Monday, April 23, 2007
Super Paper Mario
It would be much easier to buy a gift for Intelligent Systems if they were a gardening company instead of a video game developer. If they worked with plants for a living, I would have the perfect gift for them to enjoy: pruning sheers. Any gardener worthy of a green thumb would already have a pair of razor sharp sheers at their disposal, but let's assume for a second that InSys had never heard of them. Their garden is lush and vibrant, but it has overgrown to the point of endangering those who enter its botanical refuge. The lilacs are undeniably beautiful but their vast numbers beckon forth a vicious swam of sting-wielding bees. Their maple trees are thick and hearty, but the sap oozes out in such a deadly flow you are liable to lose that arm you have resting against the trunk. Their garden threatens to engulf any being that wrongly chooses to find sanctuary under its shadowy leaves. The only way to save yourself is to hack away the petals and roots that threaten your very existence. If only there was a way to use those same sheers to trim the overgrown belly of Super Paper Mario.
I sense a horrible trend in the Paper Mario universe. Stylish graphics and witty writing take hold as the journey starts. The game urges you to see the world behind its doors, talk to the beings that live there, and laugh at the unbridled ridiculousness that is streaming forth at a constant rate. It is an inviting oasis to those who have wielded guns and been immersed in pools of blood for too long. Super Paper Mario is seemingly a bastion of hope for those who long for the days of gaming's simple past. It's a cute platforming/RPG hybrid that doesn't take itself too seriously. Unfortunately, the entire train ride of pleasure crashes abruptly into a mountain two thirds of the way through the game. With sheers in tow, Intelligent Systems could have chopped off the lagging later Chapters and delivered a satisfying experience from beginning to end. As it is, I long for the days when I was a naive boy shouting that Super Paper Mario was the best damn game on the Wii.
I don't think I have ever played a game quite like SPM, and that is a very good thing. Before release, I was not quite sure what genre this game resided in. As I watched video of Mario jumping upon the heads of Goobmas and Koopa Troopas, I chalked it up as a stylish new platformer. When I read tales of talkative characters, backtracking fetch quests and a story that does not end, I sadly admitted that it might be an RPG in disguise. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. As you manage items and listen to Count Blech cry about his unfair past, you'll recognize the agonizing pain of a classic Japanese RPG. But then you forget the pain while you shove bombs into the mouth of a hungry combustible being. The combination of the two genres provides enough action to please those dying for a new Mario platformer while dishing out the requisite story to make RPG gamers giggle with glee. It is fun and engaging and, despite the horrid finish, a really enjoyable game.
What makes the game take an abrupt U Turn towards the game's finale is a shift in what had worked so well the first five Chapters of the journey. This game is built on being completely irreverent. The levels are imaginative, the characters are unique and the game is genuinely funny. SPM is all about making fun of the both the gamer and the entire industry. One puzzle early in the game forced you to collect 1,000,000 rubies to pay back a debt. Searching in vain for an easy way to accumulate the wealth, you happen upon a hamster wheel. You have to actually run on the wheel for five minutes, numbly holding right on the D Pad while you wonder why such an insulting task would be in the game, to get a decent amount of money. Though many complained about this ridiculous chore, I thought it was very creative. Another task later in the game requires you to manually type out "Please" five times before you can coax a secret out of a reluctant caveman. It is puzzles like these that make the game unique and memorable. The game truly shines when it makes fun of video game conventions with the subtlety of a hammerhead shark.
Sadly, the later levels do not have any such ingenuity. The pastel wonderland is replaced by a lifeless castle. Even more damning, the story ceases to entertain. Where earlier scenes involve an obsessively geeky gecko trying to marry Peach, later levels are about human sacrifice. Sacrifice in a Nintendo game? Yeah, I thought it was a bad idea as well. SPM is about escaping the dark and mature games that inhabit this industry. It is supposed to be simple and enjoyable. When the creative puzzles fall by the wayside and the story turns into bitter tears, there is nothing left to hold the pieces together. The last level is a monochrome nightmare, removing the last semblance of fun from the early joy-filled chapters.
