TwiddleGeek

If you haven’t already heard the raving praises being piled onto Super Mario Galaxy, you are clearly out of the proverbial loop. I probably don’t need to tell you that it’s a fantastic game, but I’m going to add my two cents anyway.

The game starts us off with the same story as always: Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser, yet again (why don’t they staple her to the floor already?). A few new characters come to Mario’s aid - the Lumas, personified stars, and their leader, Rosalina, a Peach-look-alike with a big, albeit broken, starship. To restore the ship and pursue Bowser, Mario must hop across various galaxies to collect stars. While the story is clearly flimsy… who really cares?

Also, while the Wii’s graphics are obviously not on par with the other consoles of its generation, again I must ask, does it matter? Galaxy is bright and colorful, with appropriate cartoon style. And it has bunnies. The music is catchy as well, with a number of tracks that are revitalized renderings of classic Mario music. The voice acting is… awful, but thankfully very limited.

While it’s certainly not one of the hardest games out there, the difficulty curve is appreciable. Early levels can be quite simple, while some of the later ones are likely to trump you on your first try… or your first few tries (”Luigi’s Purple Coins” is now a registered SpaceKitty torture method). Most bosses follow the same pattern: the first few hits are cake, but getting that last one requires a step up.

And finally the meat of it: gameplay. As one who is notoriously bad at jumping in video games, I quite enjoyed levels where I could run around the full area of a platform - over and under - without falling off. Sometimes being on the bottom or the side of a platform disoriented my sense of direction, however, and it would take a moment to readjust (which can be costly in self-moving or tough obstacle levels). Transformation mushrooms and flowers are fun, if perhaps under-utilized (the ghost mushroom was used, what, two times?).

There are two particular level types which I’d like to call attention to, though; those where Mario must maneuver a rolling ball while standing atop it, and those where he surfs. These two were particularly difficult and frustrating for me because they involved unique Wii controls based on the remote’s gyroscopic motion sensing capabilities. In theory I think this should’ve been cool, but the reality is that I was constantly falling off the edge of the course when the remote would either over- or under-estimate my movements. Perhaps it’s just me who is awful at these levels, but I have to feel the designers were aware of it too, since all such levels have easy-to-grab 1UPs near the start of the track (”we’re sorry you keep falling off - here, have a freebie!”). Still, I finished all 120 levels, so they were not insurmountable.

The game is a bit short if you’re only going to get the requisite 60 stars to unlock the final fight with Bowser, but I found myself wanting to continue for the sheer enjoyment of playing it. If you retrieve all 120 stars, you get a slightly extended ending and the opportunity to replay the game as Luigi, who seems to control a bit differently from Mario. Overall, this is the defining title for the Wii thus far, and it’s much fun - go play it!