DP Challenge Part 6/100 – Super Mario Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy

Ranking: 1/100

Score: 97.46%

Mario is back, and this time he’s saving the princess and the galaxy from Bowser and his insane schemes. He’s really happy about it too. No wonder he and Sonic hang out at the Olympics nowadays; they both seem incredibly thrilled about scenarios they really should be deeply troubled by.

Anyway, is Mario’s first original Wii adventure as amazing as everyone says?

'Well, the princess has been captured, all the galaxies are going to be destroyed... but look how high I can jump! Whee!'

Intro

The manual is brightly coloured and eye-catching, while providing detailed information on the game controls. Little things like the save game files are in keeping with the rest of the galaxy theme and tie the game together stylistically. The introduction cut-scenes are cute and the way they are intercut with you controlling Mario's journey to the castle is a nice way of getting you used to the (at the time) very new controls while splitting up the animated sequences. Oh, and in the journey moments, the Toads say some quite cute and funny things if you bother to speak to them.

The manual does insult the intelligence of four year olds by dedicating a whole page on how to insert the game disc into the Wii console, and another couple of pages on how to follow on-screen prompts. The story is minimal and a bit childish for even the youngest players who will pick this game up. Frankly, it's a bit dull - Mario goes to a festival and Peach gets kidnapped. Again. Yawn. You could make that interesting, but they don't bother.

Unless there was a pressing need to make the manual a certain number of pages, some of the entries on how to progress to the start of the game (which are directions you receive on screen) could happily be removed. Also, I'd like to see something a little more interesting done with the opening story - either a little humour, or some real dramatic tension. The world is cute and cartoony; this would lend itself perfectly to amusing character interactions or a bit of slapstick.              

Getting Going

The tutorial stages get you used to the controls and the physics by slowly introducing each aspect, but without dragging it out unnecessarily. By the time you get to the first world, you've got a grip on the basics. There is a cutesy little star creature (a luma), or a bee, or someone on each world who will effectively tell you what you need to accomplish on each planet, but generally it's easy enough to work out on your own. There are even controller diagrams that pop up on-screen when there's an unusual action to perform. When you perform a manoeuvre, there is usually a pretty glowing graphic or a sound to show you that you've done so correctly.

Two hours into the game and you will have barely scratched the surface. At this stage, although it is fun, it's not remotely challenging. There are also a couple of strangely non-intuitive moments where you get no prompting on what to do in order to progress; these stand out in a game that really does its best to hand-hold you through anything slightly new.

I'd like this game to be a little faster-paced; the manual teases at all sorts of moves and skills you can use, but you don't get to use them until after the first world - which feels very much like a tutorial.      

Mario clearly never read 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.

Fun

The game is fun - even when you're going through the first world, each planet you are propelled to has a different goal. The first two stages you have to collect star pieces to build an exit to the next planet, feed a hungry luma with star bits collected around the levels, destroy a boss and grab stars in order to fling yourself towards objects. There's a lot of variety very early on, and the layout of the levels - with their small, multiple planets - encourages you to explore each planet you land on. As you progress, completely different styles of stages are added - such as stingray surfing (which even the game characters seem to find strange) and puzzle worlds.

However, in the early stages, there is no real sense of adrenaline when playing. There's very little in the way of threats or dangerous obstacles; yes, you can die, but it takes some dedication to do so.

The game could stand to steepen its difficult curve a little - it starts off so easy you could see people losing interest before things start to pick up.

Visuals

The cute, cartoony visuals match the tone of the game, and the brightly coloured environment manages to be appealing but without inducing migraines. Shadow is used well in the game, too - when you walk around a planet you will go from a bright, colourful landscape to a dark, more barren one. The design also makes it quite clear what is dangerous and what isn't - spiky things will hurt you, squishy things will generally help you. Also, there is something satisfying about smashing up a large crystal structure that really does look crystalline - the fact you can see if anything is trapped inside it lets you decide if it's worth your while engaging in wanton destruction.

For a game where you spend most of it suspended on rocks in space, there's no sense of vertigo. Something about the design stops you feeling as though you are in space, which is a bit weird when that is the main focus of the game.

Perhaps some elements to remind you of your situation would help to encourage that sense of being in outer space - such as asteroids or shooting stars floating past in the background, or objects burning up in the atmosphere.               

The Queen Bee's Vajazzle went a bit wrong...

