VG REVIEW: Super Mario Galaxy

"SUPER MARIO GALAXY"
Nintendo, for the Wii, rated E for Everyone (mild cartoon violence), $49.99.

Though it's easily one of the more popular consoles out there today, the Wii hasn't exactly garnered a thunderous herd of stellar games. There have been a few strong titles but nothing that screams must-own or really builds strongly upon the premise of the Wii's motion controls.

All that changes with the release of "Mario Galaxy." The first major Mario title for the console (assuming you don't count "Super Paper Mario" and "Mario Party 8"), "Galaxy" is a fun, addictive platform game that thrills and surprises at every turn.

The plot isn't significant, but for the sake of recapping, it can be summed up thusly: The evil dinosaur-turtle (or whatever he is), Bowser, has kidnapped the princess (again) and stolen a bunch of magical stars. It's your job as Mario to get them all back and set everything right (again).

To do this you wander the spaceways, either hopping or jetting across various tiny planetoids, some barely larger than Mario himself, solving puzzles and dispatching enemies along the way.

As you might expect, you'll do the usual bit of item collecting (a mainstay in any platform game these days), but for once the coins, gems and other doodads prove to be valuable, as they can unlock other areas or improve your health.

Taking a page from "Super Mario World 3," in "Galaxy" Mario can try on several costumes, each with its own special abilities. The bee outfit, for example, allows him to fly for short periods of time (though you have to avoid water). The "Boo" costume lets you become a ghost and pass through walls.

But it's not just the level design and add-ons that make "Galaxy" such a joy to play. The game's use of motion controls is intuitive, fluid and graceful enough to make you wonder why you ever bothered using a traditional D-pad. Shaking the controller, for example, allows Mario to do a spin attack, stunning his enemies. Other, more unique levels require you to do things such as holding the controller vertically to balance Mario on top of a rolling ball.

The game also boasts a co-op mode, where your friend can collect the little star bits that dot the landscape while you operate Mario. As multiplayer schemes go, this seems to be terribly unbalanced and is probably the weakest part of the game.

As the official poster boy for Nintendo, Mario gets his mug plastered onto a lot of games that barely rank above mediocre. Not so with Mario Galaxy." Like the best "Mario" games before it, it builds firmly upon platforming traditions to offer something original and inventive. You won't find a better game on the Wii console right now.


Copyright The Patriot-News, 2007

VG Review: "Super Paper Mario"

“SUPER PAPER MARIO” 
Nintendo, for the Wii
rated E for Everyone (comic mischief, mild cartoon violence), $49.99.

”Super Paper Mario” isn’t supposed to be an “official” Mario title, but a spin-off; a role-playing-styled variation that uses flat, two-dimensional artwork to give off a storybooklike atmosphere.

The thing is, the game is rich and engaging enough to be allowed into the canonical Mario pantheon. It falls a hairbreadth shy of being called a classic, but it’s certainly a game that Wii owners will want to pick up.

Rather than save the princess for the umpteenth time, Mario is instead called upon to save the universe. This time the villain is the mysterious Count Bleck, who is attempting to destroy, well, everything, possibly due to a bad case of heartbreak. (He’s very emo.)

The only way everyone’s favorite red-hatted plumber and his friends can defeat the evil count is by traveling to strange and sometimes surreal worlds and collecting “pure hearts.”

So far, so good. What makes “Super Paper Mario” interesting, however, is its ability to literally alter your perspective. By pressing the A button, you can flip the world 90 degrees, turning the game from 2-D into 3-D. The developers make good use of this conceit, allowing you to discover hidden paths and items.

You’ll also have help in the form of little floating abstract-shaped creatures called Pixls that give you various abilities. Boomer, for example, can lay explosive bombs on the ground while Thoreau will let you grab objects and enemies and toss them aside.

Unlike past “Paper Mario” titles, “Super Paper Mario” relies less on rpg conventions and more on traditional Mario platforming and exploration.

Despite all this novelty, the game still doesn’t reach the high-water mark of the last Paper Mario game, “The Thousand Year Door,” which I still consider one of the finest Mario games in recent years. There’s a bit too much backtracking and too many pedestrian side quests here for me to slap on an “instant classic” label.

That said, “Super Paper Mario” makes good use of the Wii, with puzzles that are clever without being frustrating. It’s inventive and cute and should slake fans’ thirsts well enough until the next “official” game comes out.


Copyright The Patriot-News, 2007