Everyone's Favorite Plumber is back.. IN SPACE.
Mario's latest romp on the Wii won't disappoint long time fans. All the old features of Super Mario we have come to love over the years are still here along with a few new twists for fans and newcomers alike.
Super Mario Galaxy is one of those games Wii owners have been waiting for, and it is finally here. Mario's latest adventure starts off the way we've come to expect. Bowser whisks away Peach and you must give chase. Only this time, Mario finds himself plucked out of the Mushroom Kingdom and flown across the Galaxy to save his Princess. After a brief tutorial to get you acquainted to the Wii controls, you're dropped off on the Observatory which serves as a hub for every other level, much like Delfino Plaza and Peach's Castle in the previous two Super Mario titles. From here you are tasked with retrieving the Grand Stars in order to repair and refuel the Observatory so that you can sail to the center of the universe and save Peach from Bowser. But this is a Super Mario game, you knew the plot before you even looked at the box.
In Mario's latest adventure, he travels to various Galaxies from the six themed domes in the main Observatory collecting stars in order to access newer galaxies and Grand Stars, used to access new domes. The general flow of the recent batch of Mario games hasn't been altered: go to world, collect as many stars as you can, go to newly unlocked worlds, rinse and repeat until your Bowser-related confrontation that invariably leads to unlocking a new zone. What is different is that when you arrive at a Galaxy, you land on a small planet which will have some kind of objective (as well as its own gravity to keep you glued on..usually) that you'll have to complete in order to get to the next planet until you build your way to a star. Some levels are classic Mario platforming. Jump from Point A to Point B smashing baddies and avoiding falling to your doom (which happens to be a black hole just under whatever you're working on. Others are more in line with more recent Mario adventures- Race this guy, help that guy and so on until you get a reward.
But wait, this game is on the Wii, so we've got to talk controls. Your basic jumping and moving around is all handled with the appropriate buttons and analog sticks, but with the pointer that is drawn on screen, you can pull Mario to certain types of star icons in order to progress through a level, or by moving the controller, you can execute some of Mario's move repetoire (or in the case of launch stars, activate them). It might take a little adjusting and getting used to, but it works and becomes intuitive very quickly. "But what about this Co-star mode it talks about on the back of the box!?" Yes, lo and behold, you can get a friend to play with you in this installment of Super Mario. Having a friend around and tossing them a wiimote will allow them to shoot at enemies with star bits that you collect as Mario, or if you and your friend give Mario the command to jump at about the same time, he will jump higher. Mainly it is for messing around- there isn't any need to have a second person around, but it'll give your friend something to do while you're busy obsessing over this latest adventure, or it'll let you help out a sibling/relative as they learn to play Mario's latest adventure.
Visually, Super Mario Galaxy looks like a little more polished version of Super Mario Sunshine. The environments spacially (forgive the pun) are probably larger than in sunshine generally speaking, but the actual explorable area is probably about the same. Sound direction at the same time is what we've come to expect with Mario's recent adventures, filled with memorable remixes of classic songs as well as new tunes to enjoy. It sounds and looks like a Mario game, what else is there to say?
My main complaint is that the difficulty is a little bit sporatic. For those people who will invariably go after every star in the game, you may find yourself in the same place I was in- getting frustrated over stars that will cause your demise time and time again because of a timer or inane requirement. But why is this? Well, many of the extra stars in Super Mario Galaxy are obtained from comets- which are basically trial/challenge runs of a star you have already gotten as well as one comet which is always a coin hunt. These challenges are set by which type it is- some require you to beat an objective in under a certain time limit, others require you to beat a boss or a segment of a level without taking any damage while others are the races against your shadow-self. These challenges will range from very easy, to excruciatingly annoying. I never found one that was genuinely hard, but several that I had to repeat many times because of a short timelimit or troublesome level design. Don't worry though, there are a couple genuinely "hidden" stars to be obtained, but the 100-coin star has been nixed this time around.
Super Mario Galaxy is the Nintendo title we've been waiting for on the Wii and it won't disappoint. There are a few secret features there for the adventurous that collect all 120 Stars, but I won't spoil those here. Whether you're new to the Mario series or a veteran, there is definitely a game here to enjoy.
