Game Review | New Super Mario Bros. Wii

You have to love Mario. Something about Italian plumbers and Toads just really gets my Wii nerves flowing. Therefore, I'm going to share my New Super Mario Bros. Wii experience with you. Hit the jump for the review.

So, the first thing I have to talk about are the graphics. Like many other Nintendo titles—Wii Sports, Animal Crossing, etc—New Super Mario Bros. Wii has the bright, bubbly, friendly appearance that makes them addictive and somewhat cutesy. However, the graphics are deceiving. Game play is a bit more difficult than you might expect. You use the Wiimote horizontally, so you have access to the D-pad and 1 and 2 buttons. It's not bad at all and they allow you to shake the Wiimote when using specialty skills like the Propeller Hat. If you have ever played the DS version of this game, you will see lots of familiarity. There are three star coins per level as well as red, green and yellow mushroom houses filled with mini-games for extras. While traveling on the map, interactive moments pop up between Goombas to save trapped Toads. Each world has one small castle and a big castle, so you have some solid hours of gaming to waste.

However, the cooperative game play is a little difficult. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast playing with my sisters and we were able to get pretty far in an hour's time. The issues arise in two locations—player-to-player interaction and the screen. If any of the players falls beneath/behind the screen, they immediately die. This means that you have to stay in sync to progress. If you come back in your little floating bubble, you might accidentally be popped open right over a hole causing you to lose more lives than you might have hoped (you get endless continues though, so if someone is constantly left behind they can come back). This doesn't really impede your game play, but some players might become more frustrated.

I haven't tried out the competitive mode, but single- and multi-player were plenty of fun by themselves. As I mentioned before, there will be plenty of ways to stay busy with this game. Beating it is only part of the battle. Collecting all of the star coins and finding all of the secret worlds is your other goal. So, would I recommend it?

Y-E-S and that spells, "yes". Regardless of whether you are a Mario fan like me, or you are just looking for a fun Wii game to play, New Super Mario Bros. Wii makes a great addition to any game library.