super mario galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy
I'll be the first to admit this review is rather ill-timed, heck, I've
already published my full review of Super Mario Galaxy 1, and Nate's
first hour of Super Mario Galaxy 2 is already up! But I had this
stored up for the right moment, and unfortunately that right moment
came and went a few weeks ago, so the new right moment is now. Better
late than never.
I loved Super Mario Galaxy, what an awesome
game. I didn't even have a chance to really play it until this year,
but it still astounded me, the only game on the Wii that has. I
already talked about why I love the game, but here's how I started
loving the game. My impressions of the game's first hour, at the time
it had a lot of work to do on me. I worshiped Super Mario 64 in my
early teens but could never get into Super Mario Sunshine. The game
sat on my shelf for months until I finally returned it to my friend.
So here was another 3D Mario game that I didn't really care about
playing, but of course I was going to give it a shot when the
opportunity arose.
So sorry this is late, but there is always
someone out there who hasn't been exposed to Super Mario Galaxy, and
here is it's first hour review, just for you.
Super Mario Galaxy
I loved Super Mario 64. It was the first game I ever played on what is
one of my favorite consoles, and my memories of the game have stuck
with me to this day. The running, the jumping, the exploration of huge
levels, it was incredible. Mario made the best transition to 3D ever,
well, until Ocarina of Time
came around. The next 3D Mario iteration was Super Mario Sunshine,
which I was less then enthused about. I'm not sure if it was the water
pack gimmick or what, but I was never convinced that it would be worth
playing. Nintendo has finally delivered its third true 3D Mario game
(well, two and a half years ago) with Super Mario Galaxy. While it is almost unrecognizable in terms of what a Mario game should be like, it plays just like Mario 64 did 14 years ago: awesomely.
Galaxy's gimmick is that instead of featuring one giant, flat plane, each world is made up of small, Little Prince-like
planets and objects. Gravity and physics are now Mario's biggest
friend and foe, as you're constantly being challenged in new ways to
jump and explore. I love games like Braid and Portal that challenge me to think and play different, Super Mario Galaxy joins that elite group, in my opinion.
Super
Mario Galaxy 2 is due in less than two months, and it'll probably be
the first Wii game I buy at launch in over three years. I'd love to
have a first hour review of that game at launch (hint, hint, Nintendo),
but I've got a first hour review of this game also on the back burner.
Here's my full review of Super Mario Galaxy. I collected all 120 stars
in the game which took me about 25-30 hours.