Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is a strange package, offering a seven-year-old Wii U title and a newly-developed expansion that feels almost antithetical to the game that provides its basis. In a way, this makes it a compelling oddity, as you switch freely between the past and a potential vision of Mario's future.
Often acclaimed as one of the Wii U's finest hours, 3D World is a solid marriage of 2D and 3D Mario's distinct styles that, unfortunately, finds scant fresh ground in its splicing of the old. It comes across as a dutiful and eminently playable history lesson, though its baby-steps approach to change makes it feel every day as old as its seven years – and then some.
Take its camera, for instance, which provides only the most basic control over how you view your surroundings. It's a fine idea by itself, as each level becomes a tightly-controlled diorama of sorts to venture through, fit with plenty of well-hidden secrets on the periphery. However, in straddling the line between 2D and 3D Mario, it never quite nails either style.
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