26th May 2004, 9:03 AM
I got both games last night, so here are some brief impressions:
M v DK
Lots of fun, very similar to DK '94 but with tons of new stuff like a Mario that controls like he did in Mario 64, including some of the moves from that game. I don't really like the visual style. It's like the pre-rendered artwork for Mario 64 meets DKC, but not half as pretty as either. The backgrounds are rather dull and the foreground lacks weight. It would have looked much better in a more flat Mario World-ish style, or all the way like DKC. It's kind of stuck between those two words, in a bad way. The good thing though is that the animation is wonderful, and when you play the game you tend to forget about the blah art style. Very fun game, though I worry that it might end too soon.
Sonic Advance 3
The two character system works a lot better than I thought it would and seems much more natural than it did in Sonic Heroes. There's an actual hub world now which makes things interesting, and I can't wait to explore everything. There are many different ways to beat each level, though I still prefer the level designs from the 16-bit Sonics. I'd rather have one or two great paths in each level than two dozen not-as-great paths in each level. Still, it seems to be the best Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles. You old-school Sonic fans will get a very special treat once you each world 2. I certainly did. :)
Now all Sega needs to do is release a Sonic Genesis compilation for the GBA...
M v DK
Lots of fun, very similar to DK '94 but with tons of new stuff like a Mario that controls like he did in Mario 64, including some of the moves from that game. I don't really like the visual style. It's like the pre-rendered artwork for Mario 64 meets DKC, but not half as pretty as either. The backgrounds are rather dull and the foreground lacks weight. It would have looked much better in a more flat Mario World-ish style, or all the way like DKC. It's kind of stuck between those two words, in a bad way. The good thing though is that the animation is wonderful, and when you play the game you tend to forget about the blah art style. Very fun game, though I worry that it might end too soon.
Sonic Advance 3
The two character system works a lot better than I thought it would and seems much more natural than it did in Sonic Heroes. There's an actual hub world now which makes things interesting, and I can't wait to explore everything. There are many different ways to beat each level, though I still prefer the level designs from the 16-bit Sonics. I'd rather have one or two great paths in each level than two dozen not-as-great paths in each level. Still, it seems to be the best Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles. You old-school Sonic fans will get a very special treat once you each world 2. I certainly did. :)
Now all Sega needs to do is release a Sonic Genesis compilation for the GBA...