Mario Galaxy is a fantastic game that has great use of the wii remote, but some of it feels stripped down.
The bad: Mario feels a bit more sluggish than he did in his previous 3d endeavors. A lot of his outstanding acrobatic moves from 64 and Sunshine have been removed. Too many boss fights.
Mario Galaxy is a game that will have anyone who owns a Wii or has been a fan of Nintendo for any significant amount of time icthing in their pants to get a hold of it. When you start the game off, you get a familiar story with a new twist, hence the outer space theme. While the game is an absolute masterpiece, some of it feels like its been stripped down and undercooked.
The gameplay is solid. Mario moves around fluidly, and once you get used to running around round objects instead of flat ones, it works rather well. But many people won't be able to help but feel that Mario feels a lot more sluggish and slow than he has in his previous 3d adventures. He doesn't move quite as fast, and a lot of his acrobatic moves have been cut out, such as the dive when running, the spiral kick, and any basic form of attack besides the standard 'jump on the enemy' tactic. It definately gives the whole game the old-school Mario feel, and once you get used to the somewhat stripped down controls, you accept it, and will probably enjoy it. But it's still a little bit of a let-down that he no longer moves like a Gold medal gymnast and more like a fat plumber.
The game uses the Wii remote like no other 'traditional' game has yet. It implements it in small mini-game type levels and includes a few obstacles in the regular levels that will have you stretching and bending in interesting ways. While the game would still be great without them, it's definatley a relief to finally see how the Wii remote was designed to work and a game that utilizes both it's traditional and innovative gameplay styles. And while they are subtle, almost all of them work extrememly well, and I'm excited to see what other kinds of things Miyamoto and other developers are going to do in the future.
As far as the content of the game goes, it's a little dissapointing that there are A LOT of boss battles, which usually ends up being a larger version of the standard enemy you encountered in the process of getting to it. They are huge, screen filling beasts that will jack you up, and they're usually a lot of fun to beat. They're all rather unique, but it becomes a bit tiresome running away from his attacks, then hitting him in his weak spot three times to kill him. A little bit more variation could have helped the game.
The screenplay is unparallelled on the Wii to this date. Everything is bright, vibrant, and sharp. It's got a great artistic style that definately fits with the game and the direction it's trying to go. The music is beautifully orchestrated, blending classic Mario tunes with some new spacy themed songs, and they fit the game perfectly. It definatley adds a dramatic atmosphere to the game, and this might just be Mario's most epic adventure yet.
Mario Galaxy blends a lot of new and old, bringing back a lot of the classic Mario style and adding the new gravity and outer space elements to the game. While it definately feels different from the 3d Mario's of the past, it's quickly shrugged off because the game is so much fun. It's easily the best platformer, and game for that matter on the Wii, and probably will be for quite some time.