers have been present in the saga, but in this title are not missed by the power that gives us Cappy.
Another point that I should definitely highlight is the theme of "exploration" and is that lately Nintendo has been interested in implementing this in their games, see the case of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And is that this game offers us something that had already given us Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sushine, not so linear worlds, which can be overcome in different ways if we use our ingenuity. Personally, this pleases me a lot because it gives a sense of freedom, allowing us to go exploring while we collect moons or just go to know the Realms, and this is only because the game does not force you to follow the story, you can do what want.
However, this aspect of exploration is not as good as it could be, because although there are large kingdoms like New Donk City, there are also kingdoms that leave much to be desired because of how small they are. Although to be fair it is worth highlighting how well designed they are and how varied they can be each of these.
Super Mario Odyssey is a videogame that definitely stands out because of the exploration, but the graphics of this title are not far behind either. The graphics of this title are clearly superior to all its predecessors, and you can see the graphic jump from Super Mario 64 to Super Mario Odyssey.
With the image shown above I think we can contemplate that the graphics of Super Mario Odyssey are impressive. The characters have a greater polygonal load and have more expressive faces. In addition, the scenarios show greater stylization due to the lighting and the use of shadows in them.
Something I loved about this videogame was the excellent use that was given to the color palette, everything, the characters, the scenarios and even the smallest details turn out to be the most beautiful and pleasant thanks to the colors that were used . No doubt this video game is very precious to me because of the art it has.
The soundtrack I think is complemented in a simply great way with what we are doing throughout our adventure. Although of course I do not think it's as good as The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild or Red Dead Redemption, but it's the most pleasant and credible to reach a Kingdom and that the first thing we hear is the birds, the water, the echo of our footsteps, etc. Personally I really like the soundtrack of the videogame for the "minimalist" that is, so to speak.
THE JUDGMENT
Well we have already finished with the analysis of Super Mario Odyssey, and given this last it is time to make the judgment.
Super Mario Odyssey seems to me one of the best videogames in the saga of Super Mario because of the fact that it invites us to explore fantastic and incredible worlds, which leads us to use our ingenuity to overcome each of the challenges that arise throughout the adventure. The fact of being able to transform ourselves into other creatures thanks to Cappy makes us feel what it would be like to be a little Koopa, a powerful Bill Bala and even a Tyrannosaurus rex.
Super Mario Odyssey breathes nostalgia, this is a videogame that children of the 80s and 90s will undoubtedly enjoy. In Super Mario Odyssey there are a lot of winks to his predecessors, and this last I loved. I feel that this more than being a simple videogame is a tribute to the whole saga of Mario.
I also have to mention that the challenges that are proposed in Super Mario Odyssey they can become very difficult to meet, that of collecting energilunas and other collectibles can take a while.
There are many things that make Super Mario Odyssey a great videogame, but...Is it better than Super Mario 64? I said no, it's a good game, but it's not better. And I think in this way because neither the story, nor the exploration, nor the enemies (bosses) end up convincing me at all. The story of Mario VS Bowser I think it has been used many times already and I think that with the release of the Nintendo Switch they could offer something a little better, and also as I said in the analysis, the video game has extensive Realms, but there are Kingdoms that could perfectly be overcome in five minutes because of how small they are, apart, when you meet the bosses, you can face them twice as it were, since first we we face them and "defeat them", then when you face them the second time, they only increase their difficulty a bit and do not even change the form or mechanics to defeat them, so these can become very easy to defeat and can also get to be something repetitive.
So for the reasons stated above I have to give Super Mario Odyssey a grade of 83/100.
Some after seeing my verdict may feel confused and say "Jacks, does that mean that this is a bad game?" And my answer to that question is no, remember that all this is just my personal opinion and I think Super Mario Odyssey is a video game that everyone can enjoy (even I did it despite the many criticisms I make).
Super Mario Odyssey is a videogame for both the old school gamers and the new ones. It is an exciting game that transmits freshness and that maintains the essence of the saga, so if you like video games platforms, I invite you to play Super Mario Odyssey you will surely love it and you will relive old memories.
Anyway, we have finished and there is only one question left to answer: How many points do you give? Tell me in the comments, by the way do not forget to vote. I'm Jacks and see you soon in a new post.