Super Mario Galaxy game review

Let’s get it over with — Super Mario Galaxy is the best game I have covered since I started writing about games for Boys’ Life.

Here’s the story: Once again, Princess Peach has been kidnapped by the evil and lovesick Bowser. This time, though, Bowser takes her into outer space. Instead of running from castle to castle in search of Peach, you fly from one planet to the next.

Going from one world to the next is nothing new with Mario. Mario games have long been collections of unrelated mini games and adventures brought loosely together by a skinny storyline. The only things holding Galaxy together are the basic characters, graphics and in-game physics. Some parts of the game are about exploration, and others are about fighting, racing and puzzle solving.

The neat thing about Galaxy is how well all these elements work together to create one spectacular game.

OPENING NEW DOORS

Before Mario can rescue Princess Peach, he must collect stars by going to various realms and solving problems. In Super Mario 64, the realms were hidden around a castle. In Super Mario Galaxy, the realms are hidden around an enormous universe. Don’t take the name “Super Mario Galaxy” to mean this game is limited to one single galaxy, or you will be in for a big surprise.

Mario can collect just over 120 stars in this game, and he simply jumps from one planetoid to the next. Flying through space is done without suits or breathing gear. The hub for all of these worlds is the Comet Observatory, a cosmic campus floating in space.

Around the Comet Observatory are several domes through which Mario can enter multiple galaxies. Mario can’t enter every dome or every galaxy until he’s earned his stars. You start out with one dome and open more by rescuing Power Stars from the galaxies in each dome.

Mario’s chief mode of transportation is a cannon called Launch Stars. To use it, simply walk Mario close to it and shake your controller. It pulls Mario in and shoots him straight to his next location.

Sometimes Mario uses Pull Stars instead, which draw him in using some kind of tractor beam. Like Launch Stars, Pull Stars are safe and easy to use.

Finding a few stars in one galaxy will generally open another and then another. Pretty soon you can enter every galaxy in the dome. Then, when you find a few more stars, you get the biiiiiiiig battle against a member of the Bowser Clan.

Galaxy includes lots of battles against large and mean boss-type characters. Don’t expect to win all of these battles your first time out. When you win against a galactic boss, you get a Grand Star, which is more important than the Power Stars you collect throughout the game. Finding Grand Stars speeds you on your way toward the ultimate battle.

THE MANY FACES OF MARIO

Mario is a plumber of many skills. In this game he flies through space, explores water planets both above and below surface, competes in high-speed races riding a manta ray like a jet ski, rolls through obstacle courses on a giant ball, travels in a bubble and flings himself through space using rubbery plants called sling pods.

Obviously he didn’t learn all these talents in plumbing school. He develops many of them in the game as he finds mushrooms and flowers that enable him to change. Finding a Boo Mushroom, for instance, changes Mario into a ghost that can fly between bars and through special walls, as well as turn invisible.

Bee Mushrooms turn Mario into a worker bee, allowing him short bursts of flight and making him light enough to stand on flowers.

Some talents, however, come naturally to Mario. He needs no special gear to ride a manta ray, other than the ray itself. Ditto for riding in bubbles or on top of a rolling ball.

MORE AND MORE CHALLENGING

Be warned: Super Mario Galaxy is not an easy game. The first levels are little more than a tutorial. It doesn’t take much to win that first ray-surfing race, and the friendly bee galaxy is easily conquered, as long as you learn how to fly in spurts.

Don’t get cocky when you beat Bowser Junior and his planet-stomping robot. You may have won yourself a Grand Star, but you’re still playing on the JV level.

Things get harder almost immediately. You won’t make it through the Sling Pod Galaxy until you develop fast reflexes and a sharp aim.

With a game this size, you’re bound to stumble into one or two styles of play that test your abilities. My biggest challenge was the sling pods. They were easy enough to use, but my aim was often just a tad off. Instead of sending Mario from one pod to the next, I would launch him into space.

Super Mario Galaxy will test you, and it will taunt you with levels you didn’t quite pass that you’re absolutely sure you can pass with one more try. You will get frustrated while still having a good time.

CELEBRATE THE OLD WITH THE NEW

For better or worse, your parents may like Super Mario Galaxy as much as you do. For one thing, they might have grown up playing the original Super Mario Bros. Galaxy has many of the same traps, settings and villains encountered 20 years ago, but now in gorgeous 3D.

Galaxy also has a lot of cool new stuff. Along with the new worlds, new abilities and amazing new graphics, it also has terrific new styles of gameplay. And the controls are right on. Whether you’re playing as a ghost, rolling the ball, flying through space or whatever, the controls behave exactly as you expect them to.

The game is not perfect, but the flaws are small. My biggest complaint was that you can’t save free lives. It’s fairly easy to build up a good supply of them by gathering little gems called Star Bits. But no matter how many lives I earned, when I quit the game there would only be four men when I started it up again.

So here’s the bottom line: If you don’t own a Wii, Super Mario Galaxy probably isn’t a good enough reason to buy one. If you were thinking of getting a Wii, this game might tip the scales. If you own a Wii—what are you waiting for?