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

A slick platformer for Mario fans I have to admit, I thought I was going to enjoy Mario Odyssey more than I did. This was because I had no low expectations but was vaguely aware it had really good reviews. However I also know that I don’t particularly enjoy platformers (although I fare better with the 3D ones). Regardless, Mario Odyssey is unquestionably a quality game. The graphics are bright and crisp, the worlds are varied in all the right ways, and there aren’t any frustrating moments where the skill required outweighs the fun had. I really enjoyed being able to “possess” enemies by throwing your hat on them, and this mechanic was used to great effect, introducing you to new enemies as the game progressed, all with different abilities that you inherit, which the levels are then perfectly designed to take advantage of. One really neat element was when you would enter a typical green pipe and appear in 2D form with the surface of wherever you happen to be turning into the 2D platform, complete with old-skool graphics, baddies etc. It was a really inventive addition to the game. Other than that, it’s your standard Mario affair. Bounce on baddies, collect stars and coins, beat the bosses and rescue the Princess. The damsel-in-distress thing does feel a bit old - the Mario lore seems frozen in time - the game exists in a bubble, isolated from the notion of cultural progression. Even the gameplay is pure platformer - there’s no character development to speak of - not a single bit of dialogue that even hints at anything to do with the characters themselves. That keeps it pure I suppose, but it did make me not really care too much about either Mario or the Princess. For a pair with such a history, you wouldn’t know it from playing this game. I get the feeling Mario fans will enjoy this more than me, and of course platformer fans. I’d still recommend it, but Personally I was really looking forward to finishing it so I could ply something else!