A child's memory is a funny thing. Its grip is loose, its mind wanders. It invents as much as it forgets. When you recall things from your childhood, you find yourself wrong a lot of the time. The wrong name, the wrong place, the wrong family member on the wrong holiday. The wrong colour for a character's hat. The wrong vowel in a cartoon bear's name. But the vibes we cling to. There is something deeper than fact that we hold close, some experience of a memory. I expected to feel this with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mario Vs Donkey Kong, like I did with the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash Bandicoot's N.Sane Trilogy or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Spyro Reignited. But unfortunately, the vibes are a little off.
I was 11 when Mario Vs Donkey Kong first came out, quite a bit older than the five and six I was when Crash and Spyro first arrived. It was a one and done game for me, instead of the consistent replays I gave to the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation mascots, so that may have changed things too. But while playing Mario Vs Donkey Kong, I was struck by how easy it is. I don't remember it being this easy.
Our memories struggle with this most, but often in the other direction - we don't remember things being quite so hard. Our reaction times aren't quite what they are now that our backs hurt from office furniture and the weight of capitalism. Mario Vs Donkey Kong is solid enough, and as I get further into this preview of the first four worlds, I'll explain why. But ultimately, it's a puzzle game that feels a little too easy, and there's not much you can do with that.
The object of the game is to find a key and reach a door, ostensibly while solving puzzles, but most of this is actually just basic 2D platforming. Once you go through the door, you then must do the same again to reach a Mario robot. This door acts as a checkpoint halfway through the level, and is a big part of why it feels too easy. There are three presents to grab in each level to get a full star rating, but these don't offer much challenge either.
I have not played past the restrictions agreed upon for the preview, so other modes may🦹 offer more difficulty. If they do, my full reꦑview will reflect this.
The problem is I'm not sure whether this is a puzzler or a platformer. The 'puzzle' element is mainly activating switches to turn on different coloured platforms, but there are usually only two per level right next to each other, and the colour coding makes it very simple. There are no riddles, physics puzzles, mazes, match sorts, jigsaws, or any of the million other things you'd expect to find in a puzzle game. On the other hand, the platforming isn't very challenging either.
It all takes place on a tight screen (owing to its handheld roots) and offers only a ๊handful of enemies. Most of the time, these en🎀emies need to be picked up and thrown to bridge gaps, bringing in the puzzle element, but again, they are standing right next to a spike trap to remove any thought required.
How short the levels are, and how repetitive the goals are, beg the puzzle descriptor, but most of the time, you're running around and jumping from ledge to ledge while trying to reach the end of the level - it's a platformer alright. It's both, but in being both, it becomes neither.
This isn't to say I didn't die a few times. The levels are well designed with enemies that shoot fireballs or drop eggs to keep you on your toes, and keeping everything so tight means no wasted space or downtime. It's well put together. It's just a bit too easy for me these days, and having enjoyed the concept as a kid, I hope it ramps up in the worlds I haven't played yet. There are some new ones that didn't exist in the original, so these may be the time for the game to let loose.
The game's visuals are great too, with the warm cosiness we expect from Mario and an embrace of the wacky, while each world, whether city streets or bubbling volcanoes, has a sense of place to it. A lot of creativity goes into making each level connect to the theme of the world, and that offers the variety that will keep you engaged even if the difficulty makes your mind wander.
From what I've played of Mario Vs Donkey Kong so far, I'm left hoping for more. But on the other hand, I also want more. This isn't something I want to rush through to get it over with because it has enough charm to keep me on side. Unless there's a difficulty spike though (I'd even take a modest difficulty incline), I'm always going to wish this game could have gone a little further. Until then, I'm curious to see where it goes.
