Super Mario Galaxy

The Good
I don't even know how to begin to approach describing what it is I like about Super Mario Galaxy. The controls are spot-on, the visuals are beautiful, and it is every bit as great as I hoped it could be. The "planet-hopping" mechanic is a nice bit of innovation, and the worlds are diverse enough that you never feel like you're being forced to do the same old chore a million times.

On top of all that, it's really a 1.5 player game, in as much as you can have a second player help you by collecting star bits and holding enemies at bay. If you have a bored spouse, or an interested youngster (and I have both), this is a great way to get them involved, keep them entertained, and actually make the game that much more enjoyable.

There are lots of other little goodies to gush about, but alas, you'll have to find out for yourselves. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I threw any spoilers in here.

The Bad
There's not a huge lot to detract from the experience here, but it's certainly not a "perfect" game (such a thing does not exist). The biggest offender is the camera which, while ostensibly controllable, is really fixed for the the most part. Since it's usually exactly where it needs to be, this isn't a huge issue, but you will find yourself in a level where you need to be able to see a certain area, and you need to find just the right spot to stand where the game will allow you to turn the camera.

Beyond that, it's worth at least mentioning that people who are prone to motion sickness may have a little difficulty with the controls and camera movements. The game employs a very Little Prince-esque system where you can walk around upside-down on the bottom of most levels and, for my wife at least, it can be jarring from time to time.

The Bottom Line
In one of his initial announcements, good ol' Reggie Fils-Aime referred to Super Mario Galaxy as the first true successor to Mario 64. Open snub to Sunshine aside, I can't argue with the statement, as Galaxy serves much the same purpose that 64 did. Namely, it proves that a fairly unorthodox console, in this case, the Wii, can provide a robust and fulfilling gaming experience.

Also, it's just about as much fun as you can have with a game.

If you own a Wii, and you don't own this game, you are doing yourself a great disservice. Sell whatever organs you have to and pick it up today.

The Good
The game is beautiful, the worlds are huge, it makes the game look like something on a Xbox 360, and that's a huge achievement. The control is easy to learn and very tight. There are different gameplay mechanics included through out the game, weather its riding on a manta ray or balancing on top of a ball through a obstacle course. The soundtrack is amazing, all the music was composed by a symphony, with some sci-fi sound thrown in in a few levels. it just amazing. The bosses are huge and have a unique design to them, ranging from the dino piranha to Bowser himself. The game is very long, there's plenty of replay value, with 121 stars to collect with both Mario and Luigi, you will be playing for a long time. The co-op mode is fun, as the second player can help you but also affect your progress through the game.

The Bad
There's barely anything bad about this game. Its awesome in every way. Its just a little too easy, but that's a small complaint.

The Bottom Line
Get it. Its worth every penny. This game proves the Wii is capable of making games as good as the other next-gen systems without the powerful hardware. its amazing.

The Good
Super Mario Galaxy is, like earlier games before it, made with compassion and attention to every little detail. This game just breathes all the love that went into making it, in almost every way!

This game starts pretty familiar, Mario visits one of Princess Peach's parties when Bowser appears. Bowser kidnaps the princess and takes her into space, blowing Mario to the stars while doing so.

And that's on of the things that set SMG apart from earlier games: It's in space! This allowed the designers to try out new concepts that make for very innovative and interesting new levels

Each of these levels is a galaxy that consists of several celestial bodies. It's that mechanic that makes the levels so great, because it allows for an awesome concept that few games have experimented with: multiple gravity fields !

Each celestial body has it's own gravity field. This means that Mario can sometimes literally jump from one planet to another. It happens often that when you reach the edge of a platform you can simply run onto the other side, effectively making Mario run underneath a platform upside-down. Another interesting object is the pull star, simply point the Wii remote's cursor on it and press and hold the A button to activate the gravity field, pulling Mario towards it. At some points in the game, entire courses are made around this concept. Finally, an important thing to note are the launch stars. These launch Mario towards certain Planets or even whole Galaxies, and are the main means of traversing the Galaxies when you can't simply jump towards the next planet of platform.

