3D Platformers

Super Mario Sunshine | 17th Oct, 2020 | 11:00hrs | rating: 4.5/5

Collect shines in the toughest Mario game ever!

GAMEPLAY: Amazingly fast and expressive controls; Mario has never felt better and the level design really lets you find your own way of tackling things. Occasionally very difficult though, impossible for beginners, and there’s a lot of jank and bugs. (But surely this emulated Switch version is buggier than the original?!)
AUDIOVISUALLY: The visuals are simple by today’s standards, but very pleasing and coherent. I’ve never liked the music though, some stuff like the boss theme grates my ears.
STORY/PRESENTATION: The story is dumb, but the atmosphere and sense of place is great. Time flies as I explore random corners of the worlds.

Doesn’t matter that it’s janky; I love this game, and coming from Mario Galaxy, I much prefer that there’s actual challenge now, and how much freedom I have both with Mario and the camera. Just wish it had more stages, as it’s over quite fast when not bothering with the blue coins.

Super Mario Galaxy | 13th Oct, 2020 | 18:00hrs | rating: 4/5

Mario’s third 3D adventure, and this time the whole universe is at stake!

GAMEPLAY: Probably the worst 3D Mario gameplay-wise. Mario is slow and has few useful moves. An abundance of motion-controlled minigames isn’t a bad thing, but not great either.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Absolutely amazing visuals and music. One of the best Nintendo games ever when it comes to the art.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Top-notch presentation as well, it feels like a magical adventure from the very start. The ending though, is… weird? And the post-game content is better in the sequels.
MULTIPLAYER: A second player can control a cursor to collect star bits and stop enemies, and it’s actually more fun than it sounds. Perfect way of helping less experienced players.

Super polished, lots of content and ideas, and it really is a magical game despite the somewhat limited (and easy) gameplay, which brings down the overall score a bit for me.

A Hat in Time | 24th Jul, 2020 | 7:25hrs | rating: 3/5

A very obvious Mario Galaxy tribute with some Sunshine thrown in, but without the typical Nintendo-polish.

GAMEPLAY: Generally it feels really good to control, and I wanted more levels that took advantage of the generous air-movement. But there are only 4 levels, and none of them are all that great.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Technically so-so, with low resolution and bad textures. The music is mostly really nice, once again heavily Mario Galaxy-inspired. Could have done without the voice-acting though, as I just don’t think it fits.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Many missions and plot-points confusing and/or bad. The movie studio doesn’t make sense, and I didn’t want to murder spirits. I didn’t want to be on the bad guys’ side at the end. What message and morals are they trying to teach us?
MULTIPLAYER: In the Switch version you can add a second player for same-screen co-op. I really like the thought, but the mission design rarely works for it. Still better than just watching.

At times, it feels just right navigating through platforming challenges (mostly in the Alpine Skyline level), and I’m having a ton of fun. It’s unfortunate that it’s surrounded by so much fluff, and even then it’s a very short game.

Super Mario 64 | 22nd May, 2020 | 5:35hrs | rating: 3.5/5

Mario’s first step into 3D, and they got so much right from the very beginning.

GAMEPLAY: While you’re running, the controls are incredibly fun to this day. Only while walking slowly, Mario does this half circle turning which isn’t great. The camera would be extremely frustrating to a new-comer, but I’m so used to it that it’s not a big deal.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Simple but timeless. The music is alright but among the weakest in the series.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Collect stars to open doors in Peach’s castle until you reach Bowser. Doesn’t need to be more than that. Some levels are better than others though. I got frustrated by the ghost house and the water levels, as I didn’t have the patience for slow-paced exploration. The more straight-forward ones are easily the most fun, like the lava level and the Bowser levels.

Hadn’t played this since the DS version in 2004, but it was a lot of fun! It’s so focused, no waiting times, just straight to the point. A slightly lowered rating due to uneven level quality and somewhat janky controls/camera.

Yooka-Laylee | Feb 15, 2020 | 15:48hrs | rating: 2/5

This Banjo-Kazooie wannabe duo goes on a 3D adventure full of mini-games and empty spaces.

