My review of Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! is up now at Joystiq.
This game was a nice surprise. I had no expectations for it. In fact, I hadn't even heard of it until the review was offered to me, and I got the sense that they were foisting it off on the new guy. Which was fine with me -- I was happy enough to be contributing to Joystiq. That Mario vs DK turned out to be pretty darn good was a bonus.
In this case I don't have much to add to what's in the review. This isn't the flashiest game coming out this fall -- not even the flashiest one starring Donkey Kong -- and it's not required playing, but it certainly is a hidden gem. If you're at all inclined toward games like this, check it out.
6 comments:
Hey Mitch,
I reviewed the game over at Eurogamer and liked it quite a bit as well. I didn't get into the level editor as much as you though, as I can't shake the feeling that anything I create will be rubbish compared to what the pros do. But hey, that's just me.
I did love the tactile nature of the game. While I'm sure it could work on the Wii, I found it so much easier to get into curled up in a blanket (or snuggie if you prefer) tapping my way through Mini-Land. Combined with short levels it's such a perfect fit for an oft neglected (at least by me) system. Good times...
I hope I wasn't flattering myself that the few levels I made were at least as good as the beginning playable levels on the cartridge. Obviously things get a lot more complex later on, but I was surprised how easy it was to start building a level with one idea, and end it having basically delivered on that idea, with some honest-to-god puzzle elements in there.
No worries. I didn't get that impression at all. Truth be told, I never mess around with level editors much, so it's just personal preference. Though if I did, I'd start with Modnation Racers. I mean it's a race track. How do you fuck that up?
I'm really surprised you'd never heard of it; this is my most-anticipated game of the holiday season. (Just to be clear, that's not sarcasm: I'm quite serious.) I do recognize that I'm dead center in the target audience, but I'd still expect the gaming press to know what's going on in the "casual games" corner of the gaming world!
I don't know if it actually makes sense, but I try to know very little about what's coming out, so as to avoid getting caught up in hype. I'd much rather be surprised by something I didn't expect, as in this case.
Well that is good that you don't get caught up in the hype of games. I had no idea this game was coming out either but nintendo always has surprise hits every year i think. It is good that they still keep the games coming when the 3DS is just right around the corner.
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