They are operated by performing the new Spin Attack. This move is performed by simply shaking the controller. You can also use it to attack, break objects and many more things. Simple, but oh so effective!

The other thing that makes this game a masterpiece, is it's diversity. This game succeeds not only flawlessly at feeling both fresh and familiar but also does it in a balanced way. All the familiar themes are there: from Super Mario Bros.' green fields and Super Mario Bros. 3's deserts and airships to the haunted mansions of Super Mario World and the marine levels seen in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. There are also a lot of new themes such as beehive galaxies, toy galaxies and space station galaxies.

Not just the themes are diverse, the gameplay is too. While some concepts are totally unique, like the ones I mentioned earlier, familiar platform jumping is still a big part of the game, too. These area's usually have black holes pulling you towards them, preventing you form walking on the opposite side of the planet. This results in more familiar gameplay. There is still a good deal of levels that rely on more traditional gameplay such as collecting coins and defeating old-fashioned enmies such as Koopas, Bullet Bills, chain Chomps and Goombas. Even old NES-style sidescrolling sequences are in SMG. Some new power-ups have been added such as a Ghost suit (go through walls) and a Bee Suit (flying power) while being complemented with familiar powers such as Fire Mario.

The main object started in Super Mario 64 about a decade before this game is still intact. Each level has some stars to collect. All levels are collected by a hub world, a space observatory in this game. The more you have, the more levels you can access. Get 60 to open up Bowser's final lair, and defeat him, which is not too difficult, then aim for collecting all 120 stars which is the real challenge.

All the main Mario characters return, such as Peach, Luigi and Toad. There is also a new character called Rosalina, which is a beautifully designed character. She's very much like a fairy-tale being. She looks after the Lumas, star-shaped creatures who grow up into becoming new worlds.

That actually happens now and then when you feed them Star Bits. These colorful meteorite rocks are all over and can be collected by simply pointing at them with the Wii Remote. If you feed them to the Lumas they will transform into launch stars or planets so you can reach new areas. You can even shoot them to attack enemies. This makes the Wii remote actually surprisingly useful in a platform game and adds another layer of innovation.

I could go on for hours about how awesome and diverse the gameplay is, but you'd better just find it out for yourself. This game has something for everyone, both younger and more experienced gamers.

Then there's the graphics. This game really is the first game that uses the Wii's full graphical potential. It's easily the best looking Wii game with advanced lighting effects that really fit the celestial theme nicely. Each world is presented in a different colorful style that's always nice to look at. There is no sign of dropping frame-rates. 480p and 16:9 wide-screen is supported.

The music is just as great. From classic Mario tunes to a majestic waltz and from rock to dramatic classical tunes. And to make it better, it's all fully orchestrated! Everything is complemented with Mario's familiar screams and yelps and some positively old-school sound effects.

With 120 stars to collect, accomplishments that can be shared with WiiConnect24 and lots of things to see and do, you won't have to worry about the replay value here. And this game is so awesome you'll want to go trough it again, anyway.

The Bad
Shaking the Wii controller around for the spin attack all the time may get slightly irritating after a while.

The Bottom Line
A game with a diversity unmatched by any platform game and as good of a balance of old and new concepts as you can possibly desire. There's something in there for young and old. One may argue that Super Mario Galaxy is a bit less revolutionary than its predecessors, but there is no denying that it's definitely the most sophisticated Mario game, as well as the most sophisticated platform game in general!

The Good
I have nothing against Italian people. In fact, I think I really like Italians. I mean: they have really smoking hot women, excellent food, a long and fascinating history, and I enjoy the works of Dario Argento, and Federico Fellini. I just thought that it was a funny one-liner. So please, no hate mail as I already have an inbox full of it already.

So, I finally got a Wii. I knew the first game I had to get was Super Mario Galaxy. So this is my first Wii review. Are you as excited as me? No? Well that’s just because you are an assh…..I mean on to my review!

