Super Mario Galaxy

 I’m not going to lie, I was stayed right away from getting my hopes up for the new Mario game to launch on the Nintendo Wii. Sunshine was the death of Mario for me, Mario 64 was his last shining moment of glory (unless you count Paper Mario which I’m not) and I seriously was thinking about giving it a miss.I’ve been a Mario fan since I was 3 years old, and have been playing his games for many years, but I’m not 3 years old anymore, I’m 20 and I honestly thought that a Mario game these days could not get me hooked….I WAS WRONG!What Mario Galaxy brings to the table is a visually glorious platformer that hooks you in from the start with it’s fantastic visual flair, vibrant soundtrack, pick up and play controls and fun and challenging gameplay.So the story is the same as other Mario games, basically the Princess is stolen by Bowser along with your pals, and it’s your job to get them back, but this time it’s in outer spaceSo after a few tutorials you’re on your way to learning more about the story (which I won’t spoil for those of you who don’t know)So off you travel to observatories which is your way to visiting new galaxies. A majority of the galaxies have three levels each, and at the end of each level you find a powerstar to unlock more galaxies. Every now and then you will find a galaxy that only has one level which usually has something special to do like a Surfboard race or rolling on a ball or floating in a bubble, which breaks up the gameplay and is certainly fun. All in all there are over 100 powerstars to find, so it’s safe to say that there is a bunch of gameplay out there. Each of the galaxies are quite large and offer a lot of room for exploring.The graphics are stunning, with a touch of realism added to the cartoonish world of the Mario Universe. Mario looks like a truly believable character and the goomba mushrooms look so cool, I found myself not wanting to kill them a lot of the time and just laugh at their faces. The one thing that really stands out are the water effects and the sun, both of which look better than some of the big players out in the graphical powerhouses (Bioshock for one)The soundtrack has some of the old school Mario music spiced up a little which brings in some new, and adds nostalgia for us older players. Each jump each bump and each enemy destroyed is a true aural delightThe controls are simple enough, the nunchuck is used to move mario around while the A button makes him jump. Mario can do a lot of the run of the mill platforming moves, double jump, climb onto ledges and the wall jump. Shaking the Wiimote makes Mario perform a spin attack, while pressing Z will make him do a smash jump which is effective for breaking boxes and what not. The controls work well, except occasionally they seemed a bit fiddly when running upside down, but still didn’t make the game unplayable. When pointing the Wiimote at the screen your star buddy can collect Starbits and also shoot at enemies to stun themThis is where I found the game let me down, Multiplayer support. I feel they should have stuck to the good old two players take it in turns and both get to control a character. Instead we are stuck with the second player performing the controls of the star buddy…. fun for a little while but kinda leaves the second player feeling a little bored after the third level. Still at least you can play with a mateAll in all, with greatness all around what isn’t there to love about Mario Galaxy. Definately the surprise of the year for me, and easily the best game on Wii, and possibly best game in the series. If you are looking for the perfect Wii game to give you a look at what games next year SHOULD play like, look like and feel like, this is it.MUST HAVE TITLE OF 20089/10