A welcome return to the familiar formula seen in Super Mario 64, but with outstanding differences!
Super Mario Galaxy is an utterly brilliant game. One would have a hard time trying to find a game that is more fun in this day of complex story telling and pumped up graphics. This is gaming at it's very finest. Instead of crafting a deep and interesting (and sometimes plain confusing) storyline, Nintendo again have over-simplified the basic Mario game story, which is, Peach gets kidnapped by Bowser, and Mario pursues.
Of course, there is a problem with the narrative of the game. Every level (or galaxy) you visit, you fail to make the connection between the plot and the level. But this is something seen in every Mario game. Every game features a variety of themed levels (i.e fire, ice, desert, green etc), and there is just no connection between them. Maybe due to the complex story telling we've seen in recent years since the last Mario outing, we as gamers have become expected to have anything join nice and linear? Well, so the case may be, I don't care. You will have such a blast exploring these levels and trying to get the Stars that you too won't really care.
The gameplay. I can't say enough, except, wow, great and fantastic. Nintendo of course, have taken the unique control scheme of the Wii and showed the world what it's little console can do. There are different control schemes within the game that corresponds with the action within the game, and every time the scheme changes, it doesn't feel awkward or tacked on. Of course there hasn't been much change from the overall gameplay of normal play. Mario still triple jumps, ground pounds and wall to wall jumps, but Nintendo have beautifully translated this scheme to the Wii-mote and nunchuck. I should also mention that, the spinning attack Mario picks up in this game is fun, a lot of fun. Personally I always get a thrill when I spin my Wii-mote around to make Mario to do the same.
Sound is just amazing. For the old school Mario fans, there is a lot of return to 80's and 90's Mario music. My personal favorite is Toy Factory's background music, which features a remixed version of that very first Mario theme from Super Mario Brothers. But, what could we expect from Nintendo? They always try to cater for their long-term fans, as well as trying to lure new players to the Marion franchise.
Super Mario Galaxy is so far, the best game for the Wii. Sadly, Twilight Princess can not be seen as a true Wii game, since it was ported over last minute for the Wii's launch. So, we can say this is the Wii's first proper Nintendo game. And what a splash it made! It doesn't compete with other high powered, pumped up graphical heavyweights going around at the moment, but from a artistic stand-point, this game is bloody well beautiful.
If you own a Wii, go and get this game right now if you haven't already. And if you haven't even gotten a Wii, I demand you find yourself one quick and pick this game up.
This is gaming at it's very, very best.