Like many gamers I grew up playing Mario games, and many other plat-formers. Even now as an adult I still enjoy them every now and again. There is just something fascinating to me about a game that is fun whether you are 8 or 80.(Unlike some callous gamers, I do not think that Mario games are just for certain age groups.-MM-)

In Mario’s latest adventure, we find that the Mushroom Kingdom, is celebrating the Star Festival. When the stars are out in full twilight, and magical Star-bits fall from the sky. Our fearless hero is invited to the castle, for a private party with the Princess.(Possibly for some backdoor action.-MM-) When, gasp! Bowser attacks, and Princess Peach, and her entire castle are spirited away. Mario gives chase, but cannot catch up. He is then sucked into space. He eventually ends up on a Space Station, where he meets the mysterious Rosalina. She offers him a Quid Pro Quo, help recover enough Power Stars, 60 total, and the Station will be powered up, allowing Mario to fly to the center of the galaxy and rescue The Princess….again.

Of course, this a Mario game. So completionists, can score all 120 Power Stars. I ended the game with 64 or so.(However, I am going to try and get them all.-MM-) There are also special Stars to collect. Red, and green. Red allows Mario to fly, while green opens up a new area to explore, or “galaxy”. There are also many other secrets. What’s a Mario game without them? Eventually, Luigi, and the toads, will help Mario find some of the “hidden” stars. Mario will be on his own for the rest.

There are many Galaxies to explore, and many of Mario’s old super powers return. Starman and Firepower. As well as new ones, Boo Mario, and Ice Mario. He will also fight old foes, goombas, boo’s, and green and red turtles.

The boss fights are much better. Now you do not repeat the same fights over and over again. Like in some Mario titles. Like Super Mario 64. The stages or, “Dark Star Reactors”. Are always different as well. Some times you will battle a big baddie. Other times it will be Baby Bowser, and yet other times it will be the big dingus himself: King Bowser.

Don’t be scared by the Wii Remote and Nunchuck. Once you learn how to use it, you will find that it is second nature. And Mario Galaxy is a good game to start with, as the learning curve is low.

The graphics are very good. And while it’s no: Xbox 360, high-end PC, or even Playstation 3. It still looks good. Better yet it looks good either in SD or HD. Unlike many Jap games for the other two consoles. One of the only other Wii games, that looks this good is Sonic: And The Secret Rings.

The music is quite nice, from the spacey themes, to the remixes of familiar old tracks. The sound effects are much what you would come to expect from a Mario game, love it or hate it. There is minimal voice acting. Which sucks, but the little that there is sounds good.

The Bad
This game is very easy. Much more so than Mario 64, or Super Mario Sunshine. Some levels do offer a challenge, but most of these can be skipped. On the plus side, it is better than getting stuck in the game and getting frustrated.

Some of the new powers are dubious. Like Bee Mario, for example.

My mushroom kingdom for full voice acting! Since Nintendo usually hires quality voice over people, would it kill them to have more of it?

The Bottom Line
I was skeptical. Epically after the let down of Super Mario Sunshine. Don’t be, Super Mario Galaxy, is a fine example of how Nintendo has still got it, even after all these years. And is a great game for those new to the Wii.

The Good
Now that some of the glitter-dust has faded, and Mario Galaxy has had time to be played (and played again) in isolation of the heavy promotion and media hype, I think now is a good time to see what this games impact has really been. Also, can Mario Galaxy really give players what they’ve been thirsting for; a worthy sequel to everybody’s revered favourite?

On boot-up of the game, we see that the promoted space-theme is only suggested at, and, after selecting a Mii for our game-save file, we take hold of the Wiimote and nunchuk and begin on the mission of finding and rescuing Princess Peach. Bowser, in his infinite stubbornness and admirable determination, has managed to seize her again for his own ends. This segment is probably one of the more disturbing scenes ever shown inside the Mushroom Kingdom. The grounds outside the Castle look like they’ve been fire-bombed – smoke, debris and lifeless toad-characters litter the landscape. Mario, you enter late and are given proper motivation for tracking the Koopa-King down one more time.

