I know everyone is hooked on Call of Duty and Borderlands right now, but this new Mario game is really fun too!! I played it with my girlfriend last night, then with my gf and a roommate, and finally with my gf and 2 roommates for 4-person co-op mayhem!! (something neither CoD, Borderlands, or Halo can offer on one console btw) As my roommate pointed out, this may be the only game that adding more people makes it way harder to finish a level rather than it normally would be. Thats because there are many power-ups and coins to be shared/stolen and a ton of enemies and obstacles to dodge, including each other!! You can jump on each other and pick each other up, but there is no easy way to get everyone across when jumping from small platform to small platform unless you sync up well. Still, there is lots of fun to be had.
It has the same world map layout as Super Mario 3 and all of the same features as SMW, including Yoshis, secret exits, Mario’s spin attack, and the butt stomp (ground pound) from Mario 64! Its the same timeless Mario music and updated visuals which I felt looked perfectly fine running through composite (not component) cables and blown up on a 50” plasma display. I never thought “this game is ugly” or “I’m ashamed to have this non-HD game on my TV”. Possibly, because I couldn’t get the smile off my face…
