5/5 ★ – FoofDeckman's review of Super Mario Odyssey.

Super Mario Odyssey is the best 3D Mario game, it's not even really close either. People can say "oh but the Galaxy games, think about 64 or Sunshine", even stacked against some of the best games of all time Odyssey is just way up there in terms of pure enjoyment and quality. This is the type of game where you question why triple A game developers even try to be as good as this, they just can't. Now I know I'm being a little hyperbolic but you just need to understand how high of a 5/5 this is. Not only is this one of my favorite Mario games, it might be the best Mario game. For starters, let me praise Odyssey's gameplay. The way you're able to transform into pretty much every enemy you come across is remarkable, each with their own unique gameplay style. You can go from a Goomba, An octopus, hell you can turn into a fork. It's one of those rare games that takes it's core concept and just runs crazy with it. On top of this, the open world aspect of these levels makes these some of the best and most memorable areas in all of gaming. It's so much fun collecting moons in this game, so much so that I went out of my way to collect all 880 of them. Don't even get me started on the movement, this is some of the best platforming I've ever experienced in a video game. the fluidity of being able to triple jump into a dive, throw your cap, jump on the cap and then dive again is just so much fun. Typically open world games tend to have this empty feeling with them. A lot of triple A games make the mistake of having a map way too big with nothing in them. I think of Far Cry or Assassins Creed where a lot of the open world is just copy and paste missions that feel like a checklist instead of rewarding actual exploration and creativity. I love the fact that Odyssey rewards you heavily for exploring every nook and cranny of each level. You want to seek out every moon, it's never something that's required but this game is just so well designed that you want to go out of your way to experience these things. The music, OH MY GOD THE MUSIC. Every single track in this game is fire. Even after not playing this game in 8 years, I was still able to hum the different tracks to a tea, they are just that memorable and catchy. If you watch any sort of video game commentary video on YouTube, you just know they have one of these tracks in the background of the video. The music in this game is so iconic that even if you haven't played Odyssey before, you'll probably recognize at least a couple of these tracks. Odyssey is not only one of the best 3D Mario games, but one of the best games of all time. It's a miracle that a game like this was even made by the Mario team, and I truly hope we get a sequel in the not too distant future. For now though, I'm incredibly excited for Donkey Kong Bananza, which looks like a spiritual successor. Please, if you haven't already, check out Super Mario Odyssey.