‘Galaxy introduces us to Rosalina, a beautifully designed character dressed in a jade-coloured slip-over. Her blonde fringe covers one eye, and she exudes a class that no other from the Mushroom Kingdom has. She has a manner that is both motherly (she is often referred to as “Mamma”) and almost goddess-like. Already, we see that these character ingredients and designs have been escalated to higher realms than has been in any other prequel – could the game play follow this trend also?

The presentation is second-to-none. There is an inert, world-class crispness to all of the audio and vision. No expense has been spared, and I’m sure that any criticism made to any of the game ingredients can only be chalked up to a difference in taste, not in technicality. This is the first time that I’ve really believed that players on other systems are truly missing out. Sure, Halo 3 is an X360 title only, and Gran Turismo 5 a PS3 exclusive, but when playing Mario Galaxy, you really feel that this experience will never be duplicated, even by Nintendo themselves. It is a vision of game play that cannot be re-packaged or re-mixed or improved on, any more than you can improve on Michelangelo’s David. (And no, I’m not equating this video game to that masterpiece, only its technical prowess, integrity and uncompromising vision). The inevitability of a Halo 4, Gran Turismo 6 is there for any gamer to sense – the inevitability of a Mario game of this ilk is vanishingly small. That is what makes this title special – its own uniqueness come across from Star Collection No. 1, and you are not led into believing that this is Super Mario Galaxy v0.95.

This game is the ultimate Mario experience is because it balances its key elements superbly. The mix of game play styles, the challenging yet intricate controls, the constantly shifting objectives all make this game a true pleasure to play through. No longer are re-visiting areas and re-treading paths with only a marginally different star location. ‘Galaxy has you visiting mini-world, figuring out how to get off them in any number of ingenious ways, all while executing the most smooth move system I’ve ever encountered. The camera, now an auto-shifting masterpiece, helps you navigate the true third-dimension like never before.

Again, the one thing this game exudes is charm. The “hardcore” gamer cares not for charm, and would only sneer at shell-surfing penguin, or a bee with a case of the itches. As quirky-for-quirkys sake as this may sound, it really is one of the core ingredients that make this game such a pleasure to play. So yes, the hardcore gamer may find these things repellent, but I would argue that no hardcore gamer should be without this title. I believe that a true hardcore gamer is interested in all of what gaming may offer, not just that disproportionably represented and aging first-person-shooter sub-genre, or that equally distorted portrayal of MMORPG sub-genre. A “hardcore” gamer should be looking for games that improve and progress gaming experiences, regardless of genre. Their interest should know no-bounds, and care not of company loyalties, only of gamer-loyalty. In this sense, ‘Galaxy is as loyal as Golden Retriever. The whole thing is geared for fun while pushing gaming to a new height. It shares this honour with a very small list of titles.

The Bad
The only thing that got annoying was the routine that you undergo after acquiring a star. The many fan-fares, the pattern of sound-effects, and the save option become a habit that is decidedly irritating (that is, after the sixtieth or so star pickup).

The Bottom Line
So ‘Galaxy improves on it’s predecessors in every single way. I cannot think of one area where this game failed in that regard. The graphics, the presentation, the sound, the controls, the last-ability, the vision, the heart, the passion, the direction are all superior to that other Mario title. And, they are all superior to any other game in this (increasingly mutating) genre. The other Mario game, the one that is on everybody's 5-star list, has now been dethroned, and this time they didn’t need to add a dimension, just explore it to the fullest.

The Good
All in all, fans tend to let Nintendo get away with a lot of shit. For any proof all you need to do is look at the empty Super Mario Sunshine box sitting at the bottom of any gamer’s collection. The prodigal think tank over in Japan thought they could pass of cleaning up rainbow colored slime the consistency of diarrhea as having some sort of entertainment value. Granted, while the game did have its highs and lows, our exploration into the wonders of irritable bowel syndrome wasn’t exactly my cup o’ tea. However, fanboy logic is a much more alien form of logic than other humans’, and while any other company would have been punished vehemently for such an atrocity, Nintendo knows that they’re holding the whip in this situation. As such, Nintendo has once again tried to resurrect their main franchise, with our lovably stereotypical Italian friend Mario digging deep into our pockets once more while he orders us to bend over.

