Easily the height of Mario's illustrious career, and surprisingly, possibly the best game for the Wii from Nintendo.
Boy was I wrong! Super Mario Galaxy is proving to be one of my favorite Wii games I have played yet. As far as our plucky little plumber is concerned, this is by far his best game yet. Super Paper Mario, for me, comes in a close second, but Super Mario Galaxy surpasses my expectations in so many ways.
The graphics, first of all, are really quite good for the Wii. Bright and fun, the lighting and special effects are really well done. The worlds are interesting and creative.
The control system is in the main, quite simple. You move using the nunchuck, jump with A and use B to fire star bits, which you can collect by simply pointing at the screen. Coin collection is still around, but in the main you collect the star bits. Coins are still useful to keep your health up. And besides the ever popular smushing of Goombas by jumping on their heads, you can now do a spin attack by shaking the remote, knock them over, then run into them to dispose of them.
Where that differs is in the special galaxies - there are the main galaxies, which generally have about 3 levels each, but then there are other galaxies which are basically minigames - races and such that have special control systems. In one you have to race on a sting ray by holding the remote completely straight and flat, and turning your wrist to turn side to side, another you're rolling on a giant ball, and have to tilt the remote to move, and hold it straight up to stop. They sound easy, but it's actually a lot harder than it sounds, and immensely fun to try (I wasted at least six lives trying to get the hang of ray surfing!)
Mario also has the ability to gain special abilities with certain suits - the bee suit lets him fly for a period of time in the Honey Hive Galaxy. And there are others that I haven't gotten to yet, but I'm looking forward to.
And while the levels are relatively simple, there can be no doubt that they're incredibly fun. I enjoyed Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine but after a while even though the levels were all very different in appearance, they were similar in activity - so far Galaxy has kept my interest, and every now and then they draw you back into the storyline to keep you interested. The new characters - the Lumas and Rosalina - are a welcome addition to the Mario franchise.
Overall, Super Mario Galaxy is a must play for everyone who owns a Wii, and if you claim to be a fan of our little red-capped friend at all, it's a must-own.