Ahh.. Christmas 2007. I was 12 years old. Yes, and the Wii was just releasing its new line of games and I got my console from Walmart. I booted up the Wii during a party and it was great. I played Super Mario Galaxy and Resident Evil 4. I was not disappointed. It's the ultimate nostalgia trip for me. 5 layers of nostalgia. Being a adolescent boy playing Mario remembering that Mario was great thing going through the decades with great video game titles. And here we are today. Space the final frontier!
Now lets get down to the game.
The story is your typical Mario story, during a peaceful day everyone celebrating. Peach was there and then Bowser stole her for some reason. Because he wanted to have a scalie son with her or political power seizure or something. So it's up to Mario and a new cast of delightful cartoon characters to save the Galaxy!
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay of Super Mario Galaxy is great and somewhat innovative. But by little means is it addicting.
First the Good, the objectives are standard Mario a fair. BUT IN SPAAACE!! You have to do each objectives and get one star. You can open up new galaxies depending on how many one planet requires. These objectives include racing penguins, collecting coins, going through an entire level, timed missions, ect. It's a lot of variety.
SMG's best parts are the boss fights and the fact you can walk around 3 dimensional objects. It is a concept rarely used but man does it defy any other platformer in terms of innovation. You can shoot stars at bad guys like the goombas and stun then attack them. You can collect items with your Wii-mote in the distance.
Ok now on to the frustration, Mario Galaxy is no where near as polished as people. It looses its charm rather quickly. Mario jumps way too long, yes he is in space but that doesn't mean he can't require gravity. After all gravity does exist on a globe. Mario's attacks are fairly weaker than usual. Mario doesn't punch or kick. All his moves just boil down hopping on enemies and shooting them. But both are weak. I know this is supposed to be a platformer and Mario is not a superhero but will someone please program something more satisfying than this? It's driving me nuts. The controls are loose and not that great.
The Camera in SMG always keeps a careful distance at the small red plumber making sure NOTHING is in the way. Cameras be the death of 3D platformers.
Overall Mario Galaxy is for die hard fans or people with real patients. Otherwise try Super Mario world. It will keep you hooked.
GRAPHICS
Ok lets take a second to observe. Super Mario Galaxy has the most amazing graphics for a Nintendo Wii game. For something that is just a souped up Original Xbox. Mario Galaxy has the most detailed shiniest smoothest graphics I've seen on the console. Everything is super colorful. It may not be in HD but it could EASILY pass as a 2nd gen PS3 game. The round graphics are at the benefit of the globe trotting gameplay.
You'll see in the distance, there are cities with star citadels. Each galaxy is different.
The art maybe childish but hell, in an era of brown and grey shooters I'm willing to see what a "next gen" console can do with American cartoon graphics.
MUSIC
The music in Super Mario Galaxy is some of the most charming out there. You'll hear several tunes such as like. So whimsical and charming and nostalgic for me. Orchestras in a Mario game with little midi conversions. The sound effects are mostly nice but don't expect VA's in this game.
OVERALL
Overall Super Mario Galaxy is a very charming and unique title of a game. Though it's gameplay is a chore many times it still can be a curiousity to play. A charming game for all ages.