Super Mario Galaxy has it good only because it has to compete with Sunshine, and that’s roughly equivalent to having the jocks pick on the special kid in your gym class. Still, Galaxy gets little more concession because, as Nintendo claims, this game is supposed to be the “true sequel” to Super Mario 64. Well, Nintendo, if you’re claiming to beat a game that was terrific 10 years ago, then you better live up to your promise.

Galaxy does do many things well, however, starting off with the revival of the classic platform game play. Some say the platform genre is dead, but as we all know Nintendo is a pretty stubborn company, and in the end it’s probably for the better because mass marketing only seems to result in Mario trying to break-dance for us. Nintendo has a lot of experience in the platforming area so it’s no wonder that they create one of the best platformer games out there.

The introduction of the whole galaxy theme has been criticized by some as a gimmick but I honestly think it’s one of the better parts of the game. It allows Nintendo to come up with more original puzzles and game mechanics than if they were limited to a more Earthly setting. One of the best aspects is that a galaxy is obviously large and open, meaning that you can actually fall off platforms and die in one hit now instead of falling onto some jagged rocks. As well, each level essentially takes place in a gigantic open void, meaning Nintendo could fill it with whatever crap they wanted to put there for any level design they had in mind. Thankfully, Nintendo doesn’t hold back on the puzzles, and they deliver a ton of new and challenging obstacles to overcome.

This, I think, is combined quite cleverly with the new gravity system. Mario sticks to any large object he lands on, making jumping around quite a bit of fun. Essentially, this liberates Mario from the traditional up down, side to side, left and right style and allows him to go upside down, sideways, back-ways, no-ways, Wonka-ways, and any other way you might think of. This, once again, is cleverly shown off by the developers, as they utilize the function well in creating unique puzzles and scenarios.

However, for all those used to the “falling off the bottom of the screen” method of dying, don’t fret. Falling off of platforms still has its negative consequences. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a platformer, right? In areas where the developers wanted you to be punished for your bad timing, they add these black holes below where you’re standing to act a interfering source of gravity in case you fall off the platform. The effect is that if you fall off the platform you were supposed to be occupying, this new source of gravity hopelessly sucks you into its grasp while simultaneously crushing Mario into a tiny singularity. Judging between free falling sections and these traditional “platforming” sections is not hard, as it will usually make these black holes obvious or will simply make sections occur on flat surfaces. Obviously this new Mario game requires a bit of different thinking than what we’re used to, and I thankfully welcome a change of scenario and a change of puzzles.

The new galaxy setting also serves the game pretty well because it pretty much gives Nintendo an excuse to come up with weird wacky world without any one giving them mouth. After all, it’s a big galaxy so anything could happen, right? The space station you’re flying on serves as your “Peach’s Castle” in this game, acting as a hub to reach outlying levels. Get more stars, get more levels of course. You’ll find your basic staples of world themes here. There’s a fire world, an ice world, and not so ironically, a fire and ice world, and so on and so forth.

While seemingly generic, Nintendo gives you lots to work with, so a lot of the puzzles in each world are pretty much all different. As well, the amount of secret content is pretty gob-smacking incredible. It’s quite amazing to find that the secret levels (which there are tons of, by the way) actually having more secret hidden stars within them. There are so many levels that a 100% completion rating is a challenge reserved only for the mentally insane.

For what it’s worth, Sunshine did have one good strength which was its terrific, sparkly graphics. It might have been shit, but at least it was colorful, sparkly shit. This strength pulls through to Galaxy, because good God does it look marvelous. Nintendo brings back their palette of bizarre and exotic colors, which is good because it makes Mario more entertaining. Each level is a smorgasbord for the eyes, entertaining you with a seizure-inducing handful of LSD-inspired level designs.

The Bad
However, there is a good reason Mario games leave a bad taste in many people’s mouths, and that is probably due to the fact that while we’re usually handed a game on a golden platter, we usually get shafted in some area such as difficulty, linearity, or length. In this case, it’s all three.

