Is Mario's latest outing truly golden, or is it no more than bad debt to your wallet?
If you've played any number of games in the Mario series, you will probably be starting to get sick of the same old story - Peach is kidnapped and Mario goes to save her. I am sorry to report that New Super Mario Bros. 2 is no different. You'd think that by the 16th game in the series the story will have changed. But no. Another frustrating thing is the "New" formula - it's the third game for goodness sake! However, that there is more to the story. Unlike other games in the series, except for maybe Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins,New Super Mario Bros. 2 is all about the coins. And when I say coins, I mean coins! As a matter of fact, you can collect over a million coins!
Aside from coins filling the various levels, there are some new power-ups which assist you with your coin collecting. Gold flowers let you shoot out gold fireballs, which turns everything it touches into coins. Coin Blocks give you coins every time you walk, run or jump. There are also gold rings, which turn enemies to gold for a limited amount of time. You will get extra coins for jumping on these golden enemies. Making a return are the Mushroom, Fire Flower and Invincibility Star power-ups, as well as the Tanooki Tail, which now allows you to fly. There is also the Golden Tanooki Tail, which makes you invincible, and can only be collected after dying in one level a certain amount of times.
The world map and world structure from New Super Mario Bros. remains almost unchanged. There are nine worlds in total - 6 main worlds, 2 bonus worlds unlocked through secret exits and 1 bonus world unlocked after completing the main 6. Each world has a tower and a castle level, and in the later levels a ghost house as well. Each world also has a theme - World 2, for example, is based in the desert, while World 5 is based around levels set in the sky. Each level also has three star coins, which make a return from previous games. They are generally found within secret areas accessible via pipes. The levels are designed really well, however it is more of what we've seen before so it feels a bit old in some cases.
Aside from the main story mode, there is also 2 player co-op and Coin Rush, which sees you given three random levels and one life, with the objective of getting the most amount of coins. It's a big mix of risk and reward. Your high score will then be set as your StreetPass record, which can be beaten by other 3DS owners when they walk past you in real life. It's quite a fun challenge trying to get the best score and not dying in the process. Unfortunately I can't deliver my views on multiplayer co-op as I haven't had a chance to play it, however it seems to be a bit crowded, judging by videos from YouTube.
The 3D isn't really much that good, to be honest. Sure, it's a 2D platformer, but you'd think they would try and make the 3D aspect worthwhile. Maybe New Super Mario Bros. 2 would be more well suited to the DS instead, I don't know. It also doesn't utilise the inbuilt accelerometer, which could be used to enhance gameplay.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a bit of a mixed bag. It has some great level designs, but they all seem too familiar. The power-ups may help with your coin total, but the reward for completing the 1,000,000 coin total really sucks. It is definitely not the worst Mario title there is, but there are better ones out there. I'd recommend Super Mario 3D Land for a better experience.
Source:
http://www.nintendonation.net/2012/09/new-super-mario-bros-2-review.html