Format: Wii Price: £40 Release: Out Now
Publisher: Nintendo Developer: In-House
A Toad’s euphoric greeting of ‘Yay, you’re here!’ is echoed in your mind as you start playing the best game to come out of the Mario franchise for over 10 years. The storyline is what you have come to expect: Princess Peach kidnapped by Bowser. In order to rescue her, Mario needs to help mysterious Rosalina and her almost sickeningly adorable star people known as Lumas to recover the all-important power stars that fuel their spaceship/observatory.
With that introduction out of the way, you are now free to start exploring a truly epic playground that often disregards the rules of physics. In a consistently creative, surprising and often beautiful effort, Nintendo reminds us of what games are all about. While its often self-referencing tone will doubtless please the substantial fan base, Galaxy never relies on the franchise to carry it. Nostalgia is a spice to the flawless gameplay and beautifully engineered worlds, never a crutch. The novelty soon feels second nature and the overriding feeling that stays with you throughout is that of wonder and pure rollicking fun.
The tight, fluid and satisfyingly intuitive Wii controls offer a good variety of moves while remaining fairly simple to use. Shaking the Wii Remote activates Mario’s spin attacks and launch stars that catapult you from planet to planet, while pointing it at the screen lets you collect and shoot valuable star bits (see ‘Reach for the stars’). Pointing at grapple stars allows you to navigate through space while dodging space mines and projectiles and motion control is used for immensely fun activities such as ray surfing. The only exception to this responsiveness is when Mario is flying or swimming, as it can be difficult to steer him in the right direction, but those are not crippling faults.
Galaxy keeps core Mario gameplay and completely reworks space and gravity, resulting in flawless and sometimes maddeningly clever levels. The platforming staples are still present in the beating of bosses – of which there are many - collecting objects, scaling, diving, running and jumping, yet this scripting is far less obtrusive here, taking a backseat to exploration and play. The rules constantly shift as new play mechanics are introduced, adding variety but also operating in a consistent and fair manner that gives the experience a fluid and intelligent feel.
Galaxy also boasts polished graphics and an efficient cinematic camera. There is a sense of limitless space and freedom when exploring the galaxies, and the Wii plentifully compensates for its limited resolution with colour, vibrancy and wonderfully orchestrated music coupled with flawless gameplay, well-judged control system and beautiful character designs.
Galaxy is a worthy successor to Super Mario 64, not only because of its similar structural blueprint, but in its revolutionising of the platformer. The extremely high production values of Galaxy raise the bar for future Wii games, as the sheer artistry displayed by Miyamoto and his team showcases exactly what the console is able to do. This unapologetically bold and frankly loony game fulfils expectations on every level with its inventiveness and sheer beauty, remaining true to the Mario brand while painlessly updating it.
Reach for the Stars
Star bits – candy-like fragments sprinkled through Mario’s galaxies – can be used not only as projectiles to daze your enemies, but also as tasty treats for Lumas. Throughout the game you will encounter these hungry little stars who will ask you for a certain number of star bits in order to transform into either a new planet or galaxy for you to explore, an extra life or boosted health.
They can easily be collected by pointing the Wii Remote at them regardless of how far away they are. Star bits are plentiful enough so that gathering them during the course of normal play isn’t a chore. This brilliant separation of avatar and action works to make collecting infinitely more fun and very much secondary to enjoyable gameplay.