I don’t know what the hell has happened to Nintendo’s definition of a game, but as far as I know, games usually offer some form of a challenge which needs to be overcome. Unfortunately, Nintendo is one of those companies which try to remove every single frustration in the game, thereby removing the challenge in the first place. I mean seriously, I know these games were designed for children, but the point is to challenge us to think and work to overcome obstacles. For the first half of the game I felt like all I had to do was follow the friendly signs guiding me to the star. I explicitly remember one level required me to dive into a pool of water and swim a bit to retrieve a shell so I could throw it at a chest to unlock the star. What a rush.

As well, all of the bosses are terribly predictable. Half the time all you have to do is bat their projectiles back at them like in Ocarina of Time way back when. Nintendo has still stubbornly chosen to stick with the "three hit" system that's so frustratingly irritating due to the fact that the battles are over before they've even begun. Don't expect to see anything terribly new when it comes to enemy AI either. Goombas still act like goombas and giant freaky honey bees will continue to ask you to crawl all over their bodies...yeah.

As well, for being a galaxy it sure is terribly linear. In my mind I envisioned an open space to explore and hop around between planets. Instead, what I got what was a game which for most of the time held my hand through the entire experience. I mean, we’re not even talking multiple pathways or even shortcuts. There was only one entrance and exit to each planet. Making each planet you jumped on more of an independent “challenge” which you had to overcome in order to move on to the next “challenge” until you eventually reach the star.

The star you choose to try to “find” on the opening screen of each level makes a big difference, as each star has a different “level configuration”, bringing you to different challenges though you may revisit older planets in a different order. This is a pretty disappointing portion of the game, because you no longer really even have to search for a star, nor can you even choose to go after a different star than you chose which is what made Super Mario 64 so fun. As the game progresses, these obstacles do become a lot harder and the levels do become a lot longer, but please don’t deprive me of free roam exploration and then claim to be better than Super Mario 64.

And then, of course, we come to Nintendo’s most infamous f*** up, the game length. I can’t help but feel that due to both the easy difficulty and startling linearity that each level was a bit too short. The final boss can easily be taken on eons before you even need to start “trying” to get stars. However, getting 100% is so difficult and takes so long, it’s hard to understand even trying to go any further than the boss, making the game a trifle bit short. If you do choose to continue to 100% for more game time, then be my guest, but I would have preferred if the game would have forced me to go farther rather than going easy on me and simply getting me to the end of the game quickly.

And while we’re still bitching, I have to complain about Mario’s voice. Him screaming the title of the game every time you turn to it on the Wii screen is so loud and high-pitched its makes you embarrassed to even be playing the game. It seems like Mario’s voice gets higher pitched every new game that comes out. I’m sorry Mario, but you were a lot cooler when you were mute.

And if you're looking for story, well, don't be too surprised but it involved the princess getting captured and you going after her dumb as too rescue her. You can fill in the details from there on, I think.

The Bottom Line
Super Mario Galaxy is good, but not terribly great. It’s fun to play, pretty to look at, and all around is a great refresher for the Mario series. If it does anything terribly well, it breathes new life into the extinct platforming genre, and its fun to play these games because they pretty much don’t exist except in the form of crappy kids TV show or movie games.

However, the game’s flaws are what keeps from being truly great. If only Nintendo could learn to let go of the leash a little and let us gamers do the thinking for ourselves. I promise we won’t cry if we can’t figure out the puzzles Nintendo. Just make the games longer and harder, please.

However, the game accomplishes what it sets out to do, and if you need a game to give to kids, I can’t recommend a game more highly. If it’s kept me entertained, Super Mario Galaxy will undoubtedly keep young ones perplexed and staring bug eyed at the screen for hours on end.

Buyworthy: By now it should have gone down in price, so why not.
Rentworthy: Definitely.

The Good
Well, graphics are colourful, and controls are reliable. Musics is the best part in this game, nicely done music with orchestrated soundtrack, which adds atmosphere in the game.

Good thing is bubble blowing, where you get stuck in the bubble, and then you use star pointer to blow bubble around.

