The Daily Click

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Author:	Kirby Smith
Added:	09/03/2004
Overall:
Average:	9.33/10

Presentation [ 10 ] – This game bleeds of professionalism. A sweet looking title screen and a very Mario feel all around. The level transitions are handled well, and the in-game displays mimic those of the console originals.

Gameplay [ 8 ] – Well, it’s Mario. You know what to expect and the game pretty much delivers. The collision detection is nearly perfect and the custom platform engine is of pretty high quality. Jumping felt a bit awkward at first, but was something I easily adjusted to. The moving platforms are a bit iffy and aren’t handled as well as the rest of the game. Level design is nice on the whole, though naturally not quite as strong as in the Nintendo originals. My only other minor complaint was that the scrolling seemed somewhat rough even on my Pentium 4 – probably due to the high resolution graphics.

Graphics [ 7 ] – To me, it looks as though all of the graphics were ripped from Super Mario All-Stars, and then filtered to achieve the high-resolution look. That said, the effect looks nice and helps the game to maintain a consistent look throughout. Normally, I would have a problem with ripped graphics, but let’s face it – the entire point of a fan-game is to recreate the original experience. There are a few problems that pop up though. As mentioned earlier, the scrolling is somewhat jerky, and I fell like more could have been done with destroyed enemies beyond simply waiting a few seconds and then disappearing. Finally, the transitions between animations could have been slightly better, but that’s really more of a nit-pick. All in all, this is a great looking game.

Sound And Music [ 9 ] – All the sound effects appear to be ripped directly from the Mario games, and most of the music is either taken straight from the games or remixed. Either way, it sounds like Mario and there really isn’t much more I can say about it.

Lastability [ 10 ] – 40 levels will take the average gamer quite a while to get through – as each one is progressively harder than the last. Add to that the fact Mario is one of those rare games that never seems to get old (I still play my NES version of Mario 1) and you’ve got a long-term resident to your hard drive.

Overall [ 8 ] – An overall solid game, and well worth the sizeable download. The ripped graphics may turn you off, but there is a solid engine to back up the pretty graphics. Beauty and Brains, a rare find.