New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS)

I have had a great Christmas with Santa bringing amongst everything I wanted (apart for the job - but I am working on that one) In fact Santa brought some things I did not want but now love. One of these being the 'Super Mario Bros' games for my brand new pink Nintendo DS.

My first ever console and game was the old Gameboy with 'Super Mario Six Golden Coins' and I loved this game, however when my Gameboy broke I sold the game at a car boot sale….many times I have thought about the game and felt so annoyed that I cannot buy it. After about 5 minutes of playing this game I was hooked…partly because the game is so alike my old game.

SCENARIO
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The game starts with an explosion in the castle…whilst Mario goes to check it out Princess Peach is stolen by her evil captors and we see Mario rushing to rescue her. The Italian Plumber...rather used to pipes will have to explore the dizzy heights and darkest depths of the Mushroon Kingdom to save poor Princess Peach. I thought the small video introduction to the game was great, not only was it very exciting it set the scene clearly.

PLAYABILITY
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The game is easy to play and even for those unfamiliar with Mario will easily pick up the aim of the game. The game has 8 levels/worlds each with about 6 stages and a end stage based in a castle. The last stage involves the leader of that 'world' and this enemy must be defeated to progress onto the next world.

As you may expect the stages get gradually more difficult as you progress through the game…by the 8th world each stage involved a lot of swearing…threatening to smash the console and arrrgggghhh sounds. In fact I managed to play it for 9 hours solid yesterday…stopping briefly for food and drink. It would be safe to say that the game is very obsessive and cannot be 'left until later'.

Throughout the game there are secret worlds to unlock and portals to find. I found this quite exciting and this certainly made the game more playable for me. I would imagine the next time I play it although enjoyable the fun will be lowered slightly due to knowing every step…the challenge is removed somewhat.

GRAPHICS
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OK so I am not an avid gamer and this obviously was shown by my total shock at the coloured screen and fabulous graphics. I was fortunate to be given several games and in comparison Super Mario Bros is head and shoulders above the rest. I was impressed by the great colours and detail of the enemies. Far from the quality I was used to on the old Gameboy the creatures, objects and scenery appeared in 3D which made the game truly wonderful and enjoyable to play.

SOUND
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The sound quality is good. I though the different music for each world and stage was highly effective. In the ghost house/spooky levels an eerie screechy music is played in the background, but on the more light airy levels the music is jolly and quite cheerful. The music did assist with a story and the extra sound effects when collecting coins, being attacked or receiving a power up although very average were useful to know what was happening.

The general ambience as the game progressed well seemed to get very dark and quite mysterious which seemed to go well with the extra concentration. There is also the option to play the game in surround sound or through headphones.

CONTROLS
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The game is easy to play in terms of hand control…by this I mean that the stylus was only used to switch between worlds the rest of the time the game used the ABXY buttons and the arrow buttons.

EXTRAS
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The game is very good value with the option to link with other users. The game also has a number of 'short games' such as 'Whack a Mole' and 'A parachute game' I have played a few of them and these are fun to play and certainly less addictive.

INSTRUCTIONS
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I did find that I needed to use the instruction manual at first to become familiar with the icons so that I knew which ones were 'good' and which ones were 'bad'…Whilst these seem straight forward after playing it can be highly frustrating and confusing at first. The instruction manual was very helpful and gave information on starting the game, saving and changing specific functions.

PRICE
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The game was very difficult in places and although it gives an age of 3+ I would imagine that children under 6 would lose interest quickly. The game is available from most games stores for about £20-£25 or part of bundle deals.

SUMMARY
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I really enjoyed this game and this is definitely proven by the fact that since Christmas day I have been unable to put it down. In 3 days I have finished the game and started another. My other games have taken a slight 'backseat' to this one. Overall I would give this game 5/5 because it not only has nostalgic value it is fun to play and easy to get in to. I do not feel its 'life' is limited as it's the sort of game I could play over and over again. If you are looking for an exciting game to keep you occupied this is definitely the one!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!