Well what is there to say? This is the new Mario game. Not one of those crap Mario third party games (yes Mario Party, I’m referring to you!), this is a proper Mario game. The Mario games that are fantastic, groundbreaking and subsequently piss all over every other game that’s out there.
If you don’t know what Mario games I’m talking about by now, you should invest in a copy of the Ladybird guide to video gaming.
Let’s step back a little and have a quick chat about the two previous titles in the Mario franchise, they being Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
Super Mario 64 was the first game to feature a 3D Mario, and not only that, was the greatest 3D platform game of all time. It didn’t quite succeed in bringing along all of the magic that makes the 2D Mario games so great and recognisable, but came pretty damn close. Huge worlds, great puzzles, balanced game play, superb controls and most importantly, a sense of humour.
Super Mario Sunshine was the follow up to 64. Not quite as successful and nor ranked as highly, but in my opinion, it is still a cracking game and didn’t deserve the bad press it got at the time. Sure it was a mistake to give Mario a water jet backpack, he’s never needed one to defeat Bowser before and so why should he now? However Sunshine took everything that was in Mario 64 but injected the only missing from its predecessor, character. Mario 64 was great; don’t get me wrong, but the lack of NPC’s made the worlds seem quite empty, it was like the worlds revolved around the puzzles, rather than the worlds containing puzzles. Sunshine adds some life, in the form of the local villagers, the Piantas and Nokis. They may not say much of interest, but at least they were there!
Super Mario Galaxy…So five years in the making, has it been worth it?
Super Mario Galaxy mixes both 64 and Sunshine together to create, in my opinion, the best Mario game ever, and worthy of its ranking of the second best game of all time.
The first thing that struck me as unusual with Galaxy was the lack of demo. Normally after loading a game I don’t dive into it straight away but watch the demo footage that plays. But with Galaxy, there isn’t one. I can only assume that Nintendo wanted that game to be spoiler free from the onset, and why not I say?
Better start talking about Galaxy, or else, this wouldn’t be a review of said game would it?
If you don’t know already, Bowser has taken Peach again (you know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think Peach is deliberately getting snatched by Bowser), this time during the middle of a special Asteroidy Star festival. Not only has Bowser got Mario’s bit of crumpet, but Bowser’s minion, Magikoopa has blasted Mario across to the other side of the universe, how on Mushroom is Mario meant to get back and rescue Peach now?
I’ll tell you how he’s gonna do it!
Mario will team up with another blonde lady called Rosalina and her cuddly space friends, the Luma’s. Now it just so happens that Rosalina has a big spaceship which is good enough to take Mario right across the universe again to rescue Peach. What’s the catch I hear you ask, why does Rosalina want to help Mario out? Well, fact is that Bowser has also stolen the grand stars that power her ship. So guess who has to go get them in return for the journey? Yep, Mario! Bet you didn’t see that one coming!
Right that’s the story out of the way; let us chat about the actual game already.
As you would expect, there are 120 stars for you and Mario to collect, if you’ve played either 64 or Sunshine you will already know how this works. You have a central hub in which you can access all of the galaxies. From here you can head into a particular world to get your star. Now in the previous games there were a fixed number of stars to collect per world, along with the collect 8 red coin gimmicks.
This time however things are a bit different, some worlds only have one or two stars to collect whilst others have a lot more. This makes perfect sense as far as I’m concerned, with Mario Sunshine the same set tasks in to complete in every world (such as the 8 red coins or catching shadow Mario) were a bit too samey after you had done it for the 6th time in succession.
Now the worlds don’t feel as exhausted, and you just play them for the right amount of time, as the designers haven’t had to accommodate fixed challenges, the worlds are much more outlandish this time around. From giant glass bottles to floating wooden Yoshi heads, no sense of imagination has gone to waste here.
Mario himself is more agile too, he’s been working on a brand new spin attack move which can stun enemies which then makes killing them (killing sounds a bit strong for a Mario game, but what else can I say?) simple by just running up to them and kicking them into the Oblivion. Not only that, but Mario’s wardrobe is much bigger this time around too and as such, has a vast range of suits to wear; Bees, Springs, Fire, Ice and more. Now if only he had a James Bond tuxedo…
I must mention the coop mode..! Yes, a coop mode, in Mario!
Basically a second player can join you on screen in the form of an aiming cursor, he/she can shoot enemies with the star bits you collect, or hold objects and some even enemies still to give Mario a better chance of getting through a tricky bit. It does make the game slightly easier, but, I think not having to play Mario as a solitary event is such a breakthrough, that it really doesn’t matter about the difficulty. You’ll still find the easy levels easy and the tough levels tough, just the tough levels wont be quite so tough, ok?
I could go into even more details about floating through space, swimming with penguins, rolling on balls and riding giant ray’s, but I will not. There is simply too much to write about and if I did, well, I would’ve spoilt most of the game for you and that’s no good is it?
Graphically this game is top notch, the best on the Wii by far. Super smooth, fluid, bright crisp and clean. It might not be high def, but it’s the best of standard def I’ve ever seen!
All your favourite Mario tunes are here, remixed but still as fresh and listenable as ever. Having the score played by an orchestra really suits the space theme, spot on!
Controlling Mario in this game is a breeze; it just feels as ‘right’ ever. (The swimming is still a bit iffy though, but that’s a small niggle, it’s no different to how it’s been since Mario 64 and so I’m used to that by now).
Overall then – an essential purchase for any Wii owner (unless you only bought it for Wii sports that is).