Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario Bros. Super Quest, by Mario350
Review Author MoonMan
Created Feb 24 2013, 10:27 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
This is one of the most unrefined titles from MFGG I've played in quite some time. This should not have been accepted; I legitimately think that this would have been considered subpar even ten years ago, a comparison that'll come up often in this review.
 
Pros +As others have mentioned, it's nice (to a degree) that it's programmed from scratch in lieu of being an engine clone...
 
Cons -...but that does not justify the terrible gameplay.
-The graphics are subpar as well.
-The audio is downright unpleasant.
-Everything culminates in an overall lack of effort.
 
Impressions
Gameplay
1 / 10
The game controls in the most awkward, broken way imaginable. For starters, since Mario/Toad's sprite isn't centered, turning results in Mario/Toad in hopping a couple blocks in the other direction.

Next, the running is way too fast, with no momentum nor deceleration upon stopping.

The jumping is hilariously broken; if you get a running start then jump, you leap a ridiculous distance; if you jump and THEN hit a direction, you'll start falling fast. Oh, and it's easy to get caught on a wall/corner, which can often screw up your jumping. Mario/Toad also have a ground pound, but that amounts to doing exactly nothing other than a faster descent from a jump.

The hit detection is a joke; for example, sometimes you can find yourself next to a Piranha Plant unharmed, but jumping straight up will suddenly kill you. Also, sometimes hitting a ? Block or Brick Block won't register. Finally, collecting a coin will halt you for a split second, which is annoying since almost all coins are arranged in lines.

What's up with the weird underground thing going on halfway through the first stage? Instead of having a real transition to an underground scene, you'll simply stumble upon a cluster of ground that disappears beneath you, only to find an invisible trampoline(?) at the end that launches you towards the ceiling aboveground, which reveals more false tiles, and thus another "hidden" segment within the ceiling.

I was masochistic enough to reach the third level, upon which I was prompted to collect all the coins within the level. Paired with the already terrible gameplay, you have to go out of your way to collect the coins (the very same ones that were otherwise useless in the previous levels). Just when I get the last bunch of coins, I see a POW Block at the end (which turns ? Blocks into coins), and I had to DOUBLE AROUND BACK THROUGH THE LEVEL. AND COLLECT A WHOLE NEW SLEW OF COINS. I get to the newly formed coins at the beginning of the level, fighting the terrible engine to do so, I collect the last one, and am greeted with this delightful gem:
"FATAL ERROR in
action number 4
of Other Event: Animation End
for object collect_coins:

Moving to next room after the last room."
...Then the game just crashed. Spectacular.

I could forgive Mario350 for everything else and just write this off as simply an iffy start, as long as he tried his best. However, having such an error in lieu of a proper conclusion to this demo (among the leagues of other aforementioned issues) makes it evident that he did not put in ANY respectable level of testing or polish. To be frank, I'd rate this at 0/10 if I could. The fact that a better part of MFGG's games from 2003 have superior control than this speaks volumes of how much effort that went into this game's engine.
 
Graphics
1 / 10
The graphics are a hilariously clashing mishmash of different sources, and everything is poorly resized to boot. This sort of clashing was excusable in the older days of Mario fangame creation, since the variety of Mario-related graphics were slim pickings, but considering the vast array of sprites from singular sources now available on MFGG, The Spriters Resource, et al, this is entirely unacceptable in 2013.

Every animation is jumpy, they play too fast, and sometimes, Mario/Toad's walking animation won't play when walking. All these graphical flaws serve to further prove that little effort was put into this game.
 
Sound
1 / 10
My poor, poor ears. The game uses MIDI music that, to be fair, isn't ENTIRELY awful, but still bland sounding. What little redeeming factor present in the auditory department, however, is demolished by the sound effects. Mario/Toad use Mario Kart 64 voice clips for EVERYTHING: jumping, stomping enemies, collecting coins, dying, ground-pounding... the clips chosen are far too long for whatever action they're being used for (example: hearing Mario say "Heehee! I got it!" for EVERY SINGLE COIN is irritating). Heck, you know you're in for quite a treat when the very first sound the game greets the player with is a fairly loud recording of the opening from the Super Mario Brothers Super Show.
 
Replay
1 / 10
There may very well be more content beyond the third stage, but I'm not exactly itching to find out due to the sad excuse of an engine and its poor presentation coming together to form an unbelievably aggravating final product.
 
Final Words
1 / 10
It's hard to believe something like this was made in 2013, as this feels like a game that's much, much older.

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