Explore The Galaxy, Mario Style

January 31, 2008 by myka

SCORE: 9.5 out of 10.0.
[Worth Living For]

The presentation is top notch with graphics that put the Wii to work and an almost fully orchestrated soundtrack. The look and design make this the best thing since super Mario 64, they can never get back the "OMG its 3d" effect from 64 but this game gets damn close.

Mario will be playing dress up again like his Mario Bros. 3 days with forms like Boo Mario and Bee Mario to name a few. The Wii controls aren't thrown into your face like some others on the console. You won't be in your living room rabidly waving the Wii-mote like an idiot to get stuff done.

The bulk of the controls are like Mario 64's but tightened up with some Wii-centric additions thrown in for good measure. Basic Mario himself only has a few new moves on top of his tried and true Mario 64 move set. Now he has multifunction “star spin” which you activate by simply giving the wii-mote a light flick. You will be using this to attack foes, getting a little more height out of your jumps and activate sling stars which shoot you through space. If you want Mario to do new tricks you will have to make him play dress up (I’m still waiting for gangster Mario) There are specific moments where you will use the Wii-mote to balance Mario on a giant ball or to push him around in a bubble. None of these events are over used and control very well.

From the very first level you will be dealing with stomach twisting gravity, doing your best to fight your instinct not to run off the world and run down the side only to find not deal but more of the level. You will get used to this and find it’s a cool way to pack more content into level and mess with the player. At first you will wonder if you will just be running around tiny planets the entire game which would get lame after awhile. Not too far into the game you will find that it’s not true and there will be huge colorful environments not unlike Mario 64. One of the major flaws which Mario sunshine was that the game was trapped in a tropical island theme which hurt the level variety. The benefit of Mario planet hopping this time is that every world he sets foot one will be wildly different from the last and with multiple goals on each level you can spend as little or as much time as you want in each of them.

Lastly I would like to mention the 2nd player mode they threw in or what I like to call "Girlfriend mode" ("Helper Bitch" mode if you're playing with a buddy) with a 2nd Wii-mote you can help Mario collect Star bits to make him jump higher and stun enemies. So even if your girl comes over nothing has to come in the way of your Mario-time and she can feel like she is having quality time with you. I give this game 9.5 free Xboxs turn down for this game out of 10. Definitely not to be missed.

Permalink