This is probably one of my favorite games of the year.
much to my delight, it isnt at all! its actually much like my favorite game in the super mario series: Super Mario 64. basically its like they took SM64 and added a spin move to mario, upped the graphics, added new elements of gravity and flying, and put it in a new setting. now, that kind of sounds extremely different, but the actual point of the game is exactly the same. You go from stage to stage (paintings in 64, galaxies in galxy, due to the setting change) collecting stars. Thats basically it. but to really, truely, give this game the review it deserves, this is gonna take some time. I will be using a fair ammount of comparisons to get my point accross clearly.
First up, the controlls. The wii has a ground-breaking controll system that is completely different than anything else. This can be an obvious obstacle to platformers such as the mario series. If you use it too much, the game is lost in the controlls and it gets too complex. Use it too little, and you aren't using the great features the wii has to offer. (which is something i had a problem with from super paper mario) Galaxy uses just the right ammount. basically you have a cursor on the screen that lets you grab onto some "orb" things that will take you to it. It also lets you pick up these things called "Star Bits." the last thing it does is lets you do a spin move. the spin move is extremely useful when fighting the regular enemies on the ground. To move, you use the control stick on the nun-chuck. A is jump. B shoots your star bits (which either confuses enemies or supplies the star people with a nice snack). Z ducks, along with the Z combos: Z, then A does back-flip, and when your moving and do that, you jump really far. They are very standard controlls to the mario series, making it feel really similar to Mario 64.
Next, gravity. With this game, gravity is more of a toy. everything has gravity and lets you walk all over things and jump to an object above you, then being stuck to it by gravity. some rooms also let you change the gravity. Other gravity-playing includes walking inside planets and stuff. Another kind of "toy" in the game is a type of launcher. You will come accross star outlines floating in the air. if you go next to them and do a spin move, it launches you to a specific place.
The camera angles are usually pretty good. When your looking for things like hidden items or easter eggs, which i often do, the camera can be horrible to work with, since you have only one view, and you can't move it. Otherwise it moves by itself to a perfect to play the game to get most of the stuff your looking for, and i ran into no glitches with it.
Now, there were 2 weak points with the game. I have to compare it to super paper mario again for this. I really didnt like the plot. Now i realize that its a platformer, and MARIO at that, but all of the paper marios (and super mario rpg) had great story-development. I liked those because of the plot development, and i wasn't JUST getting star after star in world after world until i beat it; i actually wanted to see what happened at the end. The other one was your health. you have 3 hits. you can have 6 with a special mushroom, but after you loose the extra 3 you get from it, you dont get them back. Im more undecided about this point, because that is just pitiful for an inter-galactic hero, but it definately adds an element of skill needed in game play.