Super Mario Galaxy Review
by Nadia Oxford on November 14, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Most kids born and raised in the 80s revere Mario more than the Pope, and it’s no secret why. The Super Mario games have defined and re-defined video games since conception. The original Super Mario Bros introduced side-scrolling platform games on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Super Mario 64 for the N64 marked another major shift for video games with its deep 3D worlds. So it’s no surprise that Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii changes the way we perceive games once again, this time by doing away with the notion that the sky is always up and the ground is always below.
When video footage of Mario’s latest adventure was unveiled for the masses at E3 2006, some of those in attendance scratched their heads and wondered what Nintendo was attempting–and how it would all incorporate into the Wii’s whacky control scheme. The good news is that the answer is “very well.” By all the laws of physics and nature, Super Mario Galaxy should be a nightmare to control, but the game actually stands as an example of what developers need to do to make the Wii remote a real commodity instead of an inconvenience.
Even though Mario abandons the horizontal plane to blast through space and run around the surface of small planets (think “The Little Prince”), there’s rarely any doubt about how to make him interact with his environment. The analog stick on the Wii’s nunchuck attachment makes Mario run in any direction, and the A button on the remote makes him jump. There are a few new moves aside from the basics, most of which are executed by using the Wii remote’s motion sensor. For example, Mario can throw Bob-Ombs and Koopa shells by flicking the remote towards a target. He can do a spin attack by moving the remote side-to-side. It’s all very intuitive for anyone who’s played a 3D Mario game in the past, and in moments of uncertainty an animated diagram often appears to let the player know what motion they need to make to let Mario proceed.
In the true spirit of Mario, the game’s story is as simple as its controls. Super Mario Galaxy opens with a small tale told in storybook fashion about the Mushroom Kingdom’s preparation for a starlight festival (there is an illustration of two Toads reverently carrying a large star between them like the golden calf). Mario is invited to the festival by Princess Peach, but Bowser crashes the party and heaves Peach’s castle into space. When Mario tries to do the Hero thing, he’s knocked off the floating castle by a Magikoopa and he wakes up on an unidentified planet. There, the mysterious Rosalina and her family of stars(?) implore Mario to recover the Grand Stars they need to repair their stranded space station so that Peach might be rescued.
Rosalina’s space station acts as the game’s central hub. Mario can visit “observatories” in order to access the dozens of galaxies that make up the game’s levels. As he collects more stars, more observatories and galaxies open up. It’s not unlike Super Mario 64’s Castle, which gave Mario access to the game’s actual levels and opened up new pathways depending on how many stars he collected in said levels.
Initially it’s a little disappointing to realize that Nintendo hasn’t altered Mario’s basic level structure since the N64. But Super Mario Galaxy contains one very important difference: Though each galaxy has several stars that need to be collected, there are much fewer stars in each one. Even in instances where a galaxy contains multiple stars, the player usually can’t collect them all in one visit. He must return when certain circumstances have changed (for example, a “prankster comet” can visit a galaxy and open up the opportunity to win a star by completing a speed run), which encourages him to move on and explore other levels. By the time a new star becomes available in an old galaxy, the necessary return feels refreshing and less like a chore. There are 120 stars up for grabs, but only about half of that amount is needed to finish the game.
Super Mario Galaxy looks gorgeous. There is no HD support, but there’s no reason to mourn its absence. Mario’s environments are amazingly varied and colorful. Super Mario Sunshine for the Gamecube looked good, but the tropical setting never varied far from sun, sand and surf. But the galaxies are hardly unchanging cold vacuums. There are fields, ghost houses, fire worlds, ice worlds, airships, rivers, space graveyards, glass planets and much more (irony: Mario can breathe in space but he can still drown in water). There’s no slowdown, and blasting through space against the soft colors of a nebula is an absolute thrill.
Even though most of the levels are composed of small planets or otherwise small chunks of land, claustrophobia is never an issue because progressing as easy as jumping onto another planet (thus getting pulled into its gravitational field) or blasting off, which never gets old. This is an important observation for anyone who played The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and felt like the game’s islands were small and far between.
One of Super Mario Galaxy’s nicest surprises is its orchestrated music. Mario has always had very definitive music (even grandmothers know the Super Mario theme), but Galaxy’s soundtrack is moving. Each tune is suited perfectly for its environment, sometimes even speeding up, slowing down or changing seamlessly depending on the gameplay. Some classic Super Mario Bros 3 tunes make a return, which is enough to make any fan giddy. Mario still bounces around with his now-trademark “Ha!” and “Woo hoo!”, but Peach, for some disappointing reason, still sounds like a braindead little girl.
Super Mario Galaxy is the kind of game you can’t watch someone else play, simply because your hands start to twitch with the desire to try it yourself. And when you do play it (possibly after a scuffle for dominance) it reminds you thoroughly of why you fell in love with Mario in the first place. The plumber has always seemed at home during his adventures, turning the Mushroom Kingdom into his playground and happily taking you along for the ride. Now his stomping grounds span all of space, and you’re invited once again. Play well.
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Tags: Super-Mario-Galaxy |
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3 Comments » |
on November 15, 2007 2:15 pm
good review! i really want to play this game now.
on November 21, 2007 3:11 pm
9.5 lolololol
on December 19, 2008 1:51 pm
I know i’m being a little fussy, but I think it deserves 9.8. The graphics are truly stunning, the soundtrack is mindblowing and the transformations make each level unique.