Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
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Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars Media
Critic Reviews for Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
The amount of content in Mario vs Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars is great, but its lack of new ideas isn't.
And as a game in its own right? You can't accuse it of being short on content, features or ideas, but it's hardly long on them either, and it's a shade overpriced for what it is. Perhaps worse, you can tell that Tipping Stars is a game made with care but without passion, a game that isn't its own raison d'�tre. Like the little clockwork Marios marching toward their goal, it's got purpose, but it's not the real, joyful thing.
Mario vs Donkey Kong remains a compelling concept and series veterans will find more of the same brilliant puzzling. It's a particularly good fit for 3DS
A disappointingly familiar entry in the long-running puzzle series, that comes across as very cheap (in terms of production values, if not price) but not particularly cheerful.
By trimming the fat and focusing on solid puzzle gameplay, Nintendo turns in another good entry. Some fans, however, may be disappointed in the lack of new trinkets to play with
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars takes too long before it truly tickles your brain.
But hey, for what they were building, Tipping Stars does a lot of things right. My time was spent primarily on the 3DS version, but both look fantastic on their respective screens and play just as well. Some of the puzzles caught me offguard at first, but the challenge level is never overwhelming. It's just the right amount of challenge. The layouts could have probably used more diversity, but the backdrops help to alleviate any possible staleness going into later levels. The whole package is just… nice. Pleasant.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars is not bad. It is essentially Mini-Land Mayhem! with visual and technical upgrades. It never instills any sense of wonder or accomplishment, and it often feels more like work than play. It's a very paint-by-numbers affair; for a puzzle game it doesn't actually require much thinking, only doing. It is a game that exists, and that's about as much as there is to say about it.
