Monday, November 15, 2010

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!


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:

Mr Durand Pierre said...

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...

Mitch Krpata said...

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.

Mr Durand Pierre said...

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?

Dave said...

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!

Mitch Krpata said...

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.

Jacob Clark said...

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.