Super Mario 3D Land

One of the things that I liked about this game is that it wasn't easy. When I first learned that the bosses were repetitive (you fight the same ones over and over), I thought maybe that might be a bit monotonous for a game in 2012. That wasn't the case, and there's a major twist at the end of the game when you defeat Bowser that really threw me for a loop. 

If you're one of those gamers that tends to beat a game in a few days, this won't be one of those games. This game took me weeks of playing to get to the final levels, and I still haven't fully beat the game. Let's just say that the twist I referred to earlier drives up the difficulty level considerably. 

For a return on investment of cash spent, I'd say I spent my money wisely. I played this game quite a bit, and now that I'm writing this, I want to go play it again, even though I have other games I haven't even opened yet. Even pros that have mastered most Mario games will find this challenging, especially the later levels where you encounter Mario's evil "Cosmic Twin." 

You've been warned. After defeating World 8, you'll have to defeat 8 entirely new levels (well, they are reminiscent of the first 8 in design). These are far more difficult than the first eight, and actually make them look like child's play. In the second half, you'll face tough time limits, tougher enemies, and the persistent, mimicking "Cosmic Twin" evil Mario, which was seen in the Mario Galaxy games. You'll also have a much tougher time finding the hidden star coins for these levels. You may just resort to Googling the walkthroughs for the star coins on YouTube (I know I did!). Even after several attempts, I haven't found all of the star coins in this game, which adds a whole new challenge even after you've completed the game.