Dr. Mario Online Rx Review

Mario has been everything at one point in his career. There aren’t many jobs he can say he hasn’t done. Probably his most famous, though, after being a plumber is his role as a doctor. Mind you, he’s not a doctor that I would ever want to go to, at least not to get cured from any disease.

Dr. Mario Online Rx is the newest game in the Dr. Mario franchise and doesn’t change much up. The formula, no pun intended, has not changed since the beginning. You’re given a playfield with a number of viruses that need to be busted. The way to do this is by throwing pills into the bottle they inhabit. These pills are the same color as the viruses and by matching three parts of pills with the virus you eliminate it. The pills are split into two pieces, which will be one solid color or made up of multiple colors. That’s basically it, and like Tetris if the pills reach the top of the bottle it’s lights out.

The game can be played with the Wii Remote on its side, a GameCube controller, classic controller or with the Nunchuk by itself. The D-pad controls the direction of the virus and the buttons flip it 90 degrees in one direction. The simplicity of the controls mixed with the complexity of the later levels is what has given this game the appeal it’s had for so long. The early levels start out with just a handful of viruses, but as you go further into the game more and more are added until eventually most of the bottle is filled up and it becomes very hard to move the pills around.

There are a number of different options for playing the game, though. You can choose from one of three different speeds as well as the level that you want to start from. In that sense you can make the game as easy or as difficult as you like, but by playing more the game becomes more and more challenging. You also have multiplayer options against either the computer or a human opponent. You can play a simple game where you just clear the board as fast as you can, or you can play a mode where a specific virus is flashing and the goal of the game is to be the first to remove that virus. These options can be set for each player so experienced players can add more viruses to their battle while less experienced players can play with fewer. This levels the playing field enough to make the game fun for everyone involved.

The newest mode of the game is called “Virus Buster” and takes advantage of the Wii Remote’s pointer functionality. In this game you play in a zoomed in version of the bottle and you’ll have fewer viruses to deal with. To move the viruses you point at them and can then move them in any direction. This will allow you to place them where you want more quickly and you will sometimes have multiple viruses falling at once. Once they lock into place if part of the virus does not have anything under it, that will begin to fall and you can then take that partial piece and move it around, adding another layer of strategy to an already immensely fun game. You can have up to four people playing together on one play field in this mode and co-operation will be the key to successfully healing your “patient”. For those who are fans of Nintendo’s Mii’s you now have the option to “play” as your Mii rather than Mario.

The music is as catchy as ever. The same tunes you’ve been listening to since the beginning are back and are slightly enhanced to take advantage of the new platform. There are two new songs that have been created for this game, but they aren’t as good as the classics and you’ll probably find yourself sticking with the ones you already know.

All of the modes in the game can be played locally or online using Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection and your game’s friend code. You can play with people already on your friend’s list or randomly against people around the world. The process is simple and doesn’t take very long to find people if they are out there looking for a game as well. There are some pre-set phrases that you can use to communicate with each other, but they’re pretty basic and you won’t be having any kind of conversation with them. If you have a friend who doesn’t have the game, but you want to play with them there is a “demo” mode that you can gift to people that will allow them to play online with you without having the full version of the game. This gives you the ability to share the game with people on your friends list, giving you that many more options for people to play against. They will not have access to the single player portion of the game, but will be able to play against people online, as they get their own friend code that can then be given out.

Dr. Mario has been around for a very long time. He hasn’t changed much, but as mama always said, “When something ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If you’re a fan of Dr. Mario and you’re looking for another platform to get your viral fix, this is definitely worth picking up and if you have friends in other cities that you’ve been dieing to play against, now is the chance as you can give them a “copy” of the game as well. The gameplay is as solid as ever. You may find you enjoy the Virus Buster version of the game even more than the traditional one, so that might be another reason to pick it up. For puzzle games there are very few that match up to the quality of Dr. Mario and it’s the perfect prescription for fun.

Final Score: 4/5