05-19-2014, 12:39 AM
Rewatching the footage again, there is something that concerns me about the Smash Run game.
In Kirby Air Ride's City Trial, there were various kinds of competitions that your players would be flung into after the initial city-run power-up-collecting phase. And almost always during the collection phase the players would receive a hint about which game they were going to get, allowing them to get an idea of what stats to focus on increasing. And because they were racing around on a 3D plane in 3rd person, the players could easily spot multiple power-ups from far away and decide which ones were the most practical for them to zero in on, allowing them to focus solely on the stats they deemed most critical to the oncoming competition.
Smash Run, too, appears to have various competitions after the initial power-up run, and likewise offers hints about which type of competition you will be competing in. Ideally this should give you the same ability to focus on powering up specific stats, however there are a couple flaws with this idea.
The main problem is that because you are viewing from a 2D-esque sidescrolling point of view, you are unable to spot power-ups from a distance to help you strategize where to go in your effort to maximize specific stats. You basically are only capable of viewing the objects in your immediate area. Not only that, but the items are mostly dropped by monsters and chests, which spawn them in large clusters. Because of the nature of the game and the fact that the power-ups aren't spread out greatly when they appear, it is easy to jump through the clusters and snag all the power-ups quickly rather than being forced to pick-and-choose and sacrifice the rest so you can race to the next critical power-up.
In short, it doesn't seem like this mode offers a whole lot of strategic preparation. People are just going to snag as many power-ups as they can as they appear, because why take the risk that there might be something better somewhere else when they can't even look around and these are so easy to grab. It seems like everything is going to boil down to luck rather than planning and skill.
There are a couple things they could do to help this issue; however from the looks of the video and available screenshots, it doesn't look like they are doing either.
The first is anti-power-ups. Kirby Air Ride actually had these; greyed-out versions of power-ups that subtract from your stat totals rather than add. This would deter people from just grabbing everything they see and force them to decide (when a power-up is grouped with a power-down) if it is worth getting a specific stat boost when they are going to risk losing a point in another stat.
The second thing would be if the enemy drops were not completely random, but rather based on what type of enemy you defeated. For example, a defense-focused enemy (metools, koopa troopas, etc) would have a higher rate of dropping defense-ups than other power-ups. Enemies that shot projectiles would offer more Arms power-ups, etc etc. This would allow for greater strategy by allowing players to ignore enemies that they feel are not likely to drop items that are relevant to their needs and search for those that are more worth their time.
Unfortunately it doesn't appear that either of these things are actual features which leaves me with the concern that the game mode might not be all that balanced but rather reliant completely on luck.
In Kirby Air Ride's City Trial, there were various kinds of competitions that your players would be flung into after the initial city-run power-up-collecting phase. And almost always during the collection phase the players would receive a hint about which game they were going to get, allowing them to get an idea of what stats to focus on increasing. And because they were racing around on a 3D plane in 3rd person, the players could easily spot multiple power-ups from far away and decide which ones were the most practical for them to zero in on, allowing them to focus solely on the stats they deemed most critical to the oncoming competition.
Smash Run, too, appears to have various competitions after the initial power-up run, and likewise offers hints about which type of competition you will be competing in. Ideally this should give you the same ability to focus on powering up specific stats, however there are a couple flaws with this idea.
The main problem is that because you are viewing from a 2D-esque sidescrolling point of view, you are unable to spot power-ups from a distance to help you strategize where to go in your effort to maximize specific stats. You basically are only capable of viewing the objects in your immediate area. Not only that, but the items are mostly dropped by monsters and chests, which spawn them in large clusters. Because of the nature of the game and the fact that the power-ups aren't spread out greatly when they appear, it is easy to jump through the clusters and snag all the power-ups quickly rather than being forced to pick-and-choose and sacrifice the rest so you can race to the next critical power-up.
In short, it doesn't seem like this mode offers a whole lot of strategic preparation. People are just going to snag as many power-ups as they can as they appear, because why take the risk that there might be something better somewhere else when they can't even look around and these are so easy to grab. It seems like everything is going to boil down to luck rather than planning and skill.
There are a couple things they could do to help this issue; however from the looks of the video and available screenshots, it doesn't look like they are doing either.
The first is anti-power-ups. Kirby Air Ride actually had these; greyed-out versions of power-ups that subtract from your stat totals rather than add. This would deter people from just grabbing everything they see and force them to decide (when a power-up is grouped with a power-down) if it is worth getting a specific stat boost when they are going to risk losing a point in another stat.
The second thing would be if the enemy drops were not completely random, but rather based on what type of enemy you defeated. For example, a defense-focused enemy (metools, koopa troopas, etc) would have a higher rate of dropping defense-ups than other power-ups. Enemies that shot projectiles would offer more Arms power-ups, etc etc. This would allow for greater strategy by allowing players to ignore enemies that they feel are not likely to drop items that are relevant to their needs and search for those that are more worth their time.
Unfortunately it doesn't appear that either of these things are actual features which leaves me with the concern that the game mode might not be all that balanced but rather reliant completely on luck.