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[Cobralad]

From Polygon article:

Yet there's a feeling that pervaded my time with Mad Max, a sense of everything in the game being ... okay. The films that developer Avalanche Studios are ostensibly drawing from are driven by ambition. They build visions of a world shaped by off-the-wall absurdity and chaos. This Mad Max, by comparison, feels safe and, frankly, boring.

Final score is 5/10

[gimymblert]

to be frank, modern game don't "suck" anymore, they are just safe derivative boring fest, bad game have at least some savor, surprise, something to talk about

[Pfotegeist]

someone new is born every second

[Alevice]

Sterile and insipid is what they are. It how NSMB U feels (NSMB DS doesnt feel bad tbh)

[gimymblert]

GOD NO, nsmb DS is the worst thing I have ever played, it's like mario made by ubisoft, huge the number painting upfront formula with no care. God I hated so many unmario mechanic in this game ...

[ProgramGamer]

GOD NO, nsmb DS is the worst thing I have ever played, it's like mario made by ubisoft, huge the number painting upfront formula with no care. God I hated so many unmario mechanic in this game ...

Please elaborate.

[Alevice]

Its starts terrible (very kitchen sink design, I feel), but it gets actually better further, where the powerup gimmicks get toned down and the challenge gets much better if you want to 100% stuff.

NSMB Wii (i accidentally put U in my previous post) is pretty bad however. It never got good.

I really wish most games didnt have a desert as their second level, however.

[s0]

the nsmb games are like competently made & polished mario fangames

also donkey kong country returns beats them at their own game (heh)

[gimymblert]

Stupid mechanics like snow drop that traps you into a freeze timer, tiny mario physics, just uninspired rythm and flow that feel very rule driven (although some dungeon work great) and where the designer didn't break up enough for the seam to not show up, it feel very much like a school assignment from a very serious student. Nintendo game are polished, but they used to have a flair in how to balance actual metric with surprise.

That's a beef I have with modern nintendo, it's dry, too dry, on the surface a game like galaxy seem more inventive that mario 64 (they have way more gameplay elements) and it is in the epic set piece part, but the gameplay is like by the rules design, mario 64 had more breath and more toss up to break pattern of design that are too evident and a bunch of stuff made just for pure fun, like they have more jump (16) than needed in the game so the control feel like a game in itself, a bunch of easter egg interaction and out of off rythm moment to make you smile, it feel like you are playing with a friend rather than being on a rollercoaster that tries to impress you by showing how great and clever he is.

That's the problem of skyward sword too, a lot of off key moment that make sense from a design point (and then the player has to find the key by playing a damning side quest) but in the actual flow wasn't very fun. It's like nintendo is just going with motion by now, without surprise. I mean come on, purple coin? who thought that was fun? it's flat and boring.

[Alevice]

I dunno, I have a thing for Super Mario 3d World. Feel free to call them gimmicky, but, SMW and M64 aside, most mario games have gimmick oriented level design, and going back to powerup based gameplay feels like a good return to form. I think Mario 64 suffers the Super Castlevania 4 issue, where the whole new set of movements are great, but it makes powerup design fairly more complicated. The design of SM3DW lends well for a limited tight moveset enhanced by powerups, rather than the free flow of Mario 64 (which is awesome dont get me wrong, but not every mario game has to be like it, I think galaxy is a fine example of where the mario 64 approach hampered it more than it benefited it).

[gimymblert]

I said nothing about gimmick though nor power ups, galaxy is only superficially related to mario 64, it's nothing like it at all, it's closer to 2D mario with set piece design (which isn't bad in itself).

I have criticized the dryness of the applied design. Compare nsmb DS to older 2D mario and you will see that old mario had less of a "cadence" and a richer rythm of level design.

Basically before it's more like a jazzy pop song, full of energy and surprise, now it's like a militaristic march, highly structured with defined and clearly identifiable break when pattern (predictably) change.

[ProgramGamer]

So, basically the old Mario games were less rigid in design and felt more free as a result, whereas the design of the newer ones got much tighter but as a result the levels look and feel fabricated, which leads to losing the whimsical Mario game feeling of old. Duly noted.

[Tanner]

yeah, 3d land and world own.

i impulse pre-ordered the animal crossing n3ds. i was so close to caving and getting the xl but thank god i waited. now i just have to import the kyary faceplates.

[Alevice]

I said nothing about gimmick though nor power ups, galaxy is only superficially related to mario 64, it's nothing like it at all, it's closer to 2D mario with set piece design (which isn't bad in itself).

Exactly, but many people were fooled to believe that because it had a similar pov and moveset, it would be like a more spiritual successor than Sunshine somehow aimed to be. The theoretical backlash is my assumption as to why they opted for a more blocky/tile-based and isometrical perspective for the 3d World/land games, to further draw the point that they have no relation to SM64.

[Alevice]

As for NSMB DS, I understand where you are coming from. The saving point for me was the dungeon levels, as you hinted at. I still think there are some quite enjoyable levels later in the game (it has a horrible start, as I mentioned), but definitely dungeons are much better in terms of challenge.

My huge gripe frankly are the horrible animations. They are not bad, but they dont seem to match mario moveset's physics at all.

[mks]

@Silbereisen: I just found a well written review of Mad Max on a german news site and thought you might be interested in reading it:

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/games/mad-max-videospiel-im-test-heiliger-schrott-a-1050692.html

[Moth]

I really wish they would turn the formula upside down with NSMB. It feels like everything is done out of obligation in those games; "here's the field part, here's the forest part, here's the caves..."

I miss the more interesting world concepts from smb3 (huge world, piranha plant labyrinth) and mario land 2 (halloween world, space, giant mario robot)

I think one of the most annoying things about the NSMB series to me is how by the numbers the world concepts are, it makes me feel like they have no soul

[yeahjim]

The thing with Mad Max is that they are going to miss out on an important aspect: the drive. Like, a long, watchful drive through the wasteland, keeping an eye on the fuel gauge, licking your chapped lips, hoping that those wavering black spots on the distant hillside are just a mirage, baby crying in the back seat. That won't be there, can't be there, because most players are not patient enough to enjoy something like that. And then they will complain that the game is too shallow. 

[s0]

@Silbereisen: I just found a well written review of Mad Max on a german news site and thought you might be interested in reading it:

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/games/mad-max-videospiel-im-test-heiliger-schrott-a-1050692.html

sounds like it has good atmosphere but idk if im willing to sit through another asscreed/arkham mashup for that. might buy when its cheaper.

[gimymblert]

Crazy APPLE speculation time

I don't see this working at all, what people want is not yet another box under the TV that doe the same thing as all the other device existing, except worse.

What people would like is a iTV, a smartass TV do what the ipod, the wii, the iphone and the ipad did, solve a problem people didn't know they have, aka removing barrier to access and increase ease of use. + the prestige of brand!

Problem is that from a company, TV don't make sense, the life cycle and replacement rate is too slow ... 6 to 10 years cycles. What they should so is an apple TV that is upgradable cheaply via small hardware dongle to swap, I don't really believe in that. Just focusing on simplifying the ergonomy of fuck 1000 button tv command and programming  would do, integrating voice command and kinect-like ability would help with a nice interface. But more importantly, have a nice hassle free integration with all device in a way that actually give value, like being automatically detected and plug to the tv via an app that send relevant information and allow easier interactions, a bit like the wii U tv proposal. Not that there isn't already things like that but they are clumsy as hell!