Air?Ah, Air. Everyone's favorite classic video game. What? What is that you say? You have never heard of Air before? Well I don't blame you. I just made that first part up :P
So I was looking at Super Mario Bros hacks to play because I was bored. The hacks are sorted in alphabetical order. I started with "Adventures of Ice Mario". I played it for a little while, but I wasn't impressed. I went to the next one on the list. Air. I didn't get any further. Air caught my attention and sucked me in. I didn't need to go any further. I had found the hack that I was looking for.
What is Air?
Air is a hack of Super Mario Bros, as stated above. It is not your typical hack, though. It is not your average Mario platformer. It is almost like a combination of "Super Mario Frustration (forever)" and some kind of puzzle game.
Gameplay:
In this game you have to try to get to the flag pole, just like the original version. Only you have to try to find creative ways to get around objects, think about whether or not you should jump in certain areas, think about whether or not you should get the mushroom to make you bigger, and know the glitches of the game and how to exploit them. It is a very fun game to play, especially if you enjoy puzzles and challenges. I recommend playing it using VBA and not Mednafen, Mednafen makes it laggy and harder to time those key jumps.
Graphics:
It is hard to rate the graphics in a game like this, for multiple reasons. One reason is that the graphics are exactly the same as the original game. They are just your regular, plain old Mario NES graphics. Another reason it is hard to rate is because I don't know if I should rate it based on today's technology or I should rate it based on the NES technology. I decided to give it an 8, because the graphics are good for an NES game. They also have that nostalgic Super Mario Bros feel to them, and enhance the game in my opinion. Even though it looks pixely, it fits the game well.
Sound:
Much like the graphics the sound is difficult to rate, and for the same reasons as the graphics. For an NES game, the sound is great. But if you compare it to modern day PS4 games, then the sound is utter crap. The sound does fit the game though, and even newer Mario games use similar sounds. So I decided to give the sound an 8 for the same reason that I gave the graphics an 8. They are outdated, but they are good for the NES, and they are very nostalgic.
Addictiveness:
Air easily deserves a 10 out of 10 in the addictiveness category. It had me hooked from the start. I kept playing it even though my cousins kept asking me to do things with them. Looking back on that it probably would have been a good idea to hang out with them and not be a jerk, but you get my point. This game will have you hooked! How likely am I to play this game again? Very likely! I will almost definitely play it again, and probably soon. I can't stand not being able to beat certain parts of the game, and I won't rest until I beat all of the levels. Which will probably never happen..... so I might be playing this for a while......
Story:
From what I can tell, there is no story. I did read somewhere that it follows the storyline of some kind of book or movie or something, but you wouldn't be able to tell unless someone told you. Unless you look really deep into it, it is just a fun an challenging Super Mario Bros hack with no story. So that is why I did not give it a rating, despite it actually having a story, supposedly. I'm not sure I buy it.
Depth:
There are 12 levels in this game. 4 worlds with 3 levels in each world. That may not seem like a lot to you, but trust me, it is plenty. This game is so difficult that it will take you a very long time to beat it, assuming that you are able to beat it at all. So while there may not be many levels in the game, it takes a lot of time to complete, which gives it a lot of depth in my opinion. It also does have some replay value, since some levels have multiple ways to complete if you can find different tricks and glitches.
Difficulty:
Holy cow is this game difficult! This is one of the hardest games that I have ever played on Vizzed. There are so many things that you have to do exactly right to win. For example, there is one part where you need to get a mushroom. So you jump to a box thing and a mushroom comes out. Most people jump to get the mushroom. But if you jump to get the mushroom, you hit an invisible box and trap the mushroom up there. You are then trapped and cannot beat the level. You need to wait for the mushroom to come down to you. There are tons of little things like this thrown in throughout the game. It is also super hard to get past certain obstacles, and you need to time it perfectly in order to get passed. The hardest part of all, in my opinion, is that you have to know certain glitches in order to get passed certain parts. For example, you could be stuck between 2 walls with nowhere to go, but you can actually jump through one of the blocks in the ceiling. But you never know what blocks you can jump through. There are tons of confusing things like that. It is like the creator made it so that only he can win. And to make it even worse, you only have one life. So if you mess up just once, you have to start all over. Use of save states is recommended.
Air is one of the hardest and most challenging games on Vizzed, and also one of the most fun and most addictive. It is guaranteed to make you frustrated, but you will not want to stop playing. The graphics and sound are no different than the original Super Mario Bros, and are very good for an NES game. This game is apparently based off of a book or a movie or something, but you really can't tell unless someone told you. It really does seem like it has a story, but it doesn't need to have a story to be a good game. There are only 12 levels in the game, but it will take you quite a while to beat all 12. Assuming that you are able to, that is. This is an insanely difficult game, and is recommended only to people that like a challenge.
Thanks for reading my review! I hope you liked it and I hope I informed you about Air. If you try the game, let me know if you like it! Also, let me know what you think of my review. If you liked it be sure to go to the Air game page and rate it! Well that's it. Thanks for reading and see you next time!
Graphics
8 Sound
8 Addictive
10 Depth
8 Difficulty
10