Super Mario Galaxy Review
Mario Soars through the Stars for his First Major Wii Title
Jul 11, 2008 Eric Christiansen
Few things can excite the Nintendo crowd as much as a new Mario title, and Super Mario Galaxy is no exception. Virtually every Mario title that has been released has been met with high praise and anticipation, so seeing what it had to go up against, Super Mario Galaxy had to meet some already high standards. Not only has this title met those standards, its set the bar even higher for any upcoming Mario games in the future.
Story & Level Design
Mario's plot hasn't changed much since the original same for the NES. Bowser has invaded the Mushroom Kingdom once again and kidnapped Princess Toadstool. Mario's attempts to stop the attack are thwarted and he finds himself befriended by Rosalina and the star-like race of Lumas aboard their spaceship, the Observatory. To save the princess and stop Bowser from his domination of the galaxy, Mario must recover the Grand Stars from Bowser to make the Observatory operational again.
Similar to Super Mario 64's setup, Mario must travel through several galaxies and visit each planet with its own theme and complete specific tasks to obtain stars. Much like Super Mario 64 broke ground by being a well-designed 3rd person game, Super Mario Galaxy does the same by showing off its use of gravity. In levels where Mario must travel through space, nearly every object that can be walked upon contains its own gravitational pull.
The exceptional aspect of this feature allows players to walk around each planet or object they land on and can jump around freely without always falling off the edges. This type of movement and gameplay has to been seen to be appreciated and, while it may give some headaches to some people, others will be mesmerized by the caliber of control and precision that Nintendo has achieved in such a challenging design. While the appearance is new, the basic setup of each level remains true to the original Mario games. Players will have to run, jump, climb, crawl, and fly their way through each level fighting off the traditional bunch of enemies, like goombas and koopas, while engaging with some new foes as well.
Control & Music
The use of control in a Mario game has always been crucial to its gameplay. Super Mario Galaxy is the first title with the use of the Wii remote and it makes good use of its features. Players will have no trouble moving about and jumping from object to object in space, though trying to find the right direction on the nunchuck may take a little practice.
There aren't many people who can't already identify Mario's theme music, whether they are a gamer or not. The score created by the Mario Galaxy Orchestra is nothing short of exceptional. The game brings back some classic level themes from previous Mario games, which fans are sure to recognize, and introduces many new original musical pieces that will immerse players into the new universe.
Overall
Super Mario Galaxy has shown that even after two decades since the Mario franchise started, it is still possible to create a game that can inspire originality while maintaining the same entertaining gameplay that started in Super Mario Bros. It's hard for any genre to endure the newer competition when utilizing an older style of gameplay, but Mario's platform action has continually stood the test of time. Super Mario Galaxy will entertain the new generation of gamers while still treating the fans to the original gameplay they experienced years ago.
Score: 9.5 out of 10
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