Super Mario Odyssey certainly lives up to it’s name. My odyssey itself (see what I did there?) is huge with the Mario games but this just blew me away.
Super Mario Odyssey – getting hooked from the start
I went into Odyssey with not much expectation. Yes, I’d seen all the praise and awards it got but it still never grabbed me like other Mario games used to. As soon as I booted up the game, I instantly saw what all the fuss was about and why it shot to the top of my ‘now playing’ list.
Moons outshine the stars
Mario Odyssey is a collect-a-thon. A HUGE one. The game itself is like one giant puzzle inside a ton of different smaller puzzles. Each ‘world’ has ‘Power Moons’, the game’s substitute for stars or shines. But rather than ‘go here, do this, get the reward’, the moons are all available for you to get without going back to a main hub screen (like Peach’s castle in Mario 64), it’s just a case of exploring each world and figuring out how to get to said moon.
Puzzles to keep your mind ticking
Without spoiling too much, say in one level, you climb a pole to the very top for an Assassin’s Creed style look around the world and you see 4 or 5 moons littered about. Your job from there is to almost reverse engineer how to get to that moon, whether it be to walk straight to it, or to try something a bit more unconventional to get to it. Added to the power moon are purple coins. These are similar to the red coins in other Mario games, but they are all hidden about the world ready for you to collect, rather than only appearing under a certain mission.
Between the moons and purple coins, I wandered about Mario Odyssey’s worlds with my mouth agape with each step that I took at the sheer beauty of the game. From your little sidekick Cappy, to the sheer depth of each world, Mario Odyssey leaves a permanent smile on my face whether I have a quick 15 minute playthrough or a long 2-3 hour session. It’s just THAT beautiful, docked or in handheld mode.
A man of many hats.
Speaking of Cappy, your adorable little sidekick, the abilities he gives you make the game feel even fresher than I ever thought possible. While it does seem quite surreal and strange for possession to be in a Mario game, possessing a frog or a certain 4 legged behemoth from a famous movie all about our prehistoric brethren (which I actually cheered in delight for when I first possessed it), the options and solutions you get from Cappy are both endearingly wonderful and badass at the same time.
Star Struck Gaming Rating
Mario Odyssey is one game that I will continue to play for the longest time. It’s one collect-a-thon I WANT to 100%. I WANT to speak to certain characters for help and I WANT to exhaust all of the game’s options it gives you before finally consulting a walkthrough for that ever elusive power moon or purple coin. It’s an Odyssey that I’m proud to be a part of, and the stories that come with it.