Hello, and welcome to my first review in a year :P As you all probably know, Super Mario Galaxy is the latest Mario platforming game for the Wii. This Review will be graded on a scale from 0-100 with 100 being the best score possible and 0 being the worst. Let's hop right in, shall we?
Story: 65/100
Pretty typical
"Bowser kidnaps Peach and Mario has to save her" thing again. But, it's
a Mario game so what were you expecting? Except there is a bit of a twist.
Every 100 years a comet passes by the Mushroom Kingdom, but this year it
was so large that shooting stars fell from the sky. When the Toads scooped
up the Star Bits and brought them to the castle, it was reborn as a great
Power Star. Mario gets an invitation from Peach to come to the Star Festival.
But when at the Star Festival, Bowser bombs the place and literally rips
Peach's castle from the ground and takes it into space. When in space Mario
gets knocked off the castle onto a planetoid. On the planetoid he meets
Rosalina, who takes Mario back to her observatory. Now it's up to him to
save Peach, and the universe too.
Gameplay: 95/100
Easily the best
part of the game. Basically everything that made SM64 great is multiplied
by ten. Rosalina's observatory acts as the hub world, and from here you
can go in all these different domes where you can access different galaxies,
with a boss galaxy at the end of each. The boss in the game alternates
between Bowser and Bowser Jr. Yeah, it'd be nice to see the Koopalings
for once, but it really isn't that big of a deal. Also, every time you
beat a boss you get what's called a Grand Star. Everytime you get one it
powers up the observatory so eventually you can fly to the center of the
universe where you can battle Bowser for the last time and rescue Peach,
and the universe.
Oh yeah, and for the galaxies themselves? They're simply amazing, and it's the sheer variety of the environments that really stand out. It's not just the typical desert level, water level, grass level, and fire level anymore. Now, you’ve got everything from haunted beaches, to spaceships, to honeyhives, to fire and ice coexisting in one galaxy, and so on. As you probably knew, gravity is now a big factor in gameplay. A lot of the galaxies consist of a series of planets that gravity holds you onto so you can walk 360 degree angles around them. Very cool indeed.
At the end of every mission is a Power Star, collect more of these to unlock more levels. Every galaxy has 3 normal Stars, a comet Star (comets have special effects on the galaxy, like having you do a time run or beat a level with 1 wedge of health, etc), and a couple of secret Stars. You only need half of them to beat the game, but if you're hardcore like me you'll try to collect all 120 of them before turning off your Wii. You might even get something special for all your hard work.
As for Wiimote controls, you'll only use the Wiimote when shaking it to perform a spin attack or to grab something on the screen. But I think Nintendo went the right way with this, as it feels necessary, and not forced upon you or added just because they could do so with the Wii.
Mario has some new power-ups too. The Fire Flower and Super Mushroom return, but now there's Bee Mario, which allows you to fly for a short time. And now there's Ice Mario, which allows you to walk across water and lava. Those are the most widely used ones, but there's a few more which I'll let you find out about on your own.
The only gripe I have about the gameplay is the camera being glitchy at times and the story about Rosalina feeling a bit unnecessary. But it's optional, and you can skip it if you choose to. Anyways, I could go on about the gameplay for another page, but I'll let you play SMG and see for yourself.
Graphics: 95/100
Probably the
best-looking graphics on the Wii. The textures are Great: from the lighting
to fur textures to shading, everything is stunning. One galaxy that particularly
stood out was the Beach Bowl Galaxy. The water effects were very realistic,
and everything looked very lively. I found that the graphics actually enhanced
the gameplay, believe it or not. This game is a step up from "It's good
enough" to "Wow, this looks amazing."
Sound: 90/100
Say goodbye to
MIDIs and electronic music, everything in Super Mario Galaxy is now orchestrated.
The music in this game is one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard.
When I first played the Good Egg Galaxy I couldn't believe what I was hearing,
every piece fits the mood of their respective galaxy almost perfectly.
The game even features remixes of pieces from the original Super Mario
Bros. and SMB3 in some levels on top of the dozens of other new pieces.
Fun Factor!: 99/100
This game is
the most fun I've ever played, ever, even more fun than SM64. Every galaxy
is very different and unique, each one offering a completely different
experience. Hopping from planet to planet and playing with gravity effects
is only half the fun. And unlike other Mario platformers such as SM64 or
Sunshine, you'll never feel limited to a certain space in some galaxies,
as due to being in outer space, some of the galaxies seem to stretch out
into infinity.
Difficulty: 60/100
I found this
game to be a bit lackluster in terms of difficulty. This isn't a bad thing,
but more experienced players might be disappointed in this game's challenge.
One problem is that you only need 60 stars to beat Bowser, the other 60
Stars aren't even necessary and you can skip them. A majority of the first
60 Stars are a cakewalk, however, the last 60 stars are a different story.
The last 60 are noticeably more challenging, and there's a couple of them
that are just plain cruel.
Value: 80/100
If you wanna
get only 60 Stars, you'll beat this game in a few days. However if you
wanna
get all 120, it'll take you quite a bit longer. For you people that do
get 120, there's a little surprise for you at the end, which may have you
wanting to play through the game all over again. Whether you beat this
game or not, exploring and messing around in the galaxies is quite fun,
and you'll want to run around different galaxies to see if you've missed
something or not, adding to the replay value.
Overall: 95/100
Probably one
of the best games ever, and arguably best Mario game ever. This is one
of the few "Must have" Wii games now, and no Wii game collection is complete
without it. Get it now, you won't regret any second of playing it. This
is one of those games that will be remembered even a decade from now. It
redefines and revolutionizes platforming, the same way SM64 did 11 years
ago.
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