Review
Played on: SwitchReleased: 2021
Originally released: 2013 (Wii U, minus Bower's Fury content)
Another Wii U game made it's way to the Switch last year, this one perhaps was not such a surprise considering it's spin-off title, Captain Toad, made it's way to the console back in 2018.
This is a kinda tricky game to review: 3D World and the new Bowser's Fury addition are in fact two very different games. Don't just think of Bowser's Fury as some added levels like Captain Toad received, when transitioning from the Wii U to the Switch. No, this is a massive and unique new game in itself. So I'll try to talk a bit about each.
Let's take a closer look!
So, we have 2D Mario, both retro and modern, and we have the fully 3D Mario, ranging from the old Super Mario 64 to the recent Mario Odyssey. Somewhere in between these, lies 3D World. I won't call it isometric 3D, as it's fully rotatable, but imagine that kind of view and limited space to roam.
Where 2D Mario relies on precision and timing and fully 3D Mario on traversing and exploring large environments, 3D World aims to combine them both. It features manageable, bite sized, 3D levels to explore. Yet, it requires the more timed and classic platforming style the 2D games have. The incredibly charming designs of these mini worlds combined with the ease of understanding what you must traverse to complete them is very well designed, even incorporating clever ways to hide collectibles from the player in a tricky but fair way.
This smaller structure and zoomed out viewpoint helps the game cater for coop play in a good way too. Here you can help each other out and stay close fairly easily. I found it very enjoyable in two player, but I can maybe imagine three and four player being somewhat on the chaotic side if your goal is completion. That level timer though? Let that go Nintendo, we don't need that pressure!
3D World is divided into main worlds with themes; a green grassy world, a snowy one, a desert one etc., standard fair since SMB3. Within each world are multiple levels, each with their own design style, where it's all about reaching the goal flagpole and collecting three stars and an optional sticker stamp on each one. Each world has a castle level at the end, which requires a set amount of stars to unlock, complete with a boss battle. It's a much re-used, but if it ain't broken don't fix it, layout to a Mario game.
Unique for this release of 3D World, versus it's Wii U counterpart, is the addition of cat suits. These allow players to traverse vertical walls far easier. Easier still, the game goes into a super easy mode if you repeatedly retry a level, giving you cat suits and instant kills on all enemies and spikes. I enjoyed this addition when playing with my daughter which is fairly new to the gaming concept, but perhaps it could have had an option to be turned off for experienced players? It made the whole playthrough very easy.
Bowser's Fury, on the other hand, is a fully 3D Mario, but with a new and unique twist for the series. It's levels and environment themes, like snow and grass, are all contained into one massive free roaming open world. So, there's no level select here, you simply traverse across a large ocean on a dinosaur like creature to reach new levels, which in turn contain objectives to complete. Distant levels, and their environmental theme, are clearly visible in the distance.
It's a really interesting take on the fully 3D Mario experience and perhaps a stroke of genius as a test bed for a whole main game at a later point utilising this idea. Completing these smaller environmental levels within the massive world and finding all their cat badges, will light a lighthouse and remove some of the black liquid covering the world. The goal is to help Bowser Jr. free his dad Bowser from being a massive evil, well more evil than usual, giant of himself.
Once in a while bad weather will cover the world, lightning will kick in and giant, evil Bowser apperas and must be beaten to be held back. When this happens Mario can ring a bell and become a massive giant himself, in turn a fun idea, but a little awkward with the bad weather breaking up your momentum of exploring the world.
Compared to the main 3D World game, the coop part of Bowser's Fury is kinda lame, one player is Mario the other is Bowser Jr. The cute little latter character has fairly limited abilities in his little flying cup, only helping out Mario by repianing drawings on walls or bashing enemies. That said, if you're playing alone, the computer controlled Bowser Jr. does a great job at attacking enemies for you!
All in all, Bowser's Fury feels like something that could have been a standalone, smaller, release. That said, it's inclusion on the main 3D World game is a very generous and massive extra in comparison to the original Wii U release.
Visually 3D World sees the typical resolution jump from Wii U to Switch games like Mario Kart 8 and DKC: Tropical Freeze, where resolution goes from 720p to 1080p, albeit in comparison to those other titles mentioned there's a dynamic resolution going on, mostly residing in a higher resolution than when you played it on Wii U. In addition there's a slightly higher field of view and more stable 60fps framerate. In handheld mode it's locked to it's Wii U counterpart's 720p max resolution.
Regardless of technical numbers though, 3D World holds up well thanks to the excellent Nintendo artstyle usage, with a charming animated movie look. Variation in colours and level designs bring a lot of visual diversity and uniqueness to each level. All the classic Nintendo characters look charming and sport this plastic CGI-like style to them. Grass, trees, coloured boxes, water, brick walls etc. all are very distinctly Nintendo in their appearance and build a unique fantasy world for all ages.
Bowser's Fury is a different visual package and a more ambitious title technically. It delivers the, strange but fair, 792p resolution that Mario Odyssey did, in docked mode. It tries the best it can to hold 60fps, but falls in busy moments with it's ambitious size to the environments and amount of objects, effects and movement going on. Docked sees it locked to 720p@30fps, a significant difference in the framerate and gameplay feel between docked and handheld, in other words.
Fury is cool looking game and a very interesting one with single world and environmental levels all collected in one massive sandbox. It's not as visually appealing or refined as Odyssey was, but somehow manages to be more ambitious in it's size.
It's hard, to not see, the massive value for money here, considering how large Bowser's Fury is, simply being an added bonus for an already full game release. It's absolutely well worth the asking price for newcomers, Wii U owners maybe not so much.
Although their combination is a little strange, I played 3D World with the intention of getting my kid interested in a fun coop game, something 3D World delivered in buckets, Bowser's Fury on the other hand is completely different title and best played in singleplayer. 3D World should perhaps have been packed together with Captain Toad, if there was a title that was fairly alike and catered for the coop aspect.
Neverthless, Nintendo delivers platforming quality that simply charms you as a player, even if you're a kid or an adult.
