3D Land is a really good game, and deserves much credit for being the first Mario game to the sensibilities of the original 2D sidescrollers with the 3D format. The way the player is ushered along a more directed path but still give some latitude is a nice synthesis of play styles. The level design itself ranges from pretty darn good to downright amazing, and somehow manages to be fun and engaging even when it's not exactly taxing your skills. Thematically it relies heavily on classic themes that the NSMB series is doing its best to drive into the ground, but somehow the change in format breathes some much needed life into them. So yeah, I'm a fan.
That said, it's not beyond criticism. For starters, the controls have some unpleasant idiosyncrasies. I actually thought the 8 direction controls were a good marriage with the pseudo 2D gameplay, but the run button doesn't make sense with analog imo. I see what they were shooting for, but it's better in theory than execution. The running feels sluggish, and the lag before hitting higher speeds makes certain platforming segments unnecessarily annoying. I'm all for challenge, but there's nothing gratifying about bad response time, or having to run around in circles to build enough momentum to jump on top of a floating box.
Like most modern Mario games it starts off extremely easy and even when it ramps up (too gradually) the difficulty curve just sort of hits a plateau somewhere around the middle worlds and never really progresses any further. The boilerplate response to this is usually "but, second quest!". This aspect of the game is also questionable imo. The overall difficulty of the second "half" of the game is overstated imo. Same with the notion that it doubles the amount of content. Truth be told it's mostly straightforward cut and paste of stuff you've already played, just with further limitations imposed (shadow Mario, timed platforms disappearing faster etc.). Of course, at this point you've already played most of the levels and already know what they entail, meaning they lack the challenge derived from figuring out something new, as well as the novelty.
In many instances it feels like the rehased levels are merely as difficult as they should have been in the first place. "But the final level!" Yes, the final level is actually a real challenge. Just like Galaxy 2. That's cool, but the kErAzY difficult last level is almost a tacit admission that the rest of the game was neutered for "accessibility", or as I like to call it, lack of faith in the audience. Personally, I have a distaste for when "easy" and "accessible" are conflated in game design. Intuitive controls, a thoughtful difficulty curve, and overall fairness (lack of arbitrary or unavoidable obstacles) make a game accessible, not remedial difficulty. Tacking on one hard level for "true fans" is merely throwing a bone, and the schism between the main game and the buried-beneath-overly-repetitive-filler last level is jarring and sadly illustrative of Nintendo well meant but too often clumsy "bridge" approach between casual and core.
Not that any of that negates the inventive layouts, sense of rhythm, and overall sense of happiness that are the results of obvious craft, polish, and attention to detail. For all its flaws the game is probably one of my favorite handheld Mario games, and it's hard to ignore the fact that it outclasses the vast majority of console platformers out there today. Great game, just not as *perfect* as the upper pantheon of Mario game. I'm super excited to see how they expand upon the foundation 3D Land laid with 3D World.
