super mario odyssey review
Test: Super Mario Odyssey: The new adventures of Mario take down the Moon!If each adventure of Father Mario is eagerly awaited, it is no coincidence. The series has always maintained a level of excellence while proposing new concepts. And yet, each time, we can't help but wonder if the new formula will work. No suspense, Super Mario Odyssey is indeed the bomb that we hoped for, until we get the moon.
THE SCENAR… NO I KICK OFF
Guess who got caught again! As always the victim of the millennium falls into the clutches of Bowser, who this time does not leave a veil over his intentions: to marry the princess. Although Mario does not lead wide in the intro, he will quickly set off on the tracks of the spotted turtle with a most amazing traveling companion: Cappy, a shape-changing hat capable of being used as a weapon, platform and above all a capture tool!As you probably know if you have not lived in a cave in recent months, one of the main functions of Super Mario Odyssey is the possibility for the player to transform into his enemies, an element which we will come back to later. The most important thing before that is to understand the general structure of the game. Aboard the Odyssey ship, you travel from country to country thanks to the power of the Moons, used as fuel. The more you have, the more you discover new areas in which you can return to envy, without reusing moons of course.
RICHESSE DE GAMEPLAY, LEVEL DESIGN ENGINEERING
Thus, all your progress depends on this long picking, the interest of which lies in two elements: the exploration and the skills of Mario (and the player). Unlike most Mario 3D (and 2D), Super Mario Odyssey offers a non-linear structure inside each level. In fact, each of them must be seen as a kind of fair, armored with dozens and dozens of activities of a variety and eclecticism rarely seen before. Each wall, each corner, each gateway can reveal one or more secrets that you will only discover by fully understanding all the game mechanics, whether those of Cappy or Mario. Because even if his hat allows him new possibilities especially with transformations, the plumber proves, always with as much audacity, that one can be paunchy and damn agile at the same time, easily reaching heights of seemingly inaccessible, even if sometimes it is necessary to replace the camera yourself to properly gauge our jumps.
Given the abundance of possibilities offered by the game, it is almost impossible to put it in a predefined box. The search for moons could be described as a mixture between the Korogus and the sanctuaries of Breath of the Wild. Sometimes, you collect it via a ground charge on a bright point, but often, you find a pipe or a door sending you in a more or less difficult level, requiring you to effectively use a specific element of gameplay. Increasingly complex and ingenious platform phases, crazy races, shooting sequences, puzzle games ... the cases are so varied that it would take too long to try to describe them all. But in the end, Super Mario Odyssey varies the concepts so much that we are constantly surprised. Where some games have based all their gameplay on a single idea that has been spun to dryness, Odyssey offers us originality every ten minutes.
Play two
Super Mario Odyssey has an asymmetric "coop" mode, one day allowing Cappy to control independently of Mario (without going too far, however). If the player controlling Cappy has a supporting role, the system remains interesting when you want to play with a person less familiar with video games, the player who controls Mario always having the possibility of controlling Cappy if he wishes.
GAME DEPTH
Super Mario Odyssey is therefore an ode to rewarded exploration. Although it is possible for you to follow similar routes, thus making it possible to find enough moons to finish the game without wandering around too much, it is by snooping from left to right that we discover the full depth of Nintendo's game . Besides, Odyssey encourages us squarely to trace until the end by proposing us a rather frantic pace to then tell us that there is still a lot to do, and believe us, this is not a lie . To give you an idea, to beat the last boss, you only need a third of the moons to find. And when after ten hours of play, you understand that you still have to find twice as many moons as what you have already recovered, knowing that they are harder, you understand that you have a long time. Note that, without telling you more, you unlock a lot of content after finishing the game. Not only do most countries open new areas, but there are also new moons distributed and even new countries to visit through the after.So we come to transformations, one of the main features of the adventure. Any enemy who does not have a headgear can be used to take advantage of their abilities to block a route or access normally inaccessible places. Swimming in the form of fish, diving in lava in a fireball, fishing as a Lakitu ... more than 50 transformations await you for as many ways to play, all or almost all being used several times. Regularly, you will have to take advantage of a form for passages of a few minutes, gradually understanding the concept with increasingly complex pitfalls. Here again, it is diversity that makes the difference: you go from one transformation to another in the blink of an eye and the practices are so numerous and well used that you never get tired of it.
NOSTALGIA
Nintendo forces, Super Mario Odyssey also speaks to its fans, and very beautifully. The references to the previous opuses are numerous and perfectly brought. And no, we’re not just talking about single easter eggs, but whole streaks and even a whole country. Without drowning us under an avalanche of winks, it manages to revive our memories while playing with its new gameplay. The most obvious phases are the 2D passages, fully integrated into the 3D universe, to the point of sometimes having real interactions between the two. Another wonder, the Super Mario Odyssey soundtrack is arguably one of the best, if not the best in the series. Not only are the new themes very catchy, varying the influences despite the predominance of jazz, but the few 8-bit tunes round off the whole with flavor!Finally, last note on the visual aspect with a less rave. If it offers some pretty panoramas, Super Mario Odyssey is also uneven, with some flat decorations and aliasing from time to time. It is not essential, but it remains notable. We were also able to note some small, and fortunately rare drops of framerate, but nothing very handicapping at this level.
The notes
+ Positive points
The incredible diversity of gameplay
Absolutely memorable passages
Research and exploration aspects
Transformations, varied and funny
2D passages
The agility of Mario + Cappy
Excellent service life
The challenges to unlock
The little puzzles
Online scores for certain events (races, etc.)
Negative points
Although effective as a whole, the camera is not always ideally placed, which forces us to perform some cropping
Visually uneven
A few small framerate drops
Super Mario Odyssey is the perfect summary of Nintendo's expertise. It offers agile gameplay, used in situations of incredible variety. The transformations are numerous and put into practice in phases which remind us that a class level design is all that is needed. A sort of candy box that never ends, Odyssey is armored with small surprises scattered in open levels, leaving the player free to taste each flavor. Without a doubt, this is one of the best episodes in the series, a game for which it would be perfectly justified to buy a Switch, and a compulsory purchase for those who already have it. Quite simply, a masterpiece of ingenuity!
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