Paul Frew
Paul's Gaming Enema - Super Mario Galaxy
August 17th 2009 23:46
So I’m about 19 Power Stars away from getting the Observatory moving again so I can find my “Special One”.
But I should back up and start from the beginning – Super Mario Galaxy once again sees Princess Peach get snatched by Bowser and it’s up to the plumber to track her down and save the day. You find yourself on an observatory that has been sabotaged by Bowser – your goal is to travel to different galaxies and collect Power Stars that will get the observatory moving again. The galaxies are found in different rooms on the observatory and each room has a Grand Star that unlocks another room on the observatory. Sounding ridiculous yet? But wait, there’s more.
There are also creatures known as Lumas that can transform into planets when you feed them star bits. Star bits can be found everywhere and can be used as food for the Lumas and as a weapon. So collecting them is important to completing the game.
So as I mentioned, I’m about 19 power stars away from getting the Observatory moving again and taking down Bowser once and for all – well, at least until Super Mario Galaxy 2 due some time next year.
I’ve got to admit – I have kind of enjoyed playing Super Mario Galaxy. It has been a refreshing change of pace since the last two games I played through were Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Killzone 2. So a game without blood and guns has been quite nice – however it hasn’t been free of frustration.
My biggest issue has been with the camera. You have no control of the camera. Well, to be honest you have the option to move it with the D-Pad on the Wii-mote but it’s very difficult to use while moving. For the most part, you have no control when exploring galaxies and because the levels are planet-like platforms similar to some of the levels in Ratchet and Clank you’re going to be sideways and upside down. It’s very dizzying and frustrating when navigating and it’s even worse when you throw in moving platforms with holes in the middle of them.
You only have the thumb-stick on the nunchuck to control Mario so it’s a big step backwards after we’ve trained ourselves for the last two generations of having one thumbstick to control the character and the second thumbstick to control the camera. For the most part that has worked well with 3D platformers but there is no such option with Super Mario Galaxy. There’s not even an option to press a button to centre the button behind Mario.
Fortunately there are plenty of lives to pick up and Princess Peach will send Mario 1Up mushrooms from time to time – so even if you die from the poor camera controls at least it won’t be Game Over. The only problem though is that once you turn off the Wii – all the 1Up’s you collected will disappear and you only end up with 4 when you return to the game.
So unfortunately this not a platformer I can recommend – there are just too many issues with the camera and so many better platformers out there that make it not only easier to control but fun to play. Nintendo fanboy reviewers who claim this is the best platformer made are blinded by their nostalgia for the plumber. I would recommend Ratchet and Clank Quest for Booty, Ratchet and Clank Future Tools of Destruction, Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy and even Daxter on the PSP over Super Mario Galaxy purely because of the camera controls.
Hopefully Nintendo will fix this major issue with Super Mario Galaxy 2 but based on their history this generation I’m expecting them to just build some new levels using the same engine. Prove me wrong Nintendo, prove me wrong.
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