Super Mario Galaxy
The Super Mario franchise manages to stay fresh in this latest addition to its 20 year contribution to the gaming world. Nintendo has always impressed the pants off of me when it comes to their big ticket projects. Super Mario Galaxy is no exception. This game takes a tried and true formula and turns it on its head. Literally.
The big N's golden boy has taken his shroom addiction to the great beyond to rescue the mushroom kingdoms most kidnapped resident, princess toadstool. The princess gets kidnapped and it looks like Bowser has learned a thing or two over the years through trial and error to know that Mario pretty much has him beat when it comes to show downs on land, sea, air.....pretty much everywhere. Bowser might as well try his luck in outer space right? And so the eternal struggle between plumbers and dinosaurs continues in several different galaxies and the developers aren't holding anything back. A simple idea is able to churn out a practically endless amount of new takes on the platforming genre. The element of no gravity adds such a new dynamic to the level designs that you are always excited to see what comes next.
Stages are short and sweet adding varying degrees of difficulty to keep things interesting. Levels are set up in the form of galaxies and the stages in which you obtain your stars are set up as planets. You're main objective is to collect stars in order to power up an observatory that is handled by someone named Rosalina. She parties with the Lumas who are stars that feed on jewels that are scattered all over the galaxies. If you haven't guessed it by now, it's up to you to collect all the stars that Bowser stole in order to power up the observatory so you can travel to the center of the Universe. Duh. Now I know what you're think....who cares. My thoughts exactly. The story isn't why you reading this or why you're on the fence about buying this game. At least I hope not.
This game is really fun. Honestly that's the best way to describe it. I could whip out the old thesaurus and come up with some fancy pants words to describe things, but I'm keeping it real for this one and using words I only think I know. The best description I could come up with was pure, unadulterated, video game fun. Playing Mario games, scratch that, GOOD Mario games will always give you that sense of being a kid again. Well for me at least. I've developed a certain taste for big explosions and gooey head shots as I have matured over the years but there's still nothing like bouncing around, collecting coins and finding your way around some of the most genius level design ever implemented into a video game.
Aside from the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, this is the must own Wii game that you've all been looking for. The Wii is not exactly known for it's border pushing graphical strength but it succeeds in presenting an extremely colourful, fluid world that really fits the Super Mario brand and shows what the Wii has to offer. New to his arsenal of pseudo cross dressing are a few new costumes that provide different abilities when adorn (thesaurus word for sure). You now have the ability to change into a bumble bee, a spooky ghost, a bouncy guy spring, and you can freeze things. There is no shortage to simplistic ideas that effectively add new life into this geriatric series.
For those of you that were worried about how a Mario Game would act and feel with the Wii's new controler system, you don't have to worry any longer. You control the direction of Mario with the nunchuck along with performing his butt stomp manuever and centering the camera. The Wii remote acts as a pointer that shoots collected gems and implements other motion responsive actions such as Mario's spin move. They work perfectly fine and adds a sense of involvement while playing the game.
The music is top notch using elements of classic mario samples and then realizing them in a full blown orchestra. There is little to no voice acting as most characters just spit out garbled noises and you're forsed to read like some egg head book worm loser. It's a good thing the story is completely worthless. Everything else sounds just like a Mario game and will make you feel right at home. It's like comfort food for the ear.....yeah
This is a perfectly crafted platform game from the guys who know how to do it best. Super Mario Galaxy manages to stay fresh in a long series of on going sequals and stands head and shoulders above its previous installements. It's a must have title if you own a Wii and will provide a sense of nostalgic joy that reminds you of why you invested so much time into this bouncy little chubby sterio type over the years.
