Things aren't so peachy for the Princess
| Platform | Presentation | Controls | Variety | Audio | Depth | Value & Fun | OVERALL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo DS | 6.00 | 8.00 | 9.00 | 10.00 | 5.00 | 4.00 | 6.75 |
| Gameplay Description |
| Super Princess Peach is a sidescrolling platformer. You take control of Peach and try to get her to the end of the level by avoiding enemies and jumpin gaps. She hearts for health and a magic meter for her abilities. |
| Dedication Meter | 70.00 |
| Sidescrollers typically don't take much of your time and dedication. However, Super Princess Peach's levels tend to drag on because of the branching paths, and the fact that you must collect things to finish the game is a massive issue. More on that in Value & Fun. | |
| Presentation | 6.00 |
|
The sprites look really nice in the game, with an art style of Super Mario World meets Yoshi's Island. The animations are a little on the simplistic side, but not to the point of negativity. The issues come from a lack of direction. There are branching paths that you're expected to explore, but no map, and no way to look down, resulting in the bad design of "leaps of faith". Also on the issue of branching paths is the fact that there is absolutely no continuity when it comes to the pipes. You can go down pipes to enter another area, as in Mario games, however that area seems to stand on its own. You could go down a pipe, go running far to the right, go up a pipe, and end up left of where you started, or worse, in the exact same place. This basically leads to random wandering until you find the right place. There's a very simplistic, weird, confusing backstory for Peach's umbrella told through dream sequences. It's hard to tell what's happening, and you don't really know until they outright tell you. |
|
| Controls | 8.00 |
|
The controls are simplistic, yet overly complicated. By default, you run, which works better than it sounds, but is still a little loose compared to the typical hold a button to run. The R button is used to walk slowly (very slowly) but is essentially useless. You're only expected to use it in the instance of special blocks that break when you walk normally on them, but you can manage without, or with sleeping enemies, which aren't dangerous enough to matter. You also have access to four special abilities available via the touch screen. The icons are large so that you can press them using your thumb, but makes using it quickly unrealistic. Also, each ability drains a magic meter, and to turn off the ability, you have to press the same icon, which can be annoying if you press the wrong one. Pressing the wrong icon is easy to do, also, because you are only accessing them in instances and they aren't constantly accessed like other buttons. And there are special instances where the controls are mixed up, such as underwater where you blow in the microphone to shoot bubbles, or various ways in minigames. These work to varying degrees, but always fairly well. Blowing in the microphone can be annoying, but is responsive. |
|
| Variety | 9.00 |
|
There a lot of content in Super Princess Peach, albeit somewhat tacked on. There are multiple minigames, puzzles, several different bosses, various collectibles and a shop to buy all sorts of things, including items to improve Peach and her utility umbrella. Peach's abilities, accessed via the touch screen, correspond to her emotions. These emotions are calm, which heals, anger, which engulfs her in flame, sad, which causes her to run fast and spread tears, and joy, which allows her to fly and create cyclones. These are used to solve rudimentary puzzles to gather collectibles as well as defeat bosses. The game is a bit short on levels, though, at a total of 40. Each level takes a while due to the combinations of directional issues and branching paths to obnoxiously hide said collectibles. The 40 levels are split into eight worlds, with five related levels, and a boss fight at the end. The bosses have two attacks and are defeated by one of Peach's abilities. The enemies are a standout as not only are there a very wide variety of inclusions from throughout the Mario games, but they are also varied in that they act differently depending on their emotion, which can be calm, sad, happy or angry. The shop is something that could be a progressive thing when it comes to even the Mario games. You can purchase improvements on Peach's health and magic meter, as well as various additions to her umbrella, such as the ability to float. Aside from that, you can purchase minigame levels, puzzle pieces, and songs for soundtest. These are all bought using coins collected during the game. |
|
| Audio | 10.00 |
| The audio is the definite standout. You hardly ever have to listen to Peach's voice but rather an excellent variety of catchy tunes that fit the levels perfectly. There's not much more to say about the music. The Toads' little voice clips are quite cute unto themselves. | |
| Depth | 5.00 |
|
Super Princess Peach really isn't much about skill or thought, but rather patience. There's not much that is trying as long as you're willing to take it slowly. The environmental puzzles are blatantly pointed out to you, which just means you have to make sure you have enough in your magic meter to do whatever you're expected. The bosses give a surprising challenge. It's still not particularly difficult, but success isn't a given, either. There's little use for the abilities outside of puzzles, for a combination of having to conserve magic as well as anger and sadness essentially being useless. |
|
| Value & Fun | 4.00 |
|
The game is short, and yet a drag. Levels are laid out somewhat like a Metroid game, only that there's no real exploration, but rather random wandering, and without reward. You're expected to search out these collectibles with a lack of direction in the level. Because of the level design, there's a distinct lack of pitfalls, which leads to a distinct lack of platforming. And when there are pitfalls, it's usually poorly laid out in that you aren't sure whether there is ground beneath you to land or not. The enemies, while varied, seem randomly placed. There is too much dependence on collecting the three toads in every level. The worst thing about the game is that it fails to inform you until the last boss about its horrible design choice -- you have to collect every single toad before you can finish the game. Not only is it not something that would be worth doing as an optional, it's being forced. The minigames are completion based rather than high score, so finishing the level is the key. But once you've beaten them once, there's little reason to go back again. There is a scoring system, though, so if you wanted, you could try and improve. |
|
| Overall | 6.75 |
| This almost feels as though it's breaking my rating system. Super Princess Peach is just not recommended. It has generally poor design and just an overall lack of fun, or even uniqueness. And you essentially can't finish the game unless you go through it all twice. Sorry Princess, but our Mario is in another league. | |
Posted by Ellyoda Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:00:00
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