My name is The Spectre, and what you're about to read is my first videogame Review. Now, I'm no expert when it comes to these things, so I hope you can bear with me. My Reviews look at the six basic categories: Story, Graphics, Gameplay, Control, Content, and The Small Stuff. I rate things on a scale of 0-5, five being the best and zero being the worst. So, let's get to it.
For my first act as a reviewer, we'll
be taking a look at Super Mario Galaxy, winner of numerous gaming awards
in 2007. Were those awards deserved, or has Nintendo greased the media's
palm? Tune in and find out...
Gameplay
If you played Super Mario 64 (or DS) or Super Mario Sunshine, you've got the basic idea. You start in a hub- here called the Comet Observatory- and from there travel to various worlds. While in these worlds, you complete random tasks (no Austin Powers jokes, please) and are awarded with Power Stars. The more Stars you collect, the more levels you can access.
Those are the basics. To keep things interesting, this game takes the space theme and runs with it. When you enter a galaxy (level), you'll be spending most of your time traveling between planets. To do this, you'll need to use Mario's new spin move to activate "Sling Stars" that propel you through space. Let me make it clear... you're gonna get very acquainted with the spin. Fighting, boosting jumps, defense, hitting switches, you name it.
Lots of the gameplay focuses on gravity.
When Mario lands on a planet or asteroid, he will stick to it and be able
run up, down, and all around it. This was fun the first couple of times,
but it’s not easy on your eyes and takes some getting used to.
Every now and again, a "Prankster Comet"
will swoop past a level. This gives you a shot at another Star under certain
conditions (e.g, racing Mario's "cosmic" clone, attempting a course on
a time limit, etc). Now, these were a nice touch. It almost felt like Nintendo
was saying "Yeah, you think you're so bad? Well, we dare you to do that
again, only this time..."
Sometimes the gameplay got too “special”
for my tastes... in particular, the stages where you have to roll on a
big glass ball to get to the finish line. Was that trip really necessary?
Graphics
As far as the levels go, it doesn’t
get much better than this. They’re well detailed, colorful, and help you
get a feel for where you are and what you’re doing. The character models
on the other hand left something to be desired. Mario’s, in particular,
looked awkward, like his skin was in a constant state of flux. Rosalina
as a blue-garbed clone of Peach was also kinda lame.
Story
Bowser kidnaps the princess and shoots
off into outer space to keep Mario at bay. Our hero enlists the help of
a cosmic regal named Rosalina, and her nauseatingly cute “children” the
Lumas, to follow the Koopa Troop into space, get his girlfriend back, and
stop Bowser’s plans for universal domination. There’s a subplot here about
how Rosalina ended up where and how she is, but honestly, I didn’t even
look into it. It didn’t interest me much at all and besides… I had a universe
to save.
Content
The idea of Mario going into space isn’t
bad. What struck me as weird is the galaxies out there were very colorful
and gimmicky, and it tested my suspension of disbelief. Now, I’m sure you
don’t wanna see Mario running through a bunch of generic white space stations,
but the presentation still seemed odd.
Adding Rosalina to the cast was a good
move. She seemed to fit pretty well as Mario’s mentor and I kinda hope
she gets brought back for another appearance.
A huge problem with the Content is
that besides Rosalina and the Luma people, you won’t see many more memorable
new guys. There’s no real interaction other than NPCs telling you what
to do. I kept thinking, “This is fun, but what if we had some campy,
Paper Mario-style dialogue and cutscenes to go with it?” Even Sunshine
tried its hand at that.
Control
Surprisingly easy to get into. Nunchuk
stick moves Mario, A button is for the jump, and shaking the Wii Remote
makes you spin. I can’t remember a single time when the controls confused
me or failed on me.
Sweatin’ the Small Stuff
What, has Mario completely forgotten
his kung-fu from Super Mario 64? I loved his little hi-yahs and wa-hoos
while he clumsily dropkicked and bodyslammed his enemies. Hopefully Nintendo
remembers his skill in the martial arts in time for the next 3D platformer.
The Lumas are cute. Too cute. At times,
they got really grating... Not as bad as, say, the Piantas, but still…
I would’ve been happy with just Toads.
Finale
Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 4/5
Story: 2/5
Content: 3/5
Control: 5/5
Small Stuff: 3/5
And the verdict is:
21/30 (Good)
I don’t think Galaxy is the heaven-send
some make it out to be, but it’s a very good entry in the Mario series.
It’s very gimmick-heavy and lacks some of the charm of its Wii/GameCube
brethren, but I’d recommend it to anybody looking for a good time.
| If you would like to send some feedback
to the author of this submission, please complete this form.
What's your name?
What's your Email address?
How do you rate this submission?
Does this submission belong in Little
Lemmy's Land?
Would you like to see more from this author? Comments and suggestions:
|