Super Mario Galaxy is one of those games Wii owners have been waiting for, and it is finally here. Mario's latest adventure starts off the way we've come to expect. Bowser whisks away Peach and you must give chase. Only this time, Mario finds himself plucked out of the Mushroom Kingdom and flown across the Galaxy to save his Princess. After a brief tutorial to get you acquainted to the Wii controls, you're dropped off on the Observatory which serves as a hub for every other level, much like Delfino Plaza and Peach's Castle in the previous two Super Mario titles. From here you are tasked with retrieving the Grand Stars in order to repair and refuel the Observatory so that you can sail to the center of the universe and save Peach from Bowser. But this is a Super Mario game, you knew the plot before you even looked at the box.
In Mario's latest adventure, he travels to various Galaxies from the six themed domes in the main Observatory collecting stars in order to access newer galaxies and Grand Stars, used to access new domes. The general flow of the recent batch of Mario games hasn't been altered: go to world, collect as many stars as you can, go to newly unlocked worlds, rinse and repeat until your Bowser-related confrontation that invariably leads to unlocking a new zone. What is different is that when you arrive at a Galaxy, you land on a small planet which will have some kind of objective (as well as its own gravity to keep you glued on..usually) that you'll have to complete in order to get to the next planet until you build your way to a star. Some levels are classic Mario platforming. Jump from Point A to Point B smashing baddies and avoiding falling to your doom (which happens to be a black hole just under whatever you're working on. Others are more in line with more recent Mario adventures- Race this guy, help that guy and so on until you get a reward.
But wait, this game is on the Wii, so we've got to talk controls. Your basic jumping and moving around is all handled with the appropriate buttons and analog sticks, but with the pointer that is drawn on screen, you can pull Mario to certain types of star icons in order to progress through a level, or by moving the controller, you can execute some of Mario's move repetoire (or in the case of launch stars, activate them). It might take a little adjusting and getting used to, but it works and becomes intuitive very quickly. "But what about this Co-star mode it talks about on the back of the box!?" Yes, lo and behold, you can get a friend to play with you in this installment of Super Mario. Having a friend around and tossing them a wiimote will allow them to shoot at enemies with star bits that you collect as Mario, or if you and your friend give Mario the command to jump at about the same time, he will jump higher. Mainly it is for messing around- there isn't any need to have a second person around, but it'll give your friend something to do while you're busy obsessing over this latest adventure, or it'll let you help out a sibling/relative as they learn to play Mario's latest adventure.
Visually, Super Mario Galaxy looks like a little more polished version of Super Mario Sunshine. The environments spacially (forgive the pun) are probably larger than in sunshine generally speaking, but the actual explorable area is probably about the same. Sound direction at the same time is what we've come to expect with Mario's recent adventures, filled with memorable remixes of classic songs as well as new tunes to enjoy. It sounds and looks like a Mario game, what else is there to say?
My main complaint is that the difficulty is a little bit sporatic. For those people who will invariably go after every star in the game, you may find yourself in the same place I was in- getting frustrated over stars that will cause your demise time and time again because of a timer or inane requirement. But why is this? Well, many of the extra stars in Super Mario Galaxy are obtained from comets- which are basically trial/challenge runs of a star you have already gotten as well as one comet which is always a coin hunt. These challenges are set by which type it is- some require you to beat an objective in under a certain time limit, others require you to beat a boss or a segment of a level without taking any damage while others are the races against your shadow-self. These challenges will range from very easy, to excruciatingly annoying. I never found one that was genuinely hard, but several that I had to repeat many times because of a short timelimit or troublesome level design. Don't worry though, there are a couple genuinely "hidden" stars to be obtained, but the 100-coin star has been nixed this time around.
Super Mario Galaxy is the Nintendo title we've been waiting for on the Wii and it won't disappoint. There are a few secret features there for the adventurous that collect all 120 Stars, but I won't spoil those here. Whether you're new to the Mario series or a veteran, there is definitely a game here to enjoy.
