Super Mario Galaxy

Conclusions

Reviewing things is never simple and, before I go ahead and slap a score on the game as an easy-to-digest summary of my thoughts, there’s a few things to consider.

The gameplay itself is excellent in both my opinion and that of my girlfriend, who sat next to me as I played the game at home. She repeatedly tried to snatch the controllers out of my hands to play the game, so thank God for the wriststrap is all that I can say.

There are however a few issues I have with the game. Multiplayer is one – the co-op mode which is in the game is very tacked on and sees players working together as a single character, with one shooting star bits and making Mario jump and the other moving Mario around. It’s an obviously clumsy addition to a game which is otherwise deliriously graceful.

The fact that the story is so awkwardly conveyed is a bit annoying and confusing too. It’s not actually all that hard to understand what’s going on, but having characters who repeat unskippable dialogue without really explaining things makes NPC interaction often more of a pain than it’s worth.

The graphics aren't especially good either and though the bright colours and child-friendly design goes a far way to address this, the game still looks very fuzzy around the edges at times. The graphical power of the game is admittedly limited more by the console rather than the game but, seeing as Nintendo made both, I think it's fair criticism to make.


However, the main problem for me is one which has arisen from a conversation I had with a journalist from another website about why exactly Nintendo gets away with essentially remaking the same games over and over.

Zelda, Metroid and Mario games are recycled over and over, each one boasting the same old gameplay styles of old but with slightly new content and a handful of tweaks. It’s something to love about Nintendo because it is essentially giving players more of what they want and, to be fair, Nintendo games are often incredibly well balanced and designed – but it’s also something to loathe.

How many new Mario games and remakes do we need to see before Nintendo comes up with a new major IP for hardcore gamers? Nintendogs and Brain Training is fine for the masses, but when are we going to see something new which is on the same scale as Mario? I can't be the only one who wants to play with someone else rather than a portly Italian plumber, can I?

Granted, that isn't a problem which immediately detracts from the quality of Galaxy, but it is a problem which will bother some of the grumpier gamers out there (like myself) and will probably be pointed out by some of the Xbox 360 and PS3 fanboys who populate the world.


I suppose this criticism comes down to my original bite-sized explanation of the game; that it is essentially just Super Mario 64 in space. That’s not bad, because both Mario 64 and Galaxy itself are great games, but it is illustrative of a wider issue. Shoving those wider issues aside for a moment though, Super Mario Galaxy is a game which belongs in the collection of any Wii gamer. It’s massive world is one which can be either fully explored, probed and completed, or skipped through when the difficulty curve gets too steep.

The new transformations and moves available to Mario are fun enough to keep the game feeling slightly fresh even if it isn’t really that much of a breakthrough and the levels themselves are complex and interesting enough to entertain anyone.

The fact that it’s got the Super Mario name on it may put some people off the game who think that Mario games are just for kids, but it really shouldn’t. Despite the cartoony and kiddy feel that the game has on the surface there’s actually a wealth of longevity and replayability hidden under the crust - Galaxy is a game which will keep hardcore and casual gamers entertained for hours and hours.