Rolling the ball is also one of the good things, which I discovered. You jump to the ball, and then you must tilt Wii Remote to the specific direction where you want to roll the ball.

The Bad
Controlling Mario or Luigi in Spring suit is kind of frustrating.

And even amongst other thing is, that there is one "grisly" death animation, where Mario or Luigi is Drowning, or possibly getting killed in Poisonous Swamp, which I founded too offensive for younger players.

The Bottom Line
It is actually same as Super Mario 64. You collect stars to gain access to more and more of the galaxies. Some of the galaxies can only accessed, like feeding Hungry Lumas, and even amongst other things. If you love 3D platformers, then you may love this game, because this game is AWESOME!!

The Good
The music is one reason why this game is acclaimed. Before 2007, music recorded by a 50-piece symphony orchestra was almost unheard of.

The story had unprecedented aspects, but I can’t provide any further details due to spoilers.

The Bad
The mandatory motion controls are wonky, but given that it came out during the early era of the Wii, it’s understandable. Unfortunately, the option to use traditional controls doesn’t exist, giving the game its weak spot.

The Bottom Line
While this game is acclaimed for its story, familiar characters, and music, the mandatory motion controls were a major missed opportunity.

The Good
If there is one thing I remember from Super Mario 64 it's the atmosphere, the awesome feeling you get when exploring the beautiful castle and discover new worlds. Would a second round in the same castle give the same feeling? I don't think so. Instead of the classic castle, we now get to explore space itself. Mario is taken to a giant observatory in space and has to visit various worlds to gather stars. The observatory and indeed all the levels still have a very entertaining atmosphere though, especially the observatory which functions as a HUB-world has a very soothing feel to it.

Because Mario has been taken to space as part of Bowser's latest plans, the designers of the game weren't limited to earth logic anymore. This results in all the levels been galaxies with various planets in them, each planet has its own gravitational pull, so Mario can freely explore the many areas. The designers also went all-out with the creativity, so the game boasts roughly thirty stages with various themes. Not having to make much sense anymore has clearly done the designers some good, as the depths of outer-space can contain literally anything. Aren't you excited about the prospect of been able to explore a galaxy where everything is made out of candy?

The controls have remained relatively unchanged from Super Mario 64 with only a few small tweaks. The first is, of course, the integration of the Wii-remote. By shaking the remote you make Mario spin. This can be used to knock over enemies or damage them, depending on which enemy you are fighting. It can also break scenery and when done near an interactive object (launch stars, vines and underwater) it will use that object. You can also use the remote to pick up "star bits" (which function as currency or ammo) or use some special items.

Every major level has a special challenge that randomly shows up as you play the game. These challenges will slightly alter the level and rules. Daredevil challenges will have you going through a level with only 1 hitpoint, Cosmic challenges will have you race against a clone, speedrun challenges will put you on a timer and Fast-Foe challenges will give opponents a speed-boost. If you're a real man, like me, you of course go for the 100% and do all of these extra challenges. Even if you do just a few of them, you'll notice that they are quite fun and give a good incentive for players to get better at the game.

Each galaxy only has five or so stars in it and some minor galaxies only have one. Why is this a plus? Well, I actually found that most of the levels in Mario 64 were fun, but started to get annoying very fast after you went for star number eight in that level. It would still be a good level, but the minor changes that game made for each new star were not impressive enough to keep me interested. Galaxy instead limits itself to three main stars, one hidden and a challenge star, resulting in much shorter, but also more plentiful levels. There are also no "6 red coins" missions and collecting a 100 coins is only used as an unlockable bonus mission after completing the game.

Finally, I must say that the characters in this game are genuinely enjoyable. Mario games have never been focused much on their characters, we all know and love Mario, but it's still no Shakespeare. Galaxy however does have some cool upgrades in this field though. First of all is the character of Rosalina who, despite her design been kind of a lazy Peach-rehash, is pretty awesome. If you want you can go into the library and read a whole book about her back-story, it's a nice lore, but not the most convenient way of telling it. The familiar Toads have also been upgraded and are now a core-part of the missions. They go to locations on their ship and track down stars for Mario. They are helpful, but never lose their characteristic cowardice.

