Super Mario Galaxy

What would a Nintendo console be like without good ol' Mario appearing in multiple games for that console? It's a bit of a scary thought, but luckily one we've never had to see the answer to. The main adventure for the Wii was released under the name Super Mario Galaxy, which is the third game in the 3D platforming series follwing Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. As the name suggests, you'll be controlling the world's most famous plumber in space this time.

 

The plot begins with Mario being invited by Princess Peach to join the centennial star festival to celebrate the passing of a comet. This jolly event is interrupted when the Mushroom Kingdom is suddenly attacked by, you guessed it, Bowser. He rips Princess Peach's castle from the planet with her remaining inside, and takes it off into outer space. After failing to rescue her, Mario wakes up later on a mobile Observatory where he meets Rosalina. Rosalina is a watcher of the stars, who uses her mobile Observatory to travel across the universe. However, the Power Stars that act as the Observatory's power source have all been stolen by Bowser, rendering it immobile. Bestowed with the power to travel through space, Mario sets off on an intergalactic adventure across the universe to reclaim the Power Stars and restore power to Rosalina's observatory.

 

Mario games have never exactly been known for having compelling stories, and Galaxy is nothing to be compared with Metal Gear Solid, but still the tale had a surprising amount of depth compared to what the series standards have been with past iterations. Throughout the game you unlock new chapters to Rosalina's storybook, and these add a nice bit of backstory to let you know more about this character and the history of the Observatory.

 

You navigate the game through the hub world which is on the Observatory. This contains six "domes" that provide access to the forty-two galaxies available in the game. You start out with only a few galaxies available, but as you progress and collect more stars you will unlock more galaxies.

 

These forty-two different galaxies are beautifully created, with imaginative themes, some of which are just jaw dropping.  They are vastly different from each other and offer many different challenges for you on your way to getting the stars.

 

Super Mario Galaxy takes a big risk by going to such a different setting than past games have portrayed, but the pay-off is well worth it because the new style of gameplay ends up being a blast. The basic platforming aspects from Mario 64 are still pretty much the same. The main objective is to use the environment to navigate your way to the star awaiting at the end of each level, and eliminating any enemies that may get in your way, and occaisonally taking down a boss at the end of a level. However, the way you go about this is very different. Since the game is set in outer space, gravity plays a key role in how you maneuver. This allows you to completely move around the worlds upside down, side ways, or any other way, and you can usually jump from one independent object and fall towards another one nearby. Occasionally you will be cheated by gravity and sucked into a black hole, but the twist on traditional platforming with the introduction of gravitational influenced galaxies is an excellent feature.

 

 

Galaxy also features the most power-ups in a Mario platformer to date. There are six power-ups where Mario is equipped with a new costume. These include a Bee Suit which lets Mario fly and stick to certain objects, a Boo Suit that turns him into a ghost allowing him to become transparent, Spring suit which gives Mario the ability to jump to extreme heights, a Fire Flower that lets you shoot fire balls, an Ice Flower allows you to skate across hot surfaces, a Rainbow Star makes Mario invincible for a short period of time. These power-ups provide a nice variety in the action and help pace the gameplay.

 

Two new gameplay additions are used in Galaxy and make use of the Wii's motion sensing capabilities. The first of these is mapped to the waggle funtion. By shaking the controller Mario will do a spin move  which can knock over enemies. This is a great alternative to the usual head stomping that's used to take down and opponent. The other of these feels a bit more gimmicky. By pointing the Wiimote at the screen you can collect various star bits which are scattered about the galaxies. You then use these by pointing at an enemy and pressing the B button to shoot the star bits. This is a good thought, but really you just probably won't find yourself using it very often. At least it doesn't go completely unused because you can spend these star bits on things like new galaxies, and at certain times you can buy a 1-Up Mushroom or something that expands your HP count from 3 to 6.

 

Another way of adding some flare to the normal gameplay is when the game switches up to a side scrolling section where your movements are restricted to left, right, up, or down. It is very reminiscent to the New Super Mario Bros. title for the Nintendo DS. These gameplay segments are  seamlessly integrated and well placed amidst the levels keeping the game fun to play.

 

The developers at Nintendo even threw in some galaxies that are just for pure excitement. These galaxies include using the Wii motion controls to race on a "manta ray" and keeping Mario's balance on top of a rolling ball the whole time while trying to roll your way to the end of the level. These galaxies ended up being some of my favorites as they're just a blast to play and you'll keep coming back to them even after you've gotten the star(s).

 

Galaxy has a top-notch soundtrack. It features an entirely orchestrated soundtrack composed of both remade and remixed classic tunes from the Mario franchise as well as some new tracks exclusively made for Super Mario Galaxy. The excellent audio work provides is perfectly suited for the experience in Galaxy. Also to note is that the characters do have a bit of voice work, but thankfully it is to a minimum. In Sunshine you had to be tormented by Bowser's cheery-sounding voice, but you don't have to suffer this time because his only sounds are ferocious growls like you'd expect from someone as big and bad as Bowser.

 

As mentioned earlier, Galaxy is one of the most artistically fine games ever seen with the stunning level and character designs, but it also pushes the standards for technical graphics. We all know that the Wii isn't selling millions of units because of it's overwhelming graphics, but Mario sets the bar for what a Wii game can, and probably should look like with the proper development. Animations are wonderful, and the environments are well detailed. It's hands-down the best looking game on the Wii and it even could be acceptable on one of the other next gen consoles.

 

 

As good as the game looks, sometimes it will be frustrating to see. What I mean is the camera is one of the games downfalls, which has been a problem present in both of the other 3D Mario games. This time it could be the worst of all though, since you are able to manuever so freely around the planets. You have the ability to control the camera yourself, though in some areas it's just not fixable. This doesn't at all make the game unplayable, however it's just worth noting that it can get annoying at some times for that reason.

 

To beat the main story aspect of the game you will need to attain 60 stars, which should take somewhere around 15 hours. After that there are another 60 stars (total of 120) waiting to be collected. The difficulty of these are ramped up adding to the challenge. Once you get the 120 stars something else is unlocked and you can play the game again in a new way to try for another 120 stars. Without giving anything away something else is unlocked after that, and 1 more star is able to be grabbed. This gives you a total of 241 stars if you plan to go after everything there is in this game. The levels have a lot of replay value, so length is certainly not an issue with this game, with all there is to do.

 

Without a doubt, if you own a Wii you should own Super Mario Galaxy. It introduces a fun new gameplay system for some of the best platforming in gaming history. There is plenty of variety, and it makes use of the Wii's motion sensing without abusing it. Galaxy has the best graphics on Wii, an inspiring soundtrack, and plenty of play time. There are a few gripes like the camera not being perfect, a few segments don't control all that well like swimming and flying, and there's a few people out there who just might get bored of platforming. But the positives outweigh the negatives by far, and make Super Mario Galaxy one of the best games of this generation, and perhaps, one of the greatest of all-time.

 

 

Overall: 91 /100