Princess Peach has been kidnapped again, but this time, Bowser has dragged the poor damsel into space for a Mario adventure like no other. I must confess, when I first heard of Super Mario Galaxy’s premise, I was a bit nervous. Would the radical change suit the platforming plumber? Would we miss out on the expansive worlds of past Mario titles, instead relegated to tiny comets and space stations? Luckily, the move to space works marvelously and my fears were quickly extinguished within the first few minutes.
The game starts off in the familiar Mushroom Kingdom, where Toads are taking part in a star festival that comes around once every 100 years. As Mario makes his way to meet Peach in her castle, Bowser appears and tears the castle from the ground, ascending into space with Mario in tow. As Mario attempts to reach Peach, he is violently cast off from the castle by a Magikoopa, awakening to find himself in the company of strange, star-like creatures known as Luma. Just as in previous Mario titles, Super Mario Galaxy features a hub world, although instead of being a castle or a beautiful beach plaza, it’s an expansive space station run by a mysterious girl known as Rosalina and her Luma friends. Furthermore, instead of jumping into paintings to go to a new world, you enter observatories on the space station, which send Mario flying off to different galaxies. Early on, Rosalina entrusts Mario with a Luma (which resides under his cap) that grants him the useful ability to initiate a spin attack. Thus enters the uniqueness of the game’s controls.
The Luma-enabled spin attack, which allows you not only to stun enemies, but also increase the height of your jumps, is performed by a quick shake of the Wii Remote. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking, “Great, so is all Nintendo did to bring its most beloved franchise to the Wii was add waggle motion?” I know this was a concern of mine when I first heard of the concept. Thankfully, the new controls work extremely well. Not once while I was playing did I find the new controls to be annoying, nor did my wrist ever get tired, even after playing for hours on end. Another new element that is introduced is the concept of Star Bits. Sprinkled throughout the various galaxies are small Star Bits that you collect by pointing your star pointer at, similar to the way you could control the on-screen fairy in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess with the Wii Remote. The Star Bits have two main purposes in the game. First and foremost, they act as food for hungry Lumas who, once they have been fed, will open up new locations for you visit. The second purpose is that the Star Bits can be shot at unsuspecting enemies to stun them, and can even destroy oncoming projectiles, such as cannon balls. It is even possible to make the camera go first-person and enter a quasi-FPS mode as you target enemies with your star pointer and send Star Bits flying in their direction. While the spin attack and Star Bits work very well with the Wii Remote, that’s not all Super Mario Galaxy has to offer when it comes to the remote.
There are two special uses for the Wii Remote, outside of the usual ones, such as the spin attack and Star Bit collection. The first lets you take control of a manta ray by pointing the Wii Remote at the screen and twisting it left and right to turn. The second finds Mario on top of a glass ball and the only way to move him is to hold the Wii Remote upright, like a flight stick, and push it forward, back, left and right. I absolutely loved the way the Wii Remote was incorporated into the glass ball controls, but must admit that I was not so pleased with the manta ray’s. Twisting the Wii Remote to turn just didn’t feel natural enough to me. I would have much rather held the Wii Remote horizontal like a steering wheel, or even just used the nunchuck’s analog stick, rather than the twisting motions required of the Wii Remote. Nevertheless, the manta ray controls do work, albeit, not as smoothly as I would have liked.
