During the holidays I tend to do two things more than anything else. Work(my day job is retail) and play games. But I also tend to try and catch up on everything I've put off during busier periods. Such as a growing bookmarks list that is starting to look like some one put a bible on a scroll.
One of those bookmarks was an article that Leigh Alexander wrote about Mario. It's called, "There are No Corners in Space." It is an excellent article and just reasserts my opinion that Leigh is an incredibly talented writer.
What I didn't like about the article is the overall nostalgia and attitude of the of it. The main idea is that 2D games are better than 3D games when it comes to platformers or gameplay based games.
This certainly isn't a new idea. In fact, earlier this month I was reading an article in Play Magazine by Heather Campbell about how platformers and some other games are too talky and have unnecessary tutorials.
But these authors do have understandable and very well thought out opinions. They are not exactly looking at the big picture when they make judgements about games outside of Super Mario Galaxy. The biggest thing about games in general these days is that they are walking the thin line between being completely about the casual experience and a low level or easy hardcore title. What these folks are responding to are the casual elements in their hardcore title. Perhaps you or I don't need tutorials in our platformers and find them annoying. But gamers less familiar with platformers or video games in general may need the tutorials. These are issues that developers need to address and cannot be cast aside when developing for the fastest growing casual game system in the industry.
Also dealing with the 2D to 3D issue; I just don't see it as anything else except that for Leigh, Nintendo hasn't learned how to take advantage of the 3D space in the proper way. She also said she hated the story elements in the game and Heather stated that she hated the hub world concept and would rather not see it at all.
Hub worlds seem to be product of lazy game design but also are necessary for Mario's pick up and play style and the ability to save after each world before going into the next world. Many gamers find the ability to play the game in small bites rather than being required to play for hours at a time to get to a save point.
Certainly there are ways around the Hub world problem and the thrust of the article in that Heather wants all games to have replay and share abilities like Halo 3 is a very cool idea. But I think what both of these journalists do an excellent job explaining is that for all Super Mario Galaxy's greatness it isn't perfect. Which I think I agreed with in print, not too long ago.
Every game can be made better. But in many ways Mario's rise to power has simply been an example for everyone else on how not to do things. But just like in life those other platformers have to learn from someone don't they? I can't wait to see what comes out of their latest lesson.
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