@J2fold: SavageRodent is correct. But also, a typical Mario game wouldn't work well on a touch-only interface; same as how no "traditional" games really feel right on mobile phones (I mean, even playing Sonic on a touch-only device is maddening - without the physical inputs, you just completely lose the feel and accuracy you get with a regular controller). Yuck.
It seems to me that the very best mobile games are the ones that are designed for mobile in the first place. That is precisely what Super Mario Run is.
@catsimboy: Well, you say that - but let's see! Maybe they will spend that kind of money. You're right that $10 is a "premium" price in the mobile world (which is really a big shame I think), but you could argue that Nintendo is pitching this as a premium experience. Certainly, from a mobile perspective, they aren't throwing all their eggs into it and pushing out heaps of releases - I think they are positioning themselves as a premium player in that market, which is a reasonable enough thing to do I'd have thought.
@rbrettj: I'm not sure about difficulty curve, but I think that's probably a debatable point. If you're going after the typical Candy Crush player who is going to spend a few minutes here or there with the game, then difficulty curve becomes less important.
Again, I think we have to be careful about applying our values - as game enthusiasts - to audiences that don't necessarily share those values. It's hard to do, admittedly.
As far as number of levels and such, you know, I think this all comes down to the value proposition. Often, games with 100s of levels appear to have breadth but no depth - or, the quality of each level might be fairly average given that there are so many.
So, I don't think there's a right answer to this. We will have to see how the market responds. But from a Nintendo perspective, I would guess that they are not interested in creating 100s of fairly samey/average-quality levels - they've created a very specific experience with a certain degree of quality (bearing in mind that they continually state they don't want to cheapen or tarnish their existing brands).
Interesting review. When you talk about the game being "too easy" or "on the short side", I think it's worth remembering two things.
First, this game has been explicitly designed for people who aren't currently playing Nintendo platforms (or who lapsed a long time ago). So, the "easiness" aspect is actually important there - I think it's imperative for Nintendo not to turn people off right at the outset.
But secondly - and I think this is important - Nintendo has deliberately made a game that can be enjoyed in very short, sharp bursts. That's very purposeful. It's probably one thing to sit down on your couch or in your office and play this as if it's a traditional Mario game - but did you try playing it one-handed on a busy train? It might sound silly, but that's a very common use case that Nintendo is going for here. I'm really curious to know how the game feels in those kinds of contexts, where you can even be multitasking (i.e. eating food and playing, etc etc...)
I wouldn't normally quibble on areas like that, but I feel that in this case...the purpose of the game is really important. It's clearly not designed for traditional Mario fans, nor is it designed to compete with existing "full" Mario experiences - it's a gateway drug, an attempt to get people interested in considering those fuller, richer Mario experiences.
This was an interesting play through. Although the game looks extremely simplistic, I can see how it can be a big time-waster. In a sense, it reminds me of a galactic Abzu or something, but with additional depth.
It'll be interesting to see what Hello Games does with it in the future, in terms of adding city building and other elements that they've talked about.
@arcangelgold: In terms of the wired mic, yes, I agree with you - it's a pain in the butt. And the standard version has terrible sound quality.
My recommendation is to buy the wireless PlayStation headset. It's a bit pricey, but damn, it's good. The sound quality is great, it's light/comfortable, and it has some features that make it really valuable for social gaming (like independently adjusting the mic vs audio output ratio).
As for plugging the controller into the console and not the wall, well...not much I can say about that. Do you put your PS4 on sleep mode rather than turning it off? If you do that, it will charge the controllers/download updates in the background and still use minimal power.
I don't use the PS4 stand, I just stand my PS4 up as-is. Seems to work well.
Honestly, I think most of your problems are pretty solvable. The PS4 is actually - in my view - much more intelligently-designed than the PS3 was. I actually think it's the best console Sony has made so far (although I'd definitely like to see a PS4 Mini/Slim at some stage...)
That said, I can appreciate that some things aren't working well for your circumstances. A lot of the people commenting on here don't understand what it's like to be busy/to have children/etc... so I think they may find it hard to relate.
But I'm a bit older myself, I have a full-time job, and little time to muck around with stuff...so I can understand that convenience and ease-of-use are very important factors.
@arcangelgold: No worries. I try never to dismiss something out-of-hand where possible; after all, even if we disagree, I think you obviously have real feelings about the situation.
In terms of your three points, I'd like to drill down on them a bit more.
Storing contents of an entire disc on the hard drive
You make a fair point, but I believe that Sony is now enabling streaming on some games (I can't remember what the feature is actually called). Of course, the problem with streaming is that you need a very high-speed internet connection to make it work properly.
So, the only real solution to your gripe here is to buy physical copies of games. And you know, I think that's not really a bad solution. I personally feel a bit weird about having all my games be download-only, so I do buy some physical copies.
But also, my hard drive space is obviously not unlimited! :-)
I think there's room for both approaches though. I have some physical copies of certain games, and I download others.
Lack of social features in games
I'm honestly not quite sure what you mean by this. One thing I would say is that with the PS4 at least, you've got the idea of parties and other social elements that are embedded within the actual OS itself. The advantage is that you get some consistency of experience across all games, whether or not they have their own social features.
Aside from that, I think it also just depends on what games you play. Some games have a lot of social features and some don't. I'm definitely finding that in this generation - much more than the last one - I'm doing a lot more online interaction through console games.
So, unless you have a specific example, it's hard to really know how to respond to that point.
Poorly thought-out accessories
Like what? Admittedly I don't use many of them other than the standard controller. I suppose I'd just say that the one accessory I didn't like was the standard earpiece and microphone that came with the PS4 itself - it was pretty terrible. I replaced it with the official PS4 wireless headset, which has been really fantastic given the price.
It's nice to see non-cynical comments amidst a sea of cynicism. I'm already seeing comments like "ew, the trees look dated" - I read that and think, my god, can you not see the forest for the trees?!
Who knows how I'll feel when I play it, but to me, this game so far looks like it goes right back to the core of Zelda - think Zelda NES, where you were exploring a huge world with very little explicit guidance. It was all about getting lost and finding your own way, and the magic of discovery.
I'm really excited about Breath of the Wild. I'm really hopeful that this game, when it launches, will remind people again just how magical and wonderful Nintendo can be (if they aren't already aware!)
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