New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009)
Nintendo
Impression published on Tuesday, 2010-03-23 | Videogame | 4 stars
This game is really easy. Much easier than any other SMB game I've played. And that's a good thing.
If you figure that, at any given point in game play, there could be as many as four players moving about on the screen and one or more of them could be a woman or a child, the simplistic level design, modest obstacles and non-challenges of New SMB Wii start making a lot of sense. When you've got a bunch of people of different ages and aptitudes sharing the con, you want to give them a game play experience where they can a.) feel like they're accomplishing something and b.) nail down all of the "advanced" achievements (i.e. Star Road levels) without having to look up a bunch of crap on the Internet.
But I definitely can't recommend playing this game as a single player: there's just nothing there for the man alone.
Which, again, is fine, because this isn't Mario 64 (and it's definitely not Mario Sunshine) and exploration and nerve aren't what's rewarded here. Rather, in NSW, your emotional reserve and ability to not strangle your significant other or your family members to death when they bump you off of a platform for the N-hundreth time is what's being tested, and the ability to lead the group to victory in spite of itself is what this one's about.
It's a really excellent game, in that respect, and I definitely recommend playing it with others.
