Wedding Crashers
(This
review contains minor spoilers!)
It’s weird to think it’s been six
years since we’ve had a true 3D Mario game.
Ever since he wrapped up his intergalactic adventures, Mario has remained
squarely in his roots of classic sidescrolling action. The closest game we got,
3D World, felt more like a 3D-ized
version of a classic 2D Mario sidescroller
than 64, Sunshine or the Galaxy games,
and as a result felt pretty cookie cutter and uninspired.
But with the arrival of the Nintendo
Switch, it was finally time for the plumber in red to return to his classic 3D
formula. Super Mario Odyssey was
clearly made with Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine in mind, as the
devs returned to large, sandbox-type worlds with plenty of enemies to stomp,
platforms to jump, and secrets to find. Were they able to recapture the magic
of what came before, or is this yet another 3D platformer that ends up being
little more to nostalgic fans of the good ol’ days?
I think Odyssey is best compared to Zelda:
Breath of the Wild in some regards. Breath
of the Wild came along and revitalized the Zelda franchise in a way that made it both fresh and new while at
the same time not shying away from what made the games so popular in the past. Odyssey is exactly the same way. This
game will be looked back upon in ten years the way we currently reminisce on Super Mario Galaxy: it’s one of, if not
the best game Mario has ever starred in, and has become both a must-have game
for Switch owners and an instant Nintendo classic in record time.
Just like all Mario games, the story is deep, thought provoking, and has some
very profound things to say about life and the concept of existence. Bowser has
finally decided to cut the crap and get rid of Mario once and for all, taking
Peach as his bride in the process. Seriously, every time you see Bowser in this
game legitimately it feels like he’s out for blood instead of just a slice of
Peach’s cake or whatever. Your job, as Mario, is as always to rescue the
princess before the wedding can take place.
Alongside you this time is Cappy, a
ghost-like…thing that hides inside your hat and allows you to use it as a
projectile weapon of sorts. I’ll talk more about how that works later, but as
for Cappy as a character, he’s fine. He doesn’t have a deep backstory or a
three-dimensional character depth. He’s just a fun companion that adds some
entertaining commentary and gameplay tips along the way. I enjoyed him in the
same way I liked Sunshine’s
F.L.U.D.D: as a cute friend that didn’t intercept the adventure too much.
Odyssey’s
presentation is fantastic, and brings to mind plenty of classic Mario favourites. The game looks
gorgeous in both docked and undocked mode, with no frame drops from what I
could see. You can see every single hair on Mario’s mustache this time around,
and I’d just like to appreciate the fact that someone at Nintendo had to work
on that. The music is also incredibly stellar, as is to be expected from a
Nintendo game at this point. While only time will tell if any of the songs from
Odyssey will match up with past
favourites like Bob-Omb Battlefield, Delfino Plaza and Gusty Garden Galaxy, I
found myself enjoying quite a few of them, especially the music from the
Cascade Kingdom, Sand Kingdom, and New Donk City.
Speaking of those, let’s talk about
the levels. There are several, each of them with a specific theme. You’ve got
your typical ice, underwater and desert themed worlds, as well as several more
original types, including ones based on food, hats and yes, a city inspired by
a combination of New York and Donkey Kong.
While some worlds are bigger and more in depth than others, each is a complete
delight to explore from top to bottom as you search for treasure. New Donk City
ended up being my personal favourite of the bunch, as it’s filled to the brim
with stuff to do and buildings to climg. Equally good is the Sand Kingdom of
Tostarena, which I spent hours in finding oodles of secrets.
Said secrets come in the form of Power
Moons. Just like Stars and Shine Sprites in previous games, Moons are your main
source of progression in Odyssey. Collecting
enough of them will power up your ship enough to fly you to the next world. But
unlike previous celestial objects in 3D Mario
games, Moons are everywhere. You
can find moons hidden in boxes, being held by Toads, under rocks, behind your
ear, on top of towers, in your breakfast cereal, across treacherous platforming
challenges, after the end credits for Thor:
Ragnarok, inside mysterious temples, and more. From what I’ve heard there
are around 999 (!!!) in total, so you’ve got your work cut out for you finding
them all. The sheer number of them results in some being easier to find than
others, but Mario pros don’t need to
worry either, as there are quite a few tricky Moons that require some real
platforming finesse to track down. Overall the Moons are fun to find in the
same way that made Breath of the Wild’s
Shrines so entertaining, as the quest to uncover them is twice as fun as finally
adding one to your collection.
Lastly, let’s talk about Mario himself
and his moveset. He controls exceptionally well, although I did find him a
little faster than in past installments, which took a bit of getting used to.
All your favourite moves from the past are back, including the triple jump,
long jump, backflip, and many more.
As for the much-touted new feature to
the game, the Capture ability is easily the best move Mario has ever had in his
arsenal, and it’d be a shame if we never saw it again in another game. The way
it works is that Mario throws Cappy out in front of him. You can do a number of
things with this move, from dispatching small enemies and objects to using
Cappy as a platform to activating levers and more, but what really makes it fun
is when you use it on certain enemies and NPCs. On most creatures you find in
the overworld, throwing Cappy at them will allow Mario to take control of them
for however long you wish. It’s tons of fun to take control of everything from
classic Mario enemies to new baddies
to even crazier creatures like a T-rex or a random city slicker. The
possibilities are near endless, and the developers do everything they can with
the concept. Much like Mario Sunshine being designed around using the
F.L.U.D.D pack, many of Odyssey’s
wilder puzzles are solved by taking control (literally) of your environment and
using it to your advantage.
Despite me singing nothing but praise
for this game, I do have a few nitpicks with it. First off, I was a little
disappointed that the costumes you buy for Mario don’t offer any real changes
to the gameplay. I still loved using them and I’m glad they weren’t just used
as fluff for microtransactions, but I would’ve liked more of a reason to spend
coins on them than just “I wanna see how Mario looks in this.” Again, it’s
still beyond hilarious to see him in his boxer shorts or in an outfit
referencing one of his past games, but I would’ve liked more of a reason to
track down rare purple coins to get some of the fancier outfits.
And secondly, I found the main campaign
a little too short. Maybe it’s just because I loved the game so much and didn’t
want to stop playing, but I was able to see all the main worlds and finish the
story in just over a day. While the post-game content has kept me very
entertained, I would’ve liked if they’d used some padding to keep me in worlds
for a bit longer. I was in and out of the snow themed kingdom in about 15
minutes, and while there’s plenty more Moons to find there, I would’ve
preferred staying there a while longer instead of getting rushed to Bowser’s
Castle.
All in all though, those are just
minor gripes. I can happily say that Super
Mario Odyssey is the current highlight of the Switch’s library, even
alongside amazing games like Breath of
the Wild and Splatoon 2.
Everything is done either perfectly or just shy of perfectly, from the world
design to the presentation to the awesome Capture system to the near endless
supply of Moons to collect, ensuring plenty of replayability even after you
reach the end of the somewhat disappointingly short campaign. If you’re still
holding out on picking up a Switch, this is the game that you should buy one
for.
FINAL SCORE
10/10
Legendary
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