Super Mario World Hack Review - Keytastrophe
RATE THE REVIEW, NOT THE HACK!
Hey there!
We are on Christmas eve, and, as I promised, I'm launching the last 2007 SMW review today, i hope you like it, there will be a lot more on 2008.
Merry Christmas and happy new year!
And if you don't like those..
Happy holidays!
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Information
Hack: Mario's Keytastrophe
Author: SNN (SMW Central ADM)
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Carlos Alvarez (Solracxealz) Review:
GREAT HACK!!
Score: 94 / 100
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 10
Music: 9
Sound: N/A
Difficulty: 9
Sprites: 10
Tilt: 10
Storyboard: 9
Style: 10
Originality: 9
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A pretty professional look.
That's the first impression you get from this hack as soon as it starts, and it's clearly notable that the author has experience on hacking, considering the intro screen and the greatly edited overworld.
The gameplay of this hack is different from the original Super Mario World system, instead of using goals to finish a level, you need to find a key and insert it into the keyhole or defeat a boss.
Now, where have i seen this before?
Yes, it's pretty similar to Mario VS Donkey Kong, but i will not rip off 3 points on Originality for that, why?
Well, because of this system hasn't been seen before on any other hacks, and it was a great idea to make a hack based on this system.
A remarkable factor on the hack is the music, let's expand this, as it isn't as nice as it sounds (literally). The track you hear on the first levels is pretty catchy, it's a good song you could keep listening a long time, but as soon as you start to progress, you'll find some annoying songs on different levels.
The tracks become repetitive and what's even worse, they are miserable tunes that stop you from focusing on the game; that causes for the player to turn off their speakers, but it'll have the low price of 1 point in music, for the rest of the tracks, some are good, some are catchy and some are, well, annoying.
The first levels are to be considered as tutorial levels, they are really easy and they teach you the gameplay basics, and we again find the annoying fact of that Mario is always on its small version, even if you clear a level, it becomes small again, but that fits perfectly with the gameplay, so we must respect that. But as you keep advancing, the levels become harder and harder, it can even take you 15 minutes to complete a level, as some require for you to collect all the coins on all the rooms, that's boring and somehow hard, as the levels are filled with enemies and because of you are small Mario, a simple enemy can take off you the 48 coins of 50 that you hardly collected. We don't look for an annoying challenge, fortunately, this hack isn't that.
The levels are designed perfectly, visually the game is awesome and you simply can't reply against the used GFX (graphics), it all fits perfectly with the overworld and the enemies are placed correctly, also, they match the sprites sets and GFX greatly; the overworld is also redesigned correctly, and the secret areas get unveiled greatly, too.
About the story, same thing:
Ugly (and) big monster kidnaps princess, ugly (and) big monster locks all the doors on its way so ugly (and) red plumber can't reach ugly (and) big monster and princess.
So, nothing amazing, just yet, maybe we get a better storyboard when the hack's done, perhaps.
The gameplay is good, the scenario overall is awesome and the difficult manages to be decent, so we finish with a great hack that can be enjoyable to any veteran-to-expert player, go on, grab it and try it all by yourself, you will not be disappointed.
That's all for my part, I encourage you to play it, so you play the awesome water and galactic levels, have fun!
Have a great day.
And stay tuned!