Nintendo's flagship series makes its way to the Wii, with "Super Mario Galaxy". It's always a challenge to find a household that won't benefit from a Mario game, given their guaranteed appeal to children and kids-at-heart, and "Galaxy" makes that challenge harder with joyous gameplay that should also entice gamers looking for more mature video-game experiences.
The Story
The Mushroom Kingdom is in merry colours as it prepares for the Stardust Festival: A celebration coinciding with the mysterious comet that fills the skies every one hundred years, causing a star shower as impressive as it is peculiar. Princess Peach invites our hero Mario over and he predictably arrives just in time to see the Princess doing what she does best: get kidnapped.
To be fair, there's not much you can do when the kidnapper uproots the whole castle you're in and launches it to the Center of the Universe.
Rival King Bowser, unphazed by the fact his world domination plans are invariably thwarted, decided to take it up a notch and try his hand at
universal domination. Indeed, it turns out the celebrated "comet" is actually a magical Observatory, with the amazing powers to effortlessly travel through space and
to create galaxies. Bowser seized the once-a-century opportunity and invaded the Comet Observatory, robbing it of the Grand Stars that fuel its powers. Harnessing them for himself, he transports to the Center of the Universe and starts shaping a new one to replace it, which he plans to rule with Princess Peach unwillingly by his side.
Mario eventually finds his way to said Observatory, where Rosalina, its founder, serves as Lady Exposition and tries to make sense of things. It seems the Comet Observatory is the home of Lumas, tiny creatures shaped like cartoon stars, complete with big black eyes that view Rosalina as their Mother. These Lumas grow up to become things that range in awesomeness, from little star platforms to actual planets. Some of them even become the Power Stars and Grand Stars that fuel the very Observatory.
Apparently, in order to save them, his "special one", Mushroom Kingdom and pretty much the whole Universe, Mario has to reclaim the stolen Stars from the evil claws of Bowser and his minions, in order to restore adequate energy to the Observatory, allowing for the trip to the Center of the Universe and the traditional climactic showdown.
It should be obvious that the story would make an admittedly rad children's picture book, but not much else. Kids will revel in the pretty stars, the interstellar flying, the fair ladies, the "everyman" hero, the comical sidekicks and the masterminding villain, who is also a fire-breathing dragon. As for adults, leave your scepticism at the door and look into the story only if you wish to make a list of hilarious clichés. And remember: There is no place for Science in Super Mario Galaxy! Only for delicious Star Bits and care-free flying through space.
The Gameplay
In "Galaxy", you control Mario as he makes his rounds around a plethora of galaxies, righting wrongs, saving penguins and collecting Power Stars.
Having more Power Stars means he can be sent to galaxies further away from the Observatory, where he can save other cute animals, get more Power Stars and so on and so forth until, in the universe, no stone is left unturned.
Of course, "galaxies" doesn't refer to the gravitationally bound system of millions of stars, but to a concept more akin to a toddler's imagination. They are clusters of tiny planets, more like a grouping of small islands, only instead of water they are separated with the vacuum of space; often, they are also close enough to jump from one to the other.
Right, so, each of the main galaxies consist of a bunch of small planets and feature about half a dozen stars for you to collect. Thankfully, the game doesn't have you blindly searching the expanse for them, rather they are tied to mini-arcs: They might be held by a fearsome shark, or a queen bee, or lay at the peak of a perilous mountain. In any case, you'll have to make use of Mario's acrobatic abilities to win them over, in an overall fuss-free affair. Even for the "hidden" stars that can be gained by exploring alternate routes, "Galaxy" eventually points out where you should look for them, so only slightly harder to get.
There are also plenty of "bonus" galaxies that consist of just one or two planetoids and only contain a single Star. These often are the Stars that require the most skill to get, but that's not to say they are a bother! Far from it, because controlling Mario is a blast and getting the most out of his powers logically maximizes it.
