Super Mario Galaxy

Mario Galaxy is the Wii's primary proper Mario Game...and it is glorious. This was especially a relief after the somewhat lackluster Mario Sunshine. No much has changed in Galaxy compared to the previous Mario 3D Platformers. Bowser has captured the princess (I know...big shocker)and you explore levels to find power stars, which unlock more levels with yet more stars. Find enough to defeat Bowser and finish the game. Of course the big difference this time around is that all of this occurs in the vastness of deep space. Contrary to what a lot of pre-release coverage of the game showed, you spend only a small part of the game in full blown space areas. More in line with prior Mario games, you'll explore tropical paradises, the arctic, dangerous lava worlds, and ghost houses...that just happen to be in space. Just flying through space from one location to another, or speeding through the air across the surface of a full size level never fails to impress.

I think what really makes the gameplay work is the fact that they decided to work in a lot more linearity within each level. While Mario 64 and Sunshine's levels gave you a clue and left you to explore a large 3D area to find the star, the levels in galaxy have more of a point A to point B progression. In a sense, it makes the stages almost as action and platforming oriented as the sidescrollers were. You may be able to wander off slightly to get extra coins or power ups, but the level designs won't let you stray too far from where the designers want you to go. That's not to say you won't ever have situations where you can freely explore a level, but that's no longer the primary gameplay style.

While space serves as the primary setting differation from previous games, gravity fulfills the gameplay hook, and it works surprisingly well. I don't think it was completely necessary to be included, but it does at least set the game apart. While the camera does an excellent job in general, some small sections can be a bit disorienting, like exploring tiny planetoids while held by their weak gravity, but it's something you quickly adjust to and some levels open up into larger areas where gravity rules don't tend to matter as much. And in stages where you might be disoriented by something, the game tends to be pretty forgiving about not letting you fall to your death just because of disorientation. Fortunately, occasional disorientation doesn't effect the controls, which are excellent and for the most part, feel like playing any other Mario game. You've got the usual jumping, ground pounding, long jumps, triple jumps, wall jumps, and there's now a spin attack you use by flicking your wrist a little bit.

The only slight negatives I can think of is the game isn't that difficult. The game is extremely forgiving in most cases and even the most challenging stars can be obtained after three or four tries. The bosses, while fun, don't put up much of a fight, almost all of them going down after 3 hits (and the final Bowser fight - 6 hits). They've also lowered the minimum amount of stars required to finish the game, lowering it down to a mere 60 stars. Another negative is that they didn't really do much with star bits. Star bits are basically jewels that are scattered all over each level and can be obtained by beating enemies with a spin attack. Collecting enough lets you unlock some special stages. All you have to do is wave your remote so that the cursor passes over them to collect. It feels like it was only there to slow stage progression a bit and to give the possible second player something to do while watching and it adds nothing to the game.

I guess I can't talk about this game without also mentioning its technical achievements. Mario Galaxy is just straight up the Wii's best-looking game and it's just so visually accomplished that it looks almost as good as many 360/PS3 games. The simple art style certainly helps, but Nintendo pushes the technical boundaries of its console here, as well. Specular maps, real-time reflections and a ton of other technical feats are executed deftly here and it all rounds out at a smooth 60 frames, and I've never encountered any slowdown. It also helps that practically all the galaxies have a totally different look from another, making it fresh throughout the entire adventure. As if that wasn't enough, Super Mario Galaxy's soundtrack is an impressive assortment of orchestrated themes. All the pieces are epic, sweeping and have a distinct Mario tone to it all. It's also quite dynamic in some places as well. And of course there are a few remixes of classic themes that older fans like myself will definitely appreciate. If you can't tell by now, I adore this game. It's beautiful, it's fun, it combines the best of old and new, and it's one of the best entries in the Mario series.