Super Mario Bros. Wii is Pretty Good

I haven't played a lot of Wii games. In fact I just purchased a Wii recently. I got it along with Super Mario Bros. Wii. To be honest I was expecting it to be like the older games, and it is, but it is better than I thought it would be.

The graphics are very well done, and breathtaking in some areas. You can tell that they put a lot of effort into making this a high quality game. I have played other 3D side scrolling games and it seems there is always some sort of short fall with them as far as the graphics are concerned. What has stuck out the most about the new game is that there are areas of the floor and ceiling that move. This is very neat and it adds a new level of challenge to the formula. Even though the graphics are quite simple, they still are top notch.

The sound is something of a new experience to me. I was shocked that the Wii remote actually made sounds and this game doesn't overdo it, but only makes noises whenever you get power ups or at other interesting times. The music and other sounds are very Super Mario Bros and are high quality.

One thing that happens that I find amusing is that some of the enemies and background kind of animate to the music. When a certain bar comes on, the turtles will stop walking and do a little jig, for instance. The flowers in the background will kind of shake. This does affect game play but only slightly and it is part of the experience.

As many of you know already the Wii remote can function just like one of the older Nintendo game pads but it can also recognize movements. This is built into the game also. For certain special moves you will have to shake your controller either forward or back and possibly in combination with other buttons pressed. I still haven't got all the moves down but this too is another great feature. On certain platforms you'll have to move the controller in a kind of see saw motion to make the platform move either up or down. It is brilliant.

The game play itself is very similar to the older games, except for the controller shaking and some of the scenery movements. One of the key features is that up to 4 people can play at one time. This is good if you have a lot of children because everyone can play at once. I played this with my wife using 2 player mode and we had some great fun. There is a couple of things I don't like about the multi-player feature. Sometimes you will get confused as to which player is which on the screen. This happens a lot and it has caused many deaths for me and my wife. Also, the other players on the screen act as obstacles and can push the other ones around. You can actually cause the other players to die if you know what you are doing and move just right. I find that I die due to the other player being in my way about 20% of the time. That being said, I am sure that was part of the intention and if you look at it this way it actually helps to define the new experience.

If you liked the older Super Mario Bros games this new offering from Nintendo will not disappoint you. Overall it is an excellent game. Well done Nintendo!