One of the reasons I was so impressed with Galaxy was how well it took advantage of the Wii. First and foremost, Galaxy is a very, very, pretty game, perhaps the best-looking on Wii thus far. From the excellent lighting and bright colors, to the amazing detail (especially fur), Galaxy oozes graphical charm. Galaxy also features amazing music. The gameplay and music meld so nicely that I honestly can’t imagine having one with another. Blasting off into space with the Galaxy theme song playing in the background invokes a sense of wonder that I have rarely experience in a game. Simply put, Galaxy’s soundtrack will be remembered as one of Nintendo’s best. Creating an even heightened sense of immersion is the game’s implementation of the Wii Remote’s speaker. Certain actions, such as shooting Star Bits, will cause the speaker to elicit short, satisfying sounds that really help to tie the experience together and which, although could be easily produced from your TV’s speakers, sound much better coming out of the Wii Remote. With the exception of the manta ray controls, the Wii Remote is extremely well-implemented. The controls never feel forced or tacked on and although many, if not all of the actions performed by the remote could be accomplished with simple button presses, I would never want to use buttons because the motion controls just feel so good. For example, throwing a turtle shell with a quick flick of the remote just feels right, it’s simple and it works. The controls compliment the traditional Mario style better than I ever could have imagined. Galaxy also makes great use of gravity, as you might expect. It definitely takes a little getting used to (you may feel slightly sick to your stomach early on), but once you master the gravity of the small spherical worlds, the game sets you up for some truly unique experiences. Performing a long jump on one side of a world and ending up on the other side thanks to the gentle pull of gravity is just a neat sight to behold. However, don’t get caught into thinking the gravity is merely for show. On several occasions, you will be challenged to use gravity to your advantage in order to solve a variety of puzzles. The inclusion of such gravity-based puzzles is certainly a welcome addition to the Mario franchise and builds nicely off of the previously established concepts of exploration and acrobatic finesse.
Despite the game’s incredible graphics, unique controls and innovative use of gravity, there was one thing, above all else, that stood out to me and that is imagination, specifically, the way in which the designers were able to exploit their imaginations and, in turn, stimulate the imagination of players. Simply put, Super Mario Galaxy is a fun gun. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun just running around and exploring in a video game. In fact, the last time was probably with Super Mario 64. One of the reasons space lends itself so well to the Mario franchise is that it always players to have a wide variety of experiences. From playing on top of a giant cake, to exploring a haunted mansion, to floating between space junk, to diving beneath the waves and exploring a secret lagoon, Galaxy has you covered. However, it’s not just the galaxies themselves, it’s the way you’re able to explore them. All Mario games are known for their power-ups and Galaxy is certainly no exception. You’ll be able to turn into a bee, a ghost, and become a human spring, as well as witness the triumphant return of the famous fire flower. As you can see, Galaxy is littered with imaginative power-ups. To give you an idea of just how deep this game really is, I’ll present I short example. In a later galaxy in the game, you are able to ice skate, yes, ice skate, around various parts of the stage. To start skating you simply shake the Wii Remote, and Mario starts effortlessly gliding across the frozen landscape. However, it doesn’t stop there. You can actually perform various moves, such as twirling in the air and doing a quick backwards reversal and launching yourself up even higher. I was so impressed how smooth the experience was that I actually stopped progressing through the level and just spent a few minutes skating around. You can even turn into Ice Mario and proceed to skate on water. It’s the little things like this that make Galaxy such an appealing game. Like Super Mario 64, I found myself revisiting my favorite galaxies, just so I could have fun running around.
So, is there anything wrong with this game? To tell you the truth, there is very little I have to complain about. Outside of the manta ray controls, which I have already mentioned, there are only a few gripes I have. The first is that, at times, the camera can be a nuisance. You are granted limited control over the camera (you can center it and pan left and right), but there are certain times when that control is not available. In general, the automatic camera does an excellent job, but sometimes, and the key word is sometimes, I found myself running towards the camera, or left in an awkward position where I had no way to see where I was going. However, these instances were few and far between. Another gripe is the difficulty. The first half of the game is quite easy while, luckily, later portions of the game become more challenging. However, I didn’t really notice the lack of difficulty early on because I was having too much fun. It is also worth mentioning that, as is usual for Nintendo, Galaxy’s voice work is kept to a bare minimum. I personally felt that the few places where voice is used actually made the dialogue more meaningful, but it bears mentioning nonetheless.
Super Mario Galaxy is the Super Mario 64 for a new generation. It takes all the concepts introduced by previous titles, polishes them, adds some new elements to the mix, and comes out brimming with fun and innovative gameplay. If you own a Wii, there is no question about it; this game belongs in your library. Whether it’s the graphical charm, the simple and intuitive gameplay, or the fun and uplifting music, Super Mario Galaxy can be appreciated by anyone. Every so often, a title comes along that breaks the mold, that challenges what we think can be done with a video game. Super Mario Galaxy is one such title.
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