After a long period of in-decision, I picked up Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii because it had been too long since I had played an adventure game. Now let me start by saying that I have been into playing the Mario adventure games for a while but I am by no means someone who will buy the latest for full release price, but after playing this game I might be set to purchase the sequel sometime shortly.
Firstly lets talk about the plot, if it is not obvious what the main idea is; Princess Peach gets kidnapped, as if it's part of her obligations as princess to do so every so often, but this time bowser has not been satisfied by locking himself up with her in a castle, or high atop a volcano, no, he has had a stroke of genius and has taken Peach off the planet in his magical pirate ship that allows the crew to breathe in space, this all happens during the opening sequence, and Peach is seized along with her castle by other magic pirate ships and a UFO for some reason, Mario is also on part of the land that is hauled from the earth, but is sent flying into space by one of bowser's henchmen, and it seems all is lost.
Once you actually start playing you find yourself on a small, peaceful planet which is located after taking a right at nowhere, and you get a basic idea what the game will be like at most times, and lets you get a general feel of the game, this is also where you acquire your first and only player enhancement that isn't level specific, a little newborn star, known as 'lumas'
Speaking of death, the game has a lives system, which is really not needed and I think the only reason it's kept around is because Mario started in the days when lives actually mattered, but in all the Mario adventure games I played, I would always end with way more lives than I would ever need, and this installment is no different in the slightest. I often asked myself during points in the game if it was supposed to be this easy or if I was just that good, I ended up noticing that my lives had peaked in the high eighties and that also made me realize I had been playing for five or six hours, and that is partly what I like about the game, it sucks you in if you let it and you get caught up wanting the next puzzle, and there are plenty to solve.
The puzzles in the Mario games is what brings the challenge, and the quality of the game comes from the difficulty of the puzzle matching with what the player is looking for, a safe place to go is make it difficult enough to keep the player trying and thus interested, but not too hard as to make a Wii-mote fly into and break something out of frustration.
Moving along now...The game has a hub-based world, called the observatory which is lead by the adoptive mother of all the luma, known as Rosalina, who bears a striking resemblance to the princess you are trying to save...again.
I mentioned that there are plenty of puzzles, and by many I meant one-hundred and twenty stars to collect in total, most of the puzzles are nicely varied and can at least keep you interested, even if the game can easily feel like a bit of a grind for some, but the game tries to help by adding some new things from time to time, for example the 'prankster comets' which give you an existing level or boss fight with a twist, from limited time or life to racing a cosmic double of yourself, completing the challenge will reward you with another shiny power star, but the puzzled were not the only thing that kept me playing, this Rosalina character is quite enigmatic and I was very intrigued by her from the start, so I was set to play through the game to figure out whatever possible about her, and I was rewarded with a story that Rosalina reads to the lumas every so often, or rather every certain number of stars collected, and it reveals a great deal of her back story, how she became the mother of all the little lumas etc...without trying to spoil anything much, Rosalina's story is quite well told even though in the form of a children's short story and if you let yourself become into the story it can really draw you in and you too might find yourself racing as Rosalina in Mario kart Wii whenever possible.
One of the last things to touch on is the overall presentation of the game, it is cute and cuddly with [color=sky blue]vibrant colours[/color] and plenty of bloom, and the cutscenes are very cinematic, even with a lack of voice most of the time, and even though it presents itself as a 'kids game', it can still show you it can be challenging if you underestimate it. Another part of the presentation is the sound track, and I must say that the audio and BGM is very good at keeping the mood and enhancing the experience overall, even though you might not even notice it too often. On a side note Mario can transform into some strange things, stranger than usual that is, during the course of the game (e.g bumblebee) but this doesn't do more than play a minor role in the game as a whole.
Now I am going to talk about possibly one of the weakest points in the game; The boss battles. The boss enemies of Mario games were challenging at one point, but in this game they fail to reach the bar of ass-kickery that I remember in Super Mario 64, I remember dieing so ridiculously many times during the final fight with bowser in SM64, and Bowser just might be the biggest push-over boss in this game, fighting him is about as routine and easy as walking. After beating one of bowsers minions in each world, you are awarded a 'Grand star', which is basically just used to mark the opening of the next world, after collecting enough grand stars you get to face bowser for the final showdown, but the level before the fight is harder than the actual fight in my experience.
To wrap up, the game is a game that wont challenge you particularly, but if you hang along for the ride with the intent to enjoy yourself, you will have plenty of fun and will most likely enjoy the ride, and you can reach the end at a pretty good time, not too long or too quickly, but afterward you can come back and get every star if you feel the need to. All in all, it is a great game, maybe not up to par with some of the older Mario platformers, but good enough that I am more than swayed to buy the sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2, if I can find it for a good price.
Firstly lets talk about the plot, if it is not obvious what the main idea is; Princess Peach gets kidnapped, as if it's part of her obligations as princess to do so every so often, but this time bowser has not been satisfied by locking himself up with her in a castle, or high atop a volcano, no, he has had a stroke of genius and has taken Peach off the planet in his magical pirate ship that allows the crew to breathe in space, this all happens during the opening sequence, and Peach is seized along with her castle by other magic pirate ships and a UFO for some reason, Mario is also on part of the land that is hauled from the earth, but is sent flying into space by one of bowser's henchmen, and it seems all is lost.
