By Robert Dolen

A joyful celebration of three-dimensional Mario above and beyond what could’ve been expected, “Super Mario Odyssey” is energetic and full of surprise both before and after the credits roll. It’s a contender for masterpiece-level game design in creating a less challenging, yet more fun experience despite its minor flaws.

Mario’s newest adventure begins and ends like every other Mario game in existence: Peach gets captured, Mario has to collect a bunch of “Power Moons” to power his airship and Bowser has to be defeated to save the princess. It’s always about the experiences in between the major plot that sum up a proper Mario game, which “Odyssey” masterfully enhances.

This time around, Mario’s adventure spares no expense in keeping the player engrossed in the moment. There’s very little downtime at any point throughout the play through, encouraging players to truly experience the game at their own pace however they want to play.

The worlds in “Odyssey” have never felt more alive than in any other Mario game to date. The introduction of the anthropomorphic hat “Cappy,” Mario’s newest sidekick, allows Mario to transform into virtually any character or object in the game and use it to his advantage. Despite the simplicity of the concept, the transformation mechanic goes a long way in presenting unique and inventive methods of traversal and puzzle solving.

You can transform into things ranging from a battle tank to a Tyrannosaurus Rex; the possibilities are seemingly endless, and the worlds are there to provide these avenues of immense variety.

Nintendo has opted for a more open-world, sandbox-like design for “Odyssey’s” locales, but every inch of each world feels important upon closer inspection. No space feels underutilized because of the attention to detail throughout every nook and cranny. No matter where you go, there’s always a surprise of some kind lying in wait for players to discover.

You could be well on your way to defeating the boss in the Sand Kingdom, but get distracted by a sphinx on the wall which then asks Mario to solve his riddle, only to reveal a deeper puzzle within the desert ruins. You could transform into an extending caterpillar to catch that hard-to-reach Moon across a river. Sometimes you might even stumble upon a pixel art pipe, which propels Mario into 2D mini-puzzles/levels reminiscent of the classic Super Mario stages from the original games.

It’s the little things you notice when exploring the worlds in “Odyssey” that give way to an expansive game experience. Players are encouraged to explore all areas head-to-toe with an inherent curiosity.

Cappy’s versatility paired with Mario’s agility makes exploring these worlds exhilarating. Controlling Mario in “Odyssey” is a perfect measure in “easy to learn, hard to master” platforming that allows the player to navigate the environments presented to them in a relatively easy yet satisfying manner.

The game provides players with all of Mario’s and Cappy’s acrobatic abilities at the outset, meaning you theoretically have all the proper tools to navigate the world immediately. At very few points in the game is the player limited to only navigate a certain way, and even then it only encourages the ideal option, not all options.

Movement transforms into a test of ingenuity; levels, puzzles and other forms of platforming can be tackled in any way possible to give players unique options for every scenario.

There are some gripes to be had when playing “Odyssey” though. An unfortunate problem that pops up in every 3D Mario game is the camera. Often times the positioning of the camera in 3D spaces becomes stiff or awkward, leading to moments where you might not be able to see everything around you.

One other thing to mention is that the overall difficulty in the game can often be underwhelming. Boss fights often end in just 2-3 good hits without much variety in between. This just barely detracts from the massive experience, but is disappointing considering the attention to detail in every other aspect of the game.

“Odyssey” certainly stands out as one of the exemplary games of 2017, and although it is not perfect, it’s an experience rife with evocative joy guaranteed to leave players smiling throughout.