Super Mario 3D Land (8.5/10)

The history of Super Mario, Nintendo's famed Italian plumber mascot, is an illustrious one filled with great platforming moments that have defined entire generations of video gaming. Now, with Super Mario 3D Land, the head honchos at Ninty are hoping to finally gain a foothold on their 3DS sales, and given the overall quality of the final product I'd say there's a good chance of that. The plot is as simple as you'd expect- Bowser and his minions steal Princess Peach from Mushroom Castle, and it's your job to rescue her from their clutches. I'd say that keeping to this long established tradition is fine, although I'm beginning to question the approach for its predictable nature after such a storyline has been employed in Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros and more titles very recently. In fact, this brings me onto my main irk with 3D Land- everything feels rather predictable this time around, more so than usual. The game borrows from all twenty six years of Mario's past, bringing back Fire Flowers, Racoon Suits and Music Blocks, but as a result of this there's a real sense of lacking innovation throughout all eight Worlds. It's great to see such classic trademarks of the franchise brought back to life by the developers, yet it is hard to ignore the nagging wonder of whether this series can ever truly move forward on handheld consoles when such a reliance on the past rather than the examples of the present (Rayman Origins, for one) is noticeable in the game. That said, 3D Land is as fun as the franchise has ever been, making complete use of the 3DS' capabilities by using the newfound depth in its puzzles and packing tons of replay value thanks to the inclusion of Luigi and Green Star Coins for a second playthrough. If you want something new and inventive from Nintendo, you might have to wait until the WiiU releases next year, but if you're just looking for a bit of fun this Christmas, then go no further than Super Mario 3D Land.