I've returned to SPM after a few months playing other stuff (Madworld etc), and I have to say I've been really impressed - a lot of it is quite gentle platforming, but there are some quite devious puzzles and mazes thrown in to spice things up...
I think a lot of the criticism of the game is from people who have no attention span whatsoever - the game starts with quite a long bit of story (pressing the 'a' button to read the next bit of dialogue for the first 5 minutes of a game is a strange start to a game, but once past that it picks up)
There's some genuinely funny humour in the game dotted about (the nerd Francis is great, and the digs at people who post negative reviews on games on forums when they haven't actually played it is priceless!)
It's also got elements of RPG and puzzler / adventure games thrown in too, so if you are a fan of the old mario games but with a bit of RPG and puzzling, then you should love SMP.
I've now clocked up nearly 12 hours playtime and am on the last heart (not sure what comes after but I'm sure it isn't just the end battle - feels like there's a fair bit to go as there are still several locked doors that I need to open), so definitely value for money too...
