Super Mario Galaxy

Being a dye-in-the-wool Nintendo fan, I have always enjoyed the new Mario titles that seem to be the stalwart of the franchise. I spent way too many hours of my life playing the original Super Mario Bros. (plus sequels), as well as Super Mario World for the SNES. Then, as with most people, Super Mario '64 absolutely blew me away with its 3-D graphic interface. However, I was disappointed in the Gamecube effort Super Mario Sunshine, which just didn't seem to have the right "Mario feel" to it. Super Mario Galaxy, however, brought me back into the Mario "universe" (excuse the pun) big time!

The controls and premise of this game hearkens back to the revolutionary Mario '64, in which players must collect stars (or, in this case, star creatures) in a variety of different ways. The graphics are pristine, the cut scenes are fun, and the controls are easy to pick up and play.

Though panned as being a "kids game", Mario Galaxy offers something for both the beginning and advanced gamers. By collecting 70 of the 120 total stars (a task that is by no means impossible), Bowser can be defeated and effectively "end" the game. However, more advanced games can shoot for the full 120 stars and see the "true" ending.

Overall, this game is another success in the long line of the Mario franchise. After mixed reviews for Mario Sunshine, Nintendo went back to the basics in this game and created a masterpiece. I'm looking forward to the next installment (rumored to be a sequel to this game?!)

Super Mario 64 aged a little poorly in a handful of aspects, Super Mario Sunshine is open world which is cool, but those controls are quite a bit bad. Super Mario Galaxy? Next to no flaws at ALL. Leaping from planet to planet through orange stars, stomping goombas, flipping around the main hub area; EVERYTHING about this game is almost completely superior to the previous 3D Mario titles (in my opinion of course). The stunning graphics and music is also masterful. It's your typical Mario story, princess is captured, get her back but at least Mario Galaxy makes it more cinematic and intense. The castle is drilled from the ground and brought up to space! Now that is much more intense than any other Mario game up to that point.

Never played it? Try it. It has a chance (which is quite big) to become one of your all time favourite games. It is amazing.

I will never forget the first time I played this game and how it changed my gaming life and perception of the medium as a whole. Before 2008 I really wasn't into Mario or that much of Nintendo. I never played a Mario game up to that point, I never found him to be especially appealing to me as a young kid. Anyway I rented this game from my local Video Ezy in 2008 with relatively low expectations expecting a good platformer but nothing really more than that.

Anyway, from the moment I put that game in my Nintendo Wii, for the next two weeks I was transfixed on my TV screen, absolutely blown away from what I was constantly experiencing. I had no idea what I was in for when I started this game.

The game is breathtaking in every sense of the word and forever changed my view of Nintendo and the Mario franchise from that point on. This is the game that made me a legitimate fan of Super Mario. The way the game captures the nature of space inspired my imagination in a way very few games could. The gravity effects were mind blowing for the time and still hold up today. The stages and galaxies themselves feel alive and expansive.

I loved how you could run up walls and at points go completely upside down as well as jumping from planet to planet, being pulled in by it's separate individual gravitational pull. The platforming is stellar with a very cinematic feel to the way the worlds and levels are presented and how you progress between each part of the stage, usually by spaceflight where Mario gleefully spreads both of his arms out as he flies through space.

The graphics are stunning and are some of the very best you can find on the Wii. It's a shame the Wii never supported HD visuals because if it could, this would rival many Xbox 360 and PS3 titles at the time.

The greatest aspect of this game by far is definitely the music and soundscape. The musical ambience creeps it's way in in such a magical way that perfectly captures the atmosphere and feeling of every area and stage. Some of the music in this game is very touching and emotional, like To The Gateway on the very first planet of the game and Space Junk Galaxy, as well as Good Egg Galaxy which is the first official level in the game that isn't a tutorial stage.

It really is one of those types of games you just can't put down because of just how ingenious the level design is. The level of fun to be had in this game is almost intoxicating.

The controls are extremely tight and responsive with a few motion controls added here and there but never feel invasive or overly annoying. There is one level where you have to control Mario on a ball as you use the wiimote almost like a joystick to roll him in a certain direction, that part is slightly annoying but it's overall fun outweighs the annoyance. That is the one thing I want to make crystal clear about this game. It's just fun, and you can't ask for more than that.

Anyway my first playthrough of Super Mario Galaxy is one of the biggest surprises I had as a kid and I recommend anyone to pick up and play it. I rank it up there with the original Banjo-Kazooie games, Battle For Bikini Bottom and Super Mario 64 as being one of the greatest 3D platformers of all time and one of the very best games of the late 2000s. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is also one of the best gaming sequels, improving on the first game's mechanics, but it still didn't have the same impact as what the first game brought.

Play this masterpiece of platforming as soon as you can

It's a very colorful and creative game where you can't get bored. Every mission is something new and funny. A lot of missions, cool bosses, lot of colour. I recommend it

Like some other people wrote, I'm a die-hard mario fan, and I loved this game.

This game starts slightly boring, but trust me, it's worth it. As soon as you start, your hooked! The levels are fun and exiting. They will hook you 'till your mind turns to mush. I'm not kidding. This game is also orchestrated, and is beautifully done.

To keep this spoiler free, I have to keep my mouth shut about details. But please try this game! It'll be worth it!

Story: 9.9 Action: 10.1 (It's that good!) Hardness: 10 Attention Grabber: 10 Average: 10