Super Mario 3D Land is literally fun squared. Bringing the stereoscopic 3D vision of the Nintendo 3DS to life in a way that is unparalleled to date, it’ll keep you smiling for weeks.
When you fire it up for the first time, you’re instantly hit with the feeling of seeing an old mate again, and it’s a matter of seconds before you’ve picked up all of the controls skills you’ll need throughout the game.
Free flowing and beautifully textured, the gameplay and graphics are next to perfect on Super Mario 3D Land. The sound is a combination of the familiar and instantly likeable tunes of the past with a few new effects thrown in for good measure.
The level select screen is the most linear of all Mario platformers, with a simple line connection between levels. It would have been nice to see more of a world map feel as in Super Mario World, just to give the game a bit more depth
The levels themselves are pretty linear too, and while you might initially feel a brief note regret at not having Super Mario 64 like free roaming levels and challenges, it doesn’t take long for the brilliance of the 3D realisation of Super Mario 3 inspired levels to take over.
Things start out pretty easily in the first 2 or 3 levels, but by the time you get into the mid section of the game the frenetic action starts to kick in, although things don’t get particularly tough until later on. The return of the racoon tail power up is a class reintroduction, although sadly you can’t do the speed freak running tail flight of SM3.
Super Mario 3D Land is an instant 3D platform classic, putting the might of Mario back in the limelight. It’ll make you laugh and smile every time you play it and when the trickier levels come around you’ll get the same old heart pumping adrenaline rush that was at it’s height when facing off against Bowser’s clown face battle pod in Super Mario World.
Super Mario 3D Land review: 4.5/5
