You will not be blown away...but you'll still unquestionnably have a heck of a good time with it.
Of course, up to this date, NSMB has been getting rave reviews from the whole gaming which doesn't mean the game's shortcomings haven't been pointed out. Indeed, some are put off by the easiness of the game or by the nostalgic feeling that oozes from it. There is something that everyone can agree about though : the whole package is short and the incentive to do it all over isn't what it's been in past Mario side-scrollers.
Mostly, if you get 100% completion on your first playthrough, you'll be satisfied wih yourself but the fact is that it doesn't come even close to what completing Super Mario World or Yoshi's Island felt like. Make no mistake, you will have to work hard on occasions to get that extra star coin from a level but that isn't the source of the problem. The fact is, the levels, if you disregard the collectibles, are extremely easy to breeze through.Evidently, I don't expect everyone to agree on this one since I admittedly am a platform game freak, but the general consensus draws the same conclusions as myself.
Having played most of the Mario games, I easily understood the references made in the game but that isn't the matter. Those references may be understandable for everyone but it is a distinct possibility they will, after a while, sicken the gamers who aren't such big Nintendo or Mario fans. Namely, the time limit set in each level had even me, a prototype Nintendo fanboy, cringing. I often wondered about the necessity of that time limit in a game which often puts its focus on exploration. As I said earlier though, if you are just content with tearing through the levels at full speed, you'll have absolutely no problem with the aforementioned time limit.
Of course, between the plethora of references made in the game, there is one who I believe is just perfectly in place and that is the secret classic song from Super Mario Bros. Let's just say I didn't hate the time limit quite as much when I heard that song at the end of a level. (*wink* matching last two digits *wink*)
You may have noticed I have only mentioned the shortcomings of the game up to this point. That is very simply because its qualities are easier to decipher and appreciate than its shortcomings and I believe potential haters of the game must be warned of what might fuel their hatred toward this remarkably constructed game. To sum up, it's better to know firsthand if a certain element that you cannot stand in a game is indeed included in that same game...but I digress.
It is not a secret that the main force of the Mario games in the past has been the gameplay and I'm happy to report that the same can be said about NSMB. The various powerups all work fine although there have been some mostly unfounded complaints about shell Mario (it does require some practice though). The classic Mario moves are all back and new ones from the 3D era have been included as well. I was especially blown away when I tried the classic run-then-crouch-to-slide-in-a-small-space move by instinct, when I was stuck, just to witness it working just as fine as it used to. Overall, the controls are a joy.
The graphics, for their part, fit the billing quite well by incorporating a bit of 3D to the classic side-scroller look. The levels are colourful as are the enemies. The whole package just turns out to be beautiful. You will not be blown away by the realism of the graphics especially if you own a Sony PSP but you weren't meant to be blown away by the technical aspect anyway.
As you may expect, the sound is near-perfect even though there are some annoying and repetitive tracks in the game. You never spend enough time in a level to get tired of its theme song though, which pretty much solves the issue.
In conclusion, NSMB comes up as a successful hybrid of many Mario games, but it could have been better. You can almost feel how close it is to striking the spot which would make it legendary but, ultimately, it doesn't. That still leaves us with a pretty darn good game anyway. Obviously, the game is easy to recommend to any Mario fan or anyone willing to discover what makes Mario games a sure hit among the gaming community. You will not be blown away...but you'll still unquestionably have a heck of a good time with it.