Mario Run Review

  If there was a foreshadowing of Nintendo's recent changes from how they treat indie titles to releasing more IPs on the mobile devices, Mario Run made by Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development was it.  Just recently they reduced the price of the game by half and added new levels.  I decided to fork over for it and give it a full-on review.

The Game:

  Mario Run is an auto-scrolling platformer where you will control Mario's jump.  You don't get to move Mario you will just tap the screen when you want to jump. He has the ability to spin after a jump to stay airborne longer and can kill enemies if you jump while vaulting over them.  You will be gathering coins through the level by jumping into them or knocking Mario's head against blocks making him a prime candidate for CTE.  There are also five special coins, that are usually harder than average to reach, that you can collect on each level for added challenge.  There are 6 worlds with 4 areas in each.  The recent patch added another 9 in the Star World.  These levels are unlocked by performing achievements in certain levels.

  The game offers you a town where you can place buildings that you have unlocked in the game.  There is a shop where you can buy them and then place them for gold coins.  Some of these building can be clicked on to start a daily challenge.  This also how you access Rally which is a PvP mode where you go up against someone's sprite and try and collect more coins.  If you win you will gain toad character.  These can be used to unlock more buildings.  There is also a new mode out in this patch called 10x which are ten really short levels where you try and grab 3 large coins before completing.  Both 10x and Rally cost tickets which you get through the game.

  Besides the tickets, the only other currency is gold, which you get from the levels that you complete unless you are playing in easy mode.  Easy mode will allow you infinite time and bubbles.  Bubbles are the only way to move your character left besides some blocks and are activated if you are killed or you activate them yourself.  They are good for when you miss something.

My Thoughts:

  Right away I was pretty impressed with the graphics of this game but then again it's Nintendo.  They are used to working with hardware that is not top of the line and still creating a great user experience.  The levels play smooth and I have only had a slow down a few times while playing.

  It did throw me off at first that you can't really control Mario's movement besides jumping and I thought this would get boring real quick.  It really didn't have that effect though and is fun to play.  This game is about timing and it still requires a bit of skill in that area.  Timing is everything and an overreaction or just trying to spam jump will easily get you killed.   I was also really impressed on how some of the levels are architected where you are not just scrolling to the right but are actually moving back and forth through the level trying to climb or get a key to the door.

  This game has had one constant criticism that hasn't really changed.  It's pretty short if what you are doing is playing it just to get through the levels.  I was able to do all the maps in about an hour.  That's really not what this game is though.  It's not a Mario game with a plethora of levels but a game that you are trying to optimize your performance in each level or find all of the coins.

  Mario Run was fun and since it was a game that you buy it wasn't bogged down with ads.  In fact besides for its own announcement and signing up for a Nintendo account there really wasn't any ads in the game.  No stupid 30-second videos to wait through.  It's not your standard Mario game, which would have been nice, but it is still a step above what usually get on mobile.  As long as you are ok with the repetition of running levels over and over then this is something that I can recommend for your phone.

TL;DR:

  Mario Run was fun but nothing groundbreaking.  It's a mobile game that doesn't pull you down with microtransactions and gives you quite a bit of fun.  As long as you are ok with running levels over and over its worth the new price point.