The world of videogames has changed a lot since 1985. That year, Super Mario Bros. debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System and changed gaming forever. Recently, the videogame market has become obsessed with catering to the older, more mature gamer. The top sellers of the year consist of 18+ titles, that continue to push the boundaries on presentation, story, graphics, sound, and online multi-player. So where in this videogame universe of space marines, big daddies, and car jackers does Mario fit in? Better yet, how in the hell does Nintendo release a game with inferior presentation, story, graphics, sound, and multiplayer and still claim the prize as the best rated game of the year?
It's all pretty simple really. Nintendo still makes fun games, and Mario Galaxy is easily the most fun you will have playing a videogame this year. Sure, you won't be making moral decisions about whether or not to kill small children for power-ups. You will also not be playing this will a bunch of trash talking middle school kids in a online frag fest. No, Mario Galaxy is not a great mutli-player game. It's not going to WOW you with it's High Def Graphics or it's 5.1 Digital Surround sound. It's just simply going to make you happy. The kind of happy that can only be captured by the pure imagination of the best Nintendo has to offer. The best they have offered in over a decade. Yes,
Super Mario Galaxy is the best Nintendo game released in almost 10 years.
It's not hard to pinpoint what Mario does right. The first thing is it's absolute genius level design. The development team has taken the Galaxy theme and run wild with ideas. Flying from planet to planet, you will never know exactly what to expect, but will more often then not, be quite impressed. The traditional platform staples are all here but are now twisted and tweaked with gravity effects and multi-directional camera views. Sure, you've jumped from platform to platform in pretty much every Mario game in history, but have you ever done so upside down or even sideways? Adding to the genius level design is the best set of power-ups in a Mario game since Super Mario Bros. 3. While some power-ups are used more then others, you will find that they are all well implemented and generally fun to use.
The graphics may not blow you 360/PS3 owners away, but they are pretty fantastic compared to the recent Wii library. The game runs at a smooth 60 fps, and rarely, if ever, slows down. Combine this with some fantastic music. In fact I'm willing to say this may be the best soundtrack in any Nintendo game to date. The use of orchestrated music gives Mario a more epic vibe for the first time in the franchise history. It's a shame that Nintendo doesn't do this more often, especially in games like Zelda. The overall presentation is pretty much the highest it's ever been for Nintendo in general. Which is hopefully a sign of the future. The lack of voice acting may make a few people angry, but really the voice actors are a bit annoying in the first place. Do you really want to hear Mario or Peach speak for more then 30 seconds? The story, which is actually well developed for a Mario game, is still a bit pointless. Thankfully, it's also optional.
While we are on a more negative note, what else does Mario do wrong? Not much. Any complaints are pure nitpicking. I believe the biggest complaint will probably be the difficulty. True, it's fairly easy to get to the finish line (60 stars) without much trouble. Gamers looking for a meatier experience will want to complete the entire game (120 stars) for a more decent challenge. There are definitely some difficult missions in this game, a few that require platfroming perfection to complete. Not to worry as the game constantly gives you 1-ups with little effort.
The ideas eventually start to run out toward the end of the game, several stars require replaying levels and bosses with harder circumstances (ex. faster enemies, 1 hit kills). The good news is that these levels are some of the most challenging in the game, and will reward skilled players. It's kind of hard to complain about re-visiting levels when the level design is this good. You'll want to go back. In addition getting the entire 120 stars will give players a reason to play the entire game all over again.
So what we have here, despite the minor complaints, is a true Nintendo classic. The kind of game that only comes around once in awhile.
It's not only the best game on Wii, it's easily the best 3D platformer of all time. Whether it is the best Mario game of all time will take a little time to decide, but it is definitely in the running. If you loved Super Mario Bros 3 as a kid, think of this as the 3D equivalent. Just like the 8-bit classic, it's filled with excellent level design, awesome power-ups, and some of the most fun you can have playing a videogame. You can't put a score on that, but for all intents and purposes..
10/10 - A Nintendo Gamer's dream come true