If you are like me, you have set plenty of time aside to play Super Mario Galaxy, my pick for Game of the Year. The game starts out like many Mario games do. You get an invitation from Princess Peach to meet her at the castle the night of the Star Festival, a once every hindred year celebration when a comet passes over the Mushroom Kingdom. Unfortunately, Bowser and his thugs crash the party kidnap the princess (with the entire castle too), and send you into outer space. You are rescued by a Peach lookalike called Rossalina, who protects chubby looking stars called Lumas. She gladly wants to help you rescue Peach and stop Bowser's evil plans, but for that, you need to find enough Stars to power her spaceship\observatory. What leads is one of Mario's greatest games ever. Unlike your trip to Delfino Island in Super Mario Sunshine, this is truly a spiritual successor to Mario 64. It sustains all the way through as a true Mario platforming experience. The galaxies you'll explore are all very varied and each feature their own challenges. The sheer variety of things to do will guarantee you won't get bored. The game also features lots of fan service, from classic music cues, to the return of fan-fave Magikoopa, to big Boss Fights with Bowser. Uses of the wii remote are truly minimal. You control Mario's basic movements with the control stick and you jump with the A button. You ground pound by jumping and pressing the Z button. Your basic attack is a spin executed by shaking the remote. Besides some other areas that require motion sensitivity, you don't feel that the motion sensitivity is being forced into the game. That doesn't mean the ganeplay is bad. This is advanced platforming built on the foundations of every platform and run-and-gun game before it...and takes it to an entire new level. This game is to platforming what Portal is to shooters. There are only a few problems with the game: Underwater swimming could still use some work and the challenges can get a little repetitive later on in the game. But those are really small complaints. Every challege has been looked into until it's perfect. This perfect platforming just keeps inventing and never falls flat. Overall, you'll never recreate the feeling we had when we first played Super Mario 64. Seeing Mario in 3D for the first time was a revelation and is a feeling you can never recreate. Super Mario Galaxy comes as close as humanely possible.
Super Mario Galaxy is the kind of game people dream about, but the kind of game that almost never comes along. It's chock full of old school goodness, hardcore action, nostalgic rushes, and a fairytale like story that e... Read Full Review
At first, I wasn't going to be this game because I thought that the game producers couldn't possibly create another great game. Super Mario 64 was a spectacular game, as was Super Mario Sunshine. I never thought in a mi... Read Full Review
