Captain Toad'Treasure Tracker - Wii U (Quick Review)
After all those years of helping Mario out, and telling him that Princess Peach is in another castle, Toad finally gets his own adventure.
The game begins with Toad and Toadette climbing up a tower, trying to reach a star. As they get there and Toadette grabs the star, a giant Wingo swoops in and snatches up the star and Toadette, flying off with them into the distance. Your task, as Toad, is to guide yourself through multiple puzzling levels searching for the captured Toadette and star.
What's Good?
- Mini-Game Spinoff. Captain Toad makes his first appearance in Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii, and then later in Super Mario 3D World in a mini game much similar to the gameplay of this game. Toad is limited to only being able to walk and pull up roots from the ground; roots that contain coins for collecting, turnips for throwing at enemies, diamonds also for collecting, and occasionally a special pick-axe you can use to take down obstacles and enemies. It was a lot of fun as a mini-game and makes a great addition to the Mario universe of games as it's own title.
- Completionist Head Scratcher. In each level, not only do you have to navigate to the end and collect the star for each level, there's three diamonds in hiding that you'll have to work to uncover, as well as an extra challenge specific to each level. The extra challenge could be anything from finding a golden mushroom, collecting a minimum number of coins, or sneaking past all enemies without taking any out in combat. As for the diamonds, they're not completely required to be found, but certain points of the story will require you to have a certain number to progress.
What's Bad?
- Far Too Short. Unfortunately, there's no real length to this game. The whole story is broken up into three "big" chapters, with individual levels in between. And they go by fast, despite them growing in difficulty as the game progresses. Even the levels themselves don't take very long, but might seem like they do since Toad is forced to walk the whole route. You can stretch out the time in each level by trying to collect every item and kill every enemy, but it won't stretch it enough.
Is it Worth it?
Despite how upsettingly short this game is, it doesn't hinder the game at all. The level designs are a lot of fun, with the level itself suspended in the middle, and you rotating the camera around to try and discover any hidden nooks and crannies. You can find Captain Toad for around $20 pre-owned, whether you do your hunting at GameStop or in the wild. If you're looking for a lengthy game then this might not be a game for you. However, if you can enjoy it for what it brings you, it is definitely worth it's value.
I keep playing this game in small bursts, I'd say I'm a little over halfway through the story, and I am having so much fun with it. I definitely expect to beat it and then bounce around all the levels completing all the challenges. Or...at least trying to.
What's Next? My next review on this blog is going to be my first review of a PC game called Ebony Spire : Heresy. It's a new indie game, built like an old school, first-person dungeon crawler that I am super excited to get to play. After that, I've got a couple indie titles on the Nintendo Switch lined up to review for you guys!