GAMEPLAY: The controls are okay (except in some mini-games), but the level design really is the villain here; the areas are just way too big and empty, and there are no satisfying “endings” to them; you just walk around randomly to find something you haven’t done yet, until you give up and leave. And what’s up with the flying power they hand out not significantly far into the game, that lets you fly over most challenges?!
AUDIOVISUALLY: Game looks good enough, but some “you’re not really meant to walk around here” areas are extremely plain. The music is also quite plain and uninteresting, like less memorable Banjo-Kazooie imitations.
STORY/PRESENTATION: The story is relatively fun, and the jokes are okay, but when I reached the final boss entrance almost 10 hours in, and after only 5 worlds total, I was told to collect “say a hundred pagies” to enter. I only had 53. This is not a good structure. And those quizzes that are clearly just padding…
MULTIPLAYER: There’s a bunch of mini-games, but it’s definitely not something you’d play more than once each.

The Impossible Lair was so great that I had to finally try this one too despite the reputation, and unfortunately it’s simply a mediocre game. Occasionally I still had fun, but it’s very unpolished, with random holes you die in, serious frame skipping issues, and the infamous camera problems (though not too bad if you select the all manual one). I hope they learn from their mistakes and try a new 3D adventure though, because there’s potential here.

Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon | Dec 16, 2019 | 6:29hrs | rating: 2/5

This time you collect dragon eggs that a crocodile witch has stolen.

GAMEPLAY: Same as before, but all too often you play horribly controlled mini-games or as Spyro’s shitty friends. I skip way more missions than before. Also more bugs and surprising inconsistencies, like “you can swim in that water, but in this water you insta-die”, and invisible walls galore.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Same, but there are more visual bugs than before, like clipping and one-frame cuts between scenes. I get the sense that they didn’t polish this final game as much as the rest of the trilogy remake.
STORY/PRESENTATION: No more random comedic cut-scenes, and instead they’re focusing on advancing a story, with some light character development. Definitely the best plot of the trilogy.

I don’t know what the consensus is about these games, but Spyro 1 was enjoyable enough for me to 100%, but this game has way too much crap and I just wanted to do the bare minimum; the stuff that was actually fun, because the core gameplay still is. I wouldn’t recommend this one unless you really thirst for more Spyro.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage | Dec 13, 2019 | 7:08hrs | rating: 2.5/5

Collect new trinkets to save the world and get back home.

GAMEPLAY: Same as the first game, but this time you gradually get new abilities, such as swimming and climbing ladders. It makes for a bit more variation, but is mostly annoying that you have to backtrack once you’ve obtained them to 100% the levels. That’s a recurring theme in general; most side-missions are back-tracky and tedious this time around, and the mini-games are not fun.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Same as the previous game; it’s amazing how close to CGI they look compared to the originals, and I feel like we’re taking the progress for granted. Musically it sounds good, but it’s oh, so unmemorable.
STORY/PRESENTATION: A whole lot more cut-scenes before and after each level, which may be entertaining for kids but a complete time waster for me. Luckily you can skip them. There are only three hub worlds this time, and the sense of progress was better in the first game.

You’ve got more moves, more varied missions, and an actual reason to collect the gems this time. But it’s also more tedious and the additions aren’t fun. Also, it’s just too similar to the first game, which made me tired of it more quickly.

Spyro (Reignited Trilogy) | Dec 10, 2019 | 6:41hrs | rating: 3/5

Jump, glide and breathe fire on your enemies to save the other dragons.

GAMEPLAY: I’m not a fan of the jumping and wonky interaction with edges, but I got used to it and found the controls decent in the end. The levels are initially wide and flat and the enemies pointlessly easy, but there is a nice increase in difficulty, though the core gameplay is always exploration to collect all the trinkets.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Except for some weird dithering in handheld mode, it looks good! The environments are a little too samey though, as I can’t recall any world themes except for the ice one. The music is surprisingly groovy, but not memorable at all.
STORY/PRESENTATION: I chose to play in Swedish just because the option was there. The translation is pretty crappy, but it’s cool that they bothered to dub all dialog in all these languages. The plot is extremely simple though, and the ending is abrupt and crappy. Worst final boss ever! It’s also annoying that it needs significant loading just to restart the levels.

The biggest design flaw is how so much of the environment seems reachable and IS reachable thanks to the gliding mechanic, but has you fall through the ground to your death. Playing them back to back, I initially much preferred New Super Lucky’s Tale thanks to the better controls and greater variation, but Spyro is a meatier game and gets more challenging towards the end. I enjoyed both equally in the end. I just frikkin’ love 3D platformers (especially with fully controllable cameras), even if they are flawed.