Mario controls familiarly to his previous 3D adventures, only with some expected enhancement in powers; like the ever-useful spin attack you can pull off by shaking the Wii Remote. But the acrobatic plumber greatest strength still are his jumps and, with the controls being as tight as ever, they are very enjoyable to make.
So, with the controls not being something really new, despite being aptly adapted for use with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, most of the uniqueness in "Galaxy" lies in the phrase that could easily be the subject of a thesis: "the galactic setting and the interesting gravitational implications of having multiple planets in close proximity". It really is something else: Jump a little too high in one planet, you might yourself suddenly pulled to another one. Punt a coconut out of orbit, who knows where it will land? It allows for some innovative puzzles and clever platforming, not to mention how genuinely cool it is, to be skating on an icy planet in one moment and then outrunning lava in a volcano-ridden planetoid in the next.
Most importantly, it simply is pure legitimate fun. Honestly, I can't remember the last time a game's controls made me laugh so heartily. I mean, laughing with the witty dialogue, or the shenanigans during a cut-scene is one thing, but having so much fun during routine gameplay is so rare that I cannot possibly stress it enough. Having fun really is the default state when playing Super Mario Galaxy.
And that's the key really to making a great game. You can "finish" Super Mario Galaxy, get to an ending, as soon as you collect 60 stars. But "Galaxy" is not really about going to the Center of the Universe, getting through another superb "fortress galaxy" and kicking Bowser's tail, or rescuing the Princess As Soon As Possible. It's about visiting all these strange and wonderful galaxies, experimenting with their unlikely laws of physics and interacting with their cartooney inhabitants. It's practically guaranteed that you'll be back to continue your hunt for the 120+1 stars, not because of the nifty extra rewards, but because the hunt is, in itself, a reward! Who knew?
There are, of course, a few instances where things can get a little frustrating. The camera generally does a great job in being in the right place at the right time, but there is little control over it and sometimes, inevitably, it will get in the way; especially if you are looking for hidden paths. The controls might be difficult to grasp at times, on account of the upside down, left is right madness that is the "playful gravity" portions.
Also, getting every Star in major galaxies, requires the use of "Prankster Comets", comets that don't open a brand new way to a Star, but slightly alter the variables of a course you've already played, resulting in a quasi-fresh experience. Thankfully this isn't milked in a way to triple the total star count, haphazardly throwing any type of Comet at galaxies. Rather, select galaxies get appropriate Prankster Comets. If you have a boss fight in one mini-arc, you'll likely get a Daredevil Comet, that has you losing a life and starting the level over if you get hit just once. If you notice the last leg of a planet looking suspiciously like a track, you'll probably get a Cosmic Comet that has you racing a shadow of yourself to the star. If there are a lot of enemies and moving obstacles, a Fast-Foe Comet might appear, doubling the speed of everything but you.
But the Purple Comet, that has you collecting 100 Purple Coins in order to get the Star, appears in
every major galaxy and couldn't possibly work equally well. The mechanic is tweaked in some galaxies and it plays pretty good for most of them, but there are 3 instances in particular that I didn't care much for. In those, you freely roam the galaxy, now eerily empty of encounters, in order to find the 100 Coins, some of which are quite hidden. I suppose the idea was to allow the player to take in the scenery and smell the flowers, but if that was the case then losing a life shouldn't make you restart from the beginning. It's pretty boring and needlessly punishing, in complete and utter contrast to the rest of the game.
In any case, these were the only Stars I didn't fully enjoy getting and I can see only few others being controversial. Let's say that half a dozen stars out of 121 not being a joyous affair is a pretty okay deal! A complaint of more substance can come from "hardcore" gamers and avid Mario handlers, in regards to the overall difficulty.
While I personally think that the Boss Fights are brilliant both in design and execution, I find that the difficulty of the rest of the game could handle being a little more challenging.
