“Super Mario Galaxy” Wii Review

Sure the game came out a couple months ago, but a game this good can be reviewed any time. My reviews are going to be short and sweet, highlighting the best and worst things about the game I’m reviewing.

Pros:

Controls. They are literally so smooth that you didn’t think it could be possible. The Wii controls work quite well, and integrated enough so that you know it wasn’t something cheap and tacked on at the last minute *cough* poor 3rd party developers *cough*.

Music. Your ears will be treated to tons of different tracks, many level specific. Some of my favorites are the new remixes of the old World 1-1 theme in the toy galaxy. The songs go along perfectly, always adding to the experience and never subtracting from it.

Originality/Level Design. You will be amazed at how much diversity there are in the levels. There are your typical platformer levels: fire level, ice level, desert level, and plains level. You also have what I call Luigi’s Mansion level, a toy level and things I haven’t even though of before. The designs are linear so that you don’t get lost, but they don’t shove you through the level in only one way. It also has short enough levels where you can grab stars whenever you have free time in your day. Think you’re going to be early if you leave know? Grab a couple stars. The originality also shines through for the power-ups. There are many that are fun to use and only one that isn’t – Spring Mario. That can only be used for one thing: jumping higher. You can’t even use the spin ability, the game’s original new feature, in this form.

Cons:

Story. Bowser has captured Peach during the celebration of a comet that passes by once every thousand years. Bowser takes Peach’s castle up from the ground into space and Mario is launched away and wakes up by some Lunas (the Super Mario 64 version of Toads) which take him to Princess Rosalina who offers her observatory as Mario’s gateway to the cosmos. He has to collect stars to bring the ship’s power back so they can travel to the center of the universe and stop Bowser from forming his own galaxy. It’s as generic as Mario games get. I didn’t expect a Hollywood caliber production, but some new villains and heroes (remember playing as Bowser like in Super Paper Mario?) would be nice. I was just thinking… In Super Mario Sunshine, Baby Bowser had a reason for kidnapping Peach – he thought she was his mom, but here Bowser just does it to be dick. All I ask for is a twist or two.

Camera. I know what you’re thinking: “*Gasp* camera problems in a Mario game?” In this one, yes there is. The camera is controlled with the D-pad on the Wiimote which is a problem in itself. You can’t move 360 degrees too well with a D-pad. Anyway, unlike the two previous 3-D Mario titles where you were given mostly complete control wherever you were, in Galaxy you can only control the camera about half the time. It hardly obstructs play, but it can be a slight problem.

Super Mario Galaxy was probably last year’s best game. (sorry Microsoft fanboys). It makes a splendid addition to any Wii collection. But if you don’t have a Wii, HAHAHA!

By JustMattPwn3r