The Bad
Because each planet has its' own gravity and is pretty small, you can go upside-down and walk all around the planet. It sounds good, but when you try to do this, the game runs into a few problems. Going upside-down is not a familiar angle for the Mario engine and it isn't sure what to do with it. The controls are sometimes reversed, but the camera can get stuck or the other way around. A Problem I ran into a lot was trying to go under a planet, but the second I got there the controls would reverse and Mario would turn around and walk up it again, going in an endless loop of reversing controls. You can also freak the game out a bit by long-jumping near the edge of a planet, this has allowed me to skip sections of the game on occasion.

The game wants to introduce a little story into the series, which isn't inherently a problem (Sunshine did it too), but the execution is very lacking. Every time you start a new game you'll have to sit through this very long story for children with some kind of lullaby in the back-ground. It's very obnoxious and it serves only to scare away older people who might be playing this.

The power-ups in this game are not terribly fascinating. By finding mushrooms and flowers you can transform Mario into different versions of himself (other suits), it sounds okay, but it isn't. The only three suits are a bee-suit, boo-suit and spring-suit, all three of which serve only for having Mario fly or at least jump higher. The boo-suit also allows Mario to pass through walls, but this is rarely used for good puzzles. This means that in a situation in which you are put into the spring-suit, you think something along the lines of "I could have done this same puzzle with those other two suits too". The flowers are an ice and fire suit for Mario, pretty basic, but functional.

Some of the hidden stars can get very obnoxious in this game, in the sense that the method of obtaining them is very vague at best. In one level you had to travel from planet to planet using the wind, but this was in a linear fashion, so once you went somewhere, there would be no way back. Some brilliant mind looked at this and figured "let's make the item you need appear only after the player has picked up five random coins in these winds". Can you see where this goes wrong? You have no reason to think the coins will give you the item and even then you'd have to do this all in a perfect shot or restart the entire level.

The game is a little too easy if you ask me, there are a total of 105 stars that you can obtain in a single play-through, but you only need 60 of them to unlock the last boss. This means the game can be finished in maybe two days time and you'd never have to worry about getting stuck along the way. I did this the first few times as well, but now that I went for a 100% completion, I suddenly found levels that I had never visited before and which happened to be totally freaking awesome.

The use of a live-system has perplexed me ever since I was little, it makes sense in arcade halls where you need to pay to play the games, but why use it on a console. What is the point of sending me back to the title screen after I die an arbitrary number of times if I can just click start and resume from where I left off? Here it's even more weird because Mario loses lives when he loses races... why? Do the lives represent Mario's ego? Also strange is that you can't save your lives, whenever you turn the game on and off you're back to four lives. This means that you can farm yourself crazy for hours and leave with maxed out 1-ups and lose it all with a literal press-of-a-button.

The Bottom Line
Mario Galaxy is, like I said, the true sequel to Super Mario 64 for me. Unlike Sunshine the gameplay felt much better, the atmosphere was a lot more enjoyable and the missions were all very fun and clever. I had a lot of fun with this game to say the least and getting a 100% completion is a recommendation for the fun of it alone. There are some flaws, naturally. power-ups aren't very fun, the physics are somewhat dodgy and the story could be better implemented, just to name a few.

I can recommend this game to many people; children, die-hard gamers, Mario fans, parents... just consider this a global recommendation.

The Good
Super Mario Galaxy is bright, colorful and inoffensive. The game play is solid and the music is competent if a little derivative. The inclusion of symphonic tracks is finally welcome.

The Bad
The fact that barely anything has changed. Admit it, take away the sphere walking and star grabbing and you have essentially the same game that Nintendo released in 1996. Call me cynical but I don't believe 1 gimmick can carry an entire game and the sphere walking thing doesn't really impress me. The fact that little has changed since 1996 is weak and the only reason people love this game is because of a certain mustachioed plumber that has become somewhat of a messiah.

The Bottom Line
Super Mario 64 with Sphere Walking.