Once you actually start playing you find yourself on a small, peaceful planet which is located after taking a right at nowhere, and you get a basic idea what the game will be like at most times, and lets you get a general feel of the game, this is also where you acquire your first and only player enhancement that isn't level specific, a little newborn star, known as 'lumas'
[img, alt=Cute, don't you think?]http://www.enter-play.com/images/smg/SMG_009.jpg[/img]
The luma aids you by giving you a spin move that serves as your main attack, used by shaking the Wii-mote, this can get a little annoying when it doesn't respond as a giant goomba is about to step on your unborn children. Speaking of controls, this game is played with the Wii-mote/nunchuck controller, and it works competently, with the exception of the previously stated occasional un-responsiveness and one other point being that with the camera angle and direction of gravity constantly changing, so the movement can sometimes get a little everywhere, meaning down is up, up is left and right is a bad case of death. Speaking of death, the game has a lives system, which is really not needed and I think the only reason it's kept around is because Mario started in the days when lives actually mattered, but in all the Mario adventure games I played, I would always end with way more lives than I would ever need, and this installment is no different in the slightest. I often asked myself during points in the game if it was supposed to be this easy or if I was just that good, I ended up noticing that my lives had peaked in the high eighties and that also made me realize I had been playing for five or six hours, and that is partly what I like about the game, it sucks you in if you let it and you get caught up wanting the next puzzle, and there are plenty to solve.
The puzzles in the Mario games is what brings the challenge, and the quality of the game comes from the difficulty of the puzzle matching with what the player is looking for, a safe place to go is make it difficult enough to keep the player trying and thus interested, but not too hard as to make a Wii-mote fly into and break something out of frustration.
Moving along now...The game has a hub-based world, called the observatory which is lead by the adoptive mother of all the luma, known as Rosalina, who bears a striking resemblance to the princess you are trying to save...again.
[img, alt=Rosalina, possibly one of the most interesting Mario characters for me.]http://www.dailyraider.com/vg/nintendo/supermariogalaxy2/rosalina.jpg[/img]
I mentioned that there are plenty of puzzles, and by many I meant one-hundred and twenty stars to collect in total, most of the puzzles are nicely varied and can at least keep you interested, even if the game can easily feel like a bit of a grind for some, but the game tries to help by adding some new things from time to time, for example the 'prankster comets' which give you an existing level or boss fight with a twist, from limited time or life to racing a cosmic double of yourself, completing the challenge will reward you with another shiny power star, but the puzzled were not the only thing that kept me playing, this Rosalina character is quite enigmatic and I was very intrigued by her from the start, so I was set to play through the game to figure out whatever possible about her, and I was rewarded with a story that Rosalina reads to the lumas every so often, or rather every certain number of stars collected, and it reveals a great deal of her back story, how she became the mother of all the little lumas etc...without trying to spoil anything much, Rosalina's story is quite well told even though in the form of a children's short story and if you let yourself become into the story it can really draw you in and you too might find yourself racing as Rosalina in Mario kart Wii whenever possible.
One of the last things to touch on is the overall presentation of the game, it is cute and cuddly with [color=sky blue]vibrant colours[/color] and plenty of bloom, and the cutscenes are very cinematic, even with a lack of voice most of the time, and even though it presents itself as a 'kids game', it can still show you it can be challenging if you underestimate it. Another part of the presentation is the sound track, and I must say that the audio and BGM is very good at keeping the mood and enhancing the experience overall, even though you might not even notice it too often. On a side note Mario can transform into some strange things, stranger than usual that is, during the course of the game (e.g bumblebee) but this doesn't do more than play a minor role in the game as a whole.
Now I am going to talk about possibly one of the weakest points in the game; The boss battles. The boss enemies of Mario games were challenging at one point, but in this game they fail to reach the bar of ass-kickery that I remember in Super Mario 64, I remember dieing so ridiculously many times during the final fight with bowser in SM64, and Bowser just might be the biggest push-over boss in this game, fighting him is about as routine and easy as walking. After beating one of bowsers minions in each world, you are awarded a 'Grand star', which is basically just used to mark the opening of the next world, after collecting enough grand stars you get to face bowser for the final showdown, but the level before the fight is harder than the actual fight in my experience.
Bowser jumps in the air a few times, causing a few shockwaves to emit that you must jump over, then you stand on one of four spots on the small spherical world, he jumps in the air and hovers for half of a second, you move, he breaks some glass or something and burns his wittle tail, then you stand and wait for him to run around the planet, you run toward him and he tries to run in the opposite direction, but you hit him, sending him twirling on his back in the direction you hit him, you stand in place and he comes around and you hit him again, then he does this again three times or so but a little faster while you yawn and think 'Gee bowser, are you just getting old or something?'
To wrap up, the game is a game that wont challenge you particularly, but if you hang along for the ride with the intent to enjoy yourself, you will have plenty of fun and will most likely enjoy the ride, and you can reach the end at a pretty good time, not too long or too quickly, but afterward you can come back and get every star if you feel the need to. All in all, it is a great game, maybe not up to par with some of the older Mario platformers, but good enough that I am more than swayed to buy the sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2, if I can find it for a good price.