If only Intelligent Systems could have chopped off the last few levels and any reference to sacrifice. This could have been a shining example of game design. As it is, SPM is a bloated concept that falls into the same video game conventions it so thoroughly mocks. I still recommend this to any Wii owner yearning for a new experience. The first 15 hours are nothing short of a masterpiece in both art and writing. Just be prepared for a kamikaze crash at the end.
I sense a horrible trend in the Paper Mario universe. Stylish graphics and witty writing take hold as the journey starts. The game urges you to see the world behind its doors, talk to the beings that live there, and laugh at the unbridled ridiculousness that is streaming forth at a constant rate. It is an inviting oasis to those who have wielded guns and been immersed in pools of blood for too long. Super Paper Mario is seemingly a bastion of hope for those who long for the days of gaming's simple past. It's a cute platforming/RPG hybrid that doesn't take itself too seriously. Unfortunately, the entire train ride of pleasure crashes abruptly into a mountain two thirds of the way through the game. With sheers in tow, Intelligent Systems could have chopped off the lagging later Chapters and delivered a satisfying experience from beginning to end. As it is, I long for the days when I was a naive boy shouting that Super Paper Mario was the best damn game on the Wii.
I don't think I have ever played a game quite like SPM, and that is a very good thing. Before release, I was not quite sure what genre this game resided in. As I watched video of Mario jumping upon the heads of Goobmas and Koopa Troopas, I chalked it up as a stylish new platformer. When I read tales of talkative characters, backtracking fetch quests and a story that does not end, I sadly admitted that it might be an RPG in disguise. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. As you manage items and listen to Count Blech cry about his unfair past, you'll recognize the agonizing pain of a classic Japanese RPG. But then you forget the pain while you shove bombs into the mouth of a hungry combustible being. The combination of the two genres provides enough action to please those dying for a new Mario platformer while dishing out the requisite story to make RPG gamers giggle with glee. It is fun and engaging and, despite the horrid finish, a really enjoyable game.
What makes the game take an abrupt U Turn towards the game's finale is a shift in what had worked so well the first five Chapters of the journey. This game is built on being completely irreverent. The levels are imaginative, the characters are unique and the game is genuinely funny. SPM is all about making fun of the both the gamer and the entire industry. One puzzle early in the game forced you to collect 1,000,000 rubies to pay back a debt. Searching in vain for an easy way to accumulate the wealth, you happen upon a hamster wheel. You have to actually run on the wheel for five minutes, numbly holding right on the D Pad while you wonder why such an insulting task would be in the game, to get a decent amount of money. Though many complained about this ridiculous chore, I thought it was very creative. Another task later in the game requires you to manually type out "Please" five times before you can coax a secret out of a reluctant caveman. It is puzzles like these that make the game unique and memorable. The game truly shines when it makes fun of video game conventions with the subtlety of a hammerhead shark.
Sadly, the later levels do not have any such ingenuity. The pastel wonderland is replaced by a lifeless castle. Even more damning, the story ceases to entertain. Where earlier scenes involve an obsessively geeky gecko trying to marry Peach, later levels are about human sacrifice. Sacrifice in a Nintendo game? Yeah, I thought it was a bad idea as well. SPM is about escaping the dark and mature games that inhabit this industry. It is supposed to be simple and enjoyable. When the creative puzzles fall by the wayside and the story turns into bitter tears, there is nothing left to hold the pieces together. The last level is a monochrome nightmare, removing the last semblance of fun from the early joy-filled chapters.
If only Intelligent Systems could have chopped off the last few levels and any reference to sacrifice. This could have been a shining example of game design. As it is, SPM is a bloated concept that falls into the same video game conventions it so thoroughly mocks. I still recommend this to any Wii owner yearning for a new experience. The first 15 hours are nothing short of a masterpiece in both art and writing. Just be prepared for a kamikaze crash at the end.
// posted by Tom @ 11:40 AM 
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