Most of the time, "Galaxy" is quite easy, and even its most challenging parts wouldn't take veteran players more than a few tries to get right. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it simply allows you to enjoy the full content of the game without taking too much effort. Besides, you can always make things harder for yourself. "Galaxy" is pretty generous when it comes to extra lives, so mistiming a jump or being knocked out is but a minor set-back; you restart nearby and repeat as necessary until you reach the end of the level. The thing is, you also lose the coins you've collected each time you lose a life, so setting a high score isn't a walk in the park. In fact, a lot of the coins are placed at inauspicious paces and getting every one of them without, say, falling to a Black Hole, is very, very difficult. Coins aren't used for much more than bragging rights so there isn't much of an incentive to get them when playing casually; yet, if you enjoy making things hard on yourself, the challenge of daunting high scores has you covered.
"Galaxy" covers Power-Ups exceptionally, with the inclusion of a score of them, both new and old. Also called Suits, they change the way Mario looks, moves and interacts and they are all a childish pleasure to try out. You can turn into Bee Mario, who can hover and stick to honey; Boo Mario, a ghost form that can pass through walls; Fire Mario of old that shoots fireballs, and quite a few more. They do seem to be a tad underplayed and I'd have certainly loved too see even more puzzles making use of them.
Super Mario Galaxy also has a "light" Multiplayer offering. A 2nd player can join anytime, using a single Wiimote, and help the first player out; not by controlling a second Mario, or Luigi or something that would admittedly be a proper Multiplayer mode, but a second on-screen cursor. That cursor can pick up Star Bits, fantastically glittering "bits of stars" and a Luma's favourite snack, throw them at friends and foes, slow down enemies and make the 1st player jump. Timing that last move carefully with the 1st player results in a super jump, which can be used to more easily reach some places, but nothing an experienced jumper can't pull-off with some back-flips and wall-jumps. You can also, of course, make Mario jump at inopportune times and result both in his demise and the 1st player's frustration which, depending on your personality, might have boundless comedy potential.
As a whole, the Multiplayer in Galaxy can make the game easier and definitely more interesting when two people are involved. It's a neat feature for those of us who do play single player games with friends and family, taking turns between actually playing and watching the action: Some sort of "Spectator Mode Plus", as you are still mostly watching the game, but you can keep yourself a bit occupied, helping out with, confessedly trivial, stuff.
It's also a nice way to ease children in the Super Mario Galaxy experience, or supervise them without actually appearing to do so.
The Presentation
The whole presentation compliments the jovial nature of the game. Vibrant colours, adorable critters and intriguing planetoids are a vital part of the Super Mario Galaxy package. Water based planets and most of the big bosses are especially fantastic and deserve a particular merit. Because, seriously, the hard-hat-sporting over-sized mole alone should be worth the price of admission.
The bizarre white outline that pretty much everything has, really wierded me out at first but, overall, I was very impressed with how charming it is, seeing Mario fly throughout all these spectacular galaxies; that was all that mattered in the end. I can barely imagine how amazing "Galaxy" must look to a child.
Music is equally superb, the sound effects are stellar, with some of them making good use of the Wii Remote's speakers. The voice acting is nice and happy during gameplay, but comes off too silly during dialogue; probably because most of it is text-driven and only a few, presumably key, phrases are voiced.
I liked the packaged booklet, if only because it is pretty analogous of the game as whole: It looks pretty, makes quick work of the story and focuses on the gameplay aspects.
~~~~~~~~~~
==OVERALL==
History has proven that the "Mario adventure" formula is virtually guaranteed to win any first-timer over; satisfying those that have been down that road before, however, is tricky business. In that too, Super Mario Galaxy succeeds. Despite not being very different, the gameplay feels very polished and quite spiced up with the gravity stunts of the multiple tiny planets and the interesting applications of Suits; it really is impressive enough to make saving the princess and/or the world a blast once more. It might not have the story of Bioshock, the epic boss battles of Metroid, or the critical choices of Mass Effect, but "Galaxy" sure unearths pure bliss as few titles can. I thoroughly enjoyed playing Super Mario Galaxy to the bone and I really look forward going through it again; this time as my nephew's wingman.
Super Galaxies of Fun 
