Great Portable Mario
Going into a 3D Mario game like Super Mario 3D Land, you might be expecting something along the lines of Super Mario Galaxy. Going in with that mentality probably will leave you disappointed, but not disappointed to say that Super Mario 3D Land isn't a great game, on the contrary, it's a great game, and a great portable game at that.
Super Mario 3D Land of course has some standards it needs to adhere to as a Mario game. The princess is kidnapped. There are levels to go through, and you have to beat Browser in the end. Nothing new in the setup up.
What is new is the way Super Mario 3D Land executes 3D Mario. Instead of having a life bar or temporary power-ups, like since Super Mario 64, Super Mario 3D Land adheres to more of 2D Mario rules, with a size status and power-ups being permanent until your hit, and honestly after playing this game , I think it's the way they should have done it with Super Mario 64. It makes you feel more powerful while not breaking the game. Mario still maintains most of his 3D moves though, such as wall jumping, the long jump, back flip, and ground pound.
The mixture of Mario's 2D rules in his 3D environments results in a platformer that's more about getting through an obstacle course, like his 2D games, and less about being put in a 3D world and solving puzzles, like Super Mario 64 and the like. Not that there's anything wrong with what 3D Mario games have been in the past, and not to say they didn't have their obstacle course moments, but this makes for a much faster paced and fluid game, and it's quite enjoyable.
The core of Super Mario 3D Land's gameplay with it's mixture of 3D and 2D Mario influences are what is going to sell you and what makes the game feel so good, because the level design won't. The level design in this game I found to be quite bland, especially when compared to the previous Mario games, 2D or 3D. It's like New Super Bros. Wii or Super Mario Galaxy never happened. Nothing in any of the levels really stood out to me at all, unlike the aforementioned Mario games. After a while, it just seems like levels are just different arrangements of platforms, which I guess is what a platformer always is, but they don't mix it up with like say rocks constantly falling from the sky or changing gravity. Even after you get to the special world, they just imposed a time limit or have an evil Mario to follow you, making it so you can't stay still. It's very basic Mario 101 levels, and if you're well versed in your Mario, it's not really going to excite you at all.
But the other thing to consider though is that this game is on a portable platform and these levels need to be quick. Of course, that in turn makes the also very easy, but Super Mario 3D Land is a great portable game because it's great for 5 minute chunks of play. Levels generally won't last more than 2 minutes and that's great when you just want to play it for a bus ride.
The game also looks very good. On par with Wii Mario games, and the 3D looks great too. Though for gameplay, I found that the 3D doesn't really help with platforming as much as I would want it to. There are a few rooms where they mess with the perspective of 2D and 3D, and it would have been really cool to incorporate such things into full blown levels, but they really don't go very far with it enough.
Overall, I really enjoyed Super Mario 3D Land because of the mixture of Mario's 2D and 3D rules and mechanics, and I hope that future 3D Mario games continue to use this game's core gameplay, and while the level design isn't the best we've seen from Nintendo, the core of the game is more than enough to carry it well and it's great for what a portable game needs to be.
