Does Super Mario Run live up to its name?

While it is fun, it has drawbacks

Jade Duncan, Mass Media

The highly anticipated Super Mario Run was released on December 15, 2016 for iOS users. Being a fan of Mario, I downloaded it immediately to see if it was as great as they had told us it be.
When you first open the app, it has the theme song, which is nice and brings back all those good memories of the old Mario. Then it goes into the options where you select which country you’re from, language, etc.
Once you get past all of that, then you start actually playing. It walks you through the tutorial on how to jump, dodge enemies, amongst other things. Once you get through the tutorial then you play on your own. The worlds are named like normal Mario games (i.e. 1-1). There are four levels in each world and to me the levels don’t last that long.
Now, the first thing that I am going to have to pick on is the fact that after you play the first three levels in world one, you have to pay to continue playing, like you can’t even play the boss level of world one. Now, I wouldn’t haven’t been that mad if they had advertised it that you would have to pay to play the other worlds and levels.
The amount of money they are asking for I think is a fair price, my issue lies with the lack of advertising that you are going to charge people that amount to play the other levels before they waste time and download the game.
Secondly, you can only go one way, you can’t turn back around to collect power-up and coins that you missed, which stinks. This does add to the replay-ability though as you have to replay each level to get all of the pink coins spread throughout the levels. As well as the secret, hidden black coins.
Another minor problem I had was the fact that Mario automatically dodges enemies. I guess I’m used to being in control and taking action, not the console or in this scenario the phone. Hopefully though, that is something that could be improved as more us as the players having control over movements and less of it being automatic.
On a positive note though, I do like the Toad Rally part in the game. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a game within the game where you race against other people around the world racing each other trying to win in order to get more toads to join your kingdom.If you don’t want to pay the ten dollars you could just keep playing Toad Rally and hopefully win Toads and get them to join your kingdom and allow you to unlock new buildings and decorations.
For me, Super Mario Run for iOS was enjoyable, but truthfully I will probably end up deleting it because I will not be paying the ten dollar fee for the other worlds. I would recommend this game though just to try out and have a little fun with the levels they offer and toad rally. On the other hand, if you have the money to put out for this game, it is a fun, solid, portable Mario experience that brings back classic memories of Mario’s earlier adventures on consoles and handhelds.