Super Mario Galaxy Review

Summary:

A modern gaming masterpiece.

Pros:

+ Controls and design make it much more intuitive than expected.

+ Oodles of fresh ideas that are all executed wonderfully.

+ Gorgeous art design and majestic orchestral soundtrack.

+ It forgoes logic to create a genuinely fun gaming experience.

Cons:

- Once in a long while, moving along orbs can be a bit tricky.

- Swimming can still be awkward at times.

- Lack of camera control can occasionally be a downer.

- It eventually ends.

Review:

[Originally written for Zentendo.com in November of 2007. Designed to be briefer than usual.]

It's been a long time coming, but Nintendo has finally created one of those landmark achievements in gaming history that we've been waiting for. We're looking at a rebirth of the platforming genre, and Super Mario Galaxy has set an extremely high standard. A worthy sequel to Super Mario 64? More like a title that succeeds it and every other 3D platformer in practically every way, if you ask me. It's simplistically beautiful art design tops anything we've seen on Wii by quite a margin. Would more polygons really make it look much better? Not by much. The stellar and epic soundtrack is unlike anything you've heard in a platformer before, using old-school Mario remixes with sweeping orchestral tracks to set marvelous ambiance. All of this is icing on the cake, however, and an immaculate cake it is.

Super Mario Galaxy's gameplay is unrivaled in modern-day platforming, delivering a massive variety of stages that provide all kinds of challenges and bend the mind with their gravity-warping features. Mario 64 focused more on Mario's abilities while Mario Sunshine focused more on creating a themed world that felt connected and building on Mario 64's level design. Mario Galaxy, on the other hand, strips down Mario's abilities to less than what 64 had, yet is a better game for it due to its sheer polish and variety in level design. Each and every level offers something new and inventive, many containing elements unseen in the genre to date. The development team decided to break away from all logic and reason, opting to ignore creating a coherent universe and instead to create amazing levels, regardless of whether they made sense, and Mario Galaxy is all the better for this decision to put gameplay first and foremost.

Mario's abilities may be more restricted than they've ever been in any of his 3D outings, but the stellar design at work here will make you forget that. Breathtaking journeys across planetoids to unique mini-game like levels to all sorts of craziness on top and it's really hard to find much at fault here.

Time and time again, you will be taken aback by the brilliance and fluidity of the pacing and design of this work. This is one of the best platformers ever made, and, in this critic's opinion, one of the best video games made to date. Nintendo has crafted a modern masterpiece of game design, striking a practically perfect balance with everything it tries to do.

Bottom Line:

Is Super Mario Galaxy perfect? No -- but I don't think any game is. However, it is about as perfect and complete as video games get, and its brilliant design reminds us of precisely why we all started playing video games in the first place: having fun. You know a game is good when you find yourself saying, "Wow, that's one of my favorite levels ever!" and you do it to practically every single one. Quality, quantity, and execution -- it's all here.

Hail to the original king of gaming as he reclaims his spot at the top amidst this stagnant world of blood and shooting. Believe the hype, ladies and gentleman -- Super Mario Galaxy is out of this world and must be experienced to be understood. Ten years from now, this title will be revered the way Super Mario 64 is right now, because Nintendo has once again proved why they've been a top contender in the industry for over twenty years.