The sky is falling! Women and children first! A Mario game receives a low score! Yes, it's true folks. I did not like this game. Now, before you go about getting your trousers in a twist, I understand some people out there may enjoy this game. In fact, I could have enjoyed this game. I should have enjoyed this game. But the simple fact of it is: I didn't. And I'll tell you why.

But first, the setup. (Insert classic Mario storyline here) For those who don't know, that means Peach is kidnapped by Bowser by encasing her in a ball and shooting her off to his castle. Mario gets shoved inside of a ball to give chase. Why this is a necessity, I have no idea. The result is your standard Mario quest of defeating enemies to collect stars and using those stars to unlock the next arena door. While in the form of a pinball.

See, it sounds great, doesn't it? An excuse for a new type of Mario game. And it is most definitely a Mario game. The power ups, the enemies, the sound effects and music; all is distinctly Mario. And the graphics are fantastic. Everything appears crisp and clean on the screen, even when things get hectic, with Marioball careening around the table/iceworld/sandworld/whatever world you happen to inhabit, the denizens of said world getting blown to starry bits when hit by the mustachioed ball of plumber.

So why the harsh score? If this stays true to the Mario formula, and it looks and sounds great, why aren't I extolling its praises? There's one thing that the developers didn't really think about, if you want to know my opinion, which I assume you do since you're reading this review. They didn't think that the world of Mario and the world of pinball don't really mesh well together. Think about it. Mario's quest is about collecting a singular item called Stars, and these only appear onscreen one at a time. You must hit them exactly with the Marioball in order to pick them up. And they are usually timed. See the problem here? The collection aspect of Mario does not fuse well with the fast paced action that is pinball. First you must make the star appear by accomplishing some task on the level. This good be hitting switches, enemies, what have you. But they all involve scoring precision shots, usually in quick succession. And then once the star appears you have to collect it, which requires another precise shot. If you fail to collect the star or complete the rapid succession moves, you must start over. This, needless to say, leads to a lot of repetition, and just for one star.

Each "table," each standard Mario world, has doors with Star values on it. If you hit them when you have enough stars, you will unlock the door and advance to the next "world." If, however, you lose the ball like you would in a game of pinball, Mario will get chucked back through the door to the world he was in previously, and the door closes again. Usually this world has nothing more to offer you, so you are forced to once again hit the door twice in order to advance to the next level. Again, more needless repetition. And pinball is already a game about repetition! The game is one long exercise in repeating the same move you had to before in order to advance two steps to take one step back. If Mario is a game about progressing through numbered doors, it just doesn't make much sense.

The game graphics look amazing. The one thing I don't get is why Nintendo decided to make a Mario game like this. I mean it just get more annoying to get the stuff you need or completing the objectives. Great review on this game too.

I never thought I'd see the day that Mario and Pinball would ever become one. I mean, who ever thought of THIS ever being created? I know Mario has many other mashups, but Pinball? That's pretty ridiculous.

pacman1755 : You seem to have a point. This, though, is really the only Mario mash up I like.