“its’s me, Mario!”
Those three iconic words begun one of the finest games of the 20th century. It seems old now, Mario and the N64, but think of all the goo dthings it brought to gaming. Mario 64 was, in my opinion,one of the best platformers ever. It had 120 stars, which prooved quite hard to collect, clever level design, and various other features that are now gaming history.
Of cousre its sequel was not so hot, super mrio sunshine. Now, I have nothing against the game, of course it was slightly different in design but it was still a solid enough game. Many people dont regard Sunshine as 64’s true sequel. Well finally, mario has a game good enough to be deemed sequel, to the original.
So does this mean galaxy is the same as 64? Most certainly not! Of course it does slightly resemble the good old game, but this is an exellent new game, retaining the core elements, that made 64 so good,and adding in new ones that make galaxy really that mcuh better. The graphics are the best on the wii to date, the soundtrack is incredible, the whole scale of the game is amazing, and guess what? No loading times! This really is the ultimate platform game, or as ultimate as we are going to get for a long time.
Graphics
As i mentioned before, the graphics in this are the best on the wii. Now a lot of people think that the wii is only capable of last gen, PS2 graphics, but the only reason for that is that so many PS2 games have been shoved on the wii, with little more than motion sening added. Those games were designed for the PS2, with PS2 hardware in mind, however galaxy has been designed with the Wii in mind. This game would not be possible on any other console, and you need to play it to experience it. Of course it isn’t HD, but its finally graohics the Wii can be proud of, well done Nintendo!
Music
The music in this game is truly brreathtaking, its how it should have been in Zelda. Orchestated, and nicely composed, it really adds the to atmosphere of the game, that is needed to create the feeling of going into space. There are some classic tunes, remixed a bit, as well as some new ones, all are equally memorable. There are also certain places where you hit a block, or grab a ? coin, and a trail of music notes comes out. You follow it and as you do it plays a classic mario song, which is a neat little touch.
Not only is the music brilliant but the sounds are also very good. You have the generic mario “Wahoo”, “hah” and “oomph” as well as the screams of joy he yells as he shoots through space like a comet. Voice acting is kept to a minimum, Sometimes a character may say “help” or “please” or something like that, but there isnt much voice acting. If there was, i think the game would be too cinematic, and people may get bored.
Gameplay
Again, very solid, very nice, easy for a begginer, but gets harder towards the end. You have 120 stars to collect again, 5 different domes, each with 5 different galaxies, each with six stars to collect, as well as the bonus dome and the bonus levels. THe bonus levels are really fun, and clever at the same time. They may seem like apointless distraction, after all, you can complete story mode without them, but if you do, you are missing out. For example, there is one where you hop on a ball, and have to roll it to the end of a course, like monkey ball. You hold the controller like a joystick and move like that. There are mantaray surfing levels, buble levels, and even a couple of levels where matter itself dissapears when it hasnt got a spotlight on it.
One thing I will say though, is that overall, this is an easy game. Im not saying you are going to whizz through it in a couple of hours, although I have heard someone played it for a day solidly and completed it, but it is rather easy. Sometimes, you may be stuck , “what do i do next?”, or the’re may be a bit you cant quite react to in time, or a boss that is a bit too hard, but generally, its easy. Of course, I have been playing games since when I was about 4, so I may be a bit biased.
Controls
Ver good, just like the rest of the game. It uses the remote, without over using it, and you havethe controls simple enough for anyone to use. It may be a bit confusing when you are upside down on a planet, but youi get used to it. Jumping is done with A, wheras shooting star bits is done with B. A is also used for latching onto blue stars and interacting with other things on screen, but mainly jumping. You control Mario with the analouge stick, change the view with the D-pad, and spin by shaking the remote. So as you can see, you dont need to be jumping around smashing windows with this game.
You also have the option of having someone else to help you collect star bits, shoot/freeze enimies, or poimt things out, but the second player never really feels like they are playing, they are just a cursor.
Summary
Best graphics on Wii, Best gameplay on Wii, Best Music on Wii, and most fun platormer on any console. Did i mention in won game of the year on both Yahoo.com and IGN.com? Just because its mario does not mean it is babyish. Just because its Wii, dosent mean you have to look like an idiot playing it. If you liked mario 64, this is a must have. If you like any mario, sonic, or other platform game, then you’ll like this. The only reason you may not like this is that you are a sad little kid who sits in their room denying the exsisntance of good Wii games. They do exsist you know!
9.9/10 Almost perfect