Intelligence

When enemies see you, they will attempt to attack you. This is a consistent mechanism and means you can adopt strategies to hide from enemies or sneak up on them. They will also perform a little action before aiming for you, which gives you a chance to realise you've been spotted - there don't seem to be any cheap tricks from the baddies.

On the other hand, the enemies seem to act in much the same way, but with different skins. They do a little action, then they charge. Admittedly, when you're busy having to collect star bits, find pieces of exit stars and feed hungry lumas, this isn't necessarily that terrible. There is enough going on in this game that it probably won't bother you too much.

I've yet to come across any enemies that chase you around planets where there's quite a distinct 'flip', but that could be an interesting dynamic. I also would like to see a little personality in the enemies, such as being happy if they hurt you.

Peach, love; have you considered outsourcing your bodyguards? I'm just saying, this isn't exactly the first time and... just think about it. Here's my card.

Immersion

The time flies by playing this game; it keeps things interesting by quickly switching between different planets in each galaxy, which gives you short, sharp bursts of gameplay that make you feel you've achieved more than you actually have. The varied tasks you need to complete in order to progress keep things interesting, and the game is open-world enough that you can choose to go to different galaxies before completing every planet on another.

I do think there's a bit of an issue with the learning curve, however. It's pretty flat for the first galaxy, and it could put players off as they go through the motions waiting for things to get even a little bit challenging. It's good that the game doesn't try to murder every player in the first five minutes, but the balance is tipped too far towards easy that it risks becoming boring.

The game could be made harder earlier on to maintain interest. As the game is for ages 3+, then a difficulty setting could allow for the varying skills of game players.

Cameras

The camera follows you around without causing any noticeable problems. You can adjust the camera in limited ways, as well as reset it so it's trained on your character.

You cannot manually zoom in or out, however- the game decides when this is going to happen. Often, this means the game will zoom out only when you stand on a precise area, which can make it difficult to see the rest of the area - or what you're doing, when the game decides you've hit a position where you must zoom out.

There are extra buttons on the Wii remote that could be used to allow for manual zoom in/out; as no game can determine exactly when a player is going to want to take a closer look or an overall view at any given moment, if this was used in conjunction with the automatic zoom, it would be helpful.

Just take a moment to think about how different 'Point Break' would have been if it had involved Ray surfing...

Controls

The controls are pretty flawless; simple to use and accurate. The Wii remote is employed effectively, making it feel like a natural extension of the control stick, and not tacked on for the sake of it. When you have to collect star bits by pointing the Wii remote at the screen, it's not so sensitive that you have to stop moving about to precisely aim at them. None of the buttons you are likely to use are difficult to reach.

The only minor quibble I have is that if you want to change the camera angle, you do pretty much have to stop what you're doing to get to the controls necessary.

Having said that, the likelihood of you wanting to change the camera angles that often are pretty low, and fixing an issue like this would involve having to change the rest of the controls to accommodate it. Given everything else works so well, this would be a bad move.

Ideas

There are lots of fun little quirks and ideas in this game, such as collecting star bits to feed luma and being able to transform Mario into different forms with specific powers that are required to progress through the game. When I first encountered the physics aspect, I groaned. I played a game several years before this came out where this exact same gimmick was employed in a level and it was a little frustrating. In this game, it works well - fundamentally because you aren't required to escape the gravitational pull of any planet, outside of using specific exit points. Just the idea of referring to each zone as a galaxy and each level becoming a series of planets was something I liked a lot, as it really added a sense of scope. The addition of puzzle worlds and racing worlds add to the variety.

It's difficult to come up with anything I thought ought to be different in this game - there's so much variety in the levels and the gameplay styles that even if there is an element that you don't particularly care for (such as the Sweet Sweet galaxy... which is just an example, obviously, and not a level that made me want to tear my hair out), chances are you won't have to do it again. I suppose you could argue that because the game has so many different types of gameplay it runs the risk of losing its identity at times, but the artistic design (and the consistent need to collect star bits and coins) pulls all of the level types together.

The main thing I would have liked to see in this game is a slightly more involved story. As the whole game is set up as an adventure with platforming as opposed to a straight platformer, a rich story woven through throughout would have added to this.

Mario as a bee. If this does not make you happy, then you have thick black treacle for a soul.

Memory

This is a game you'll definitely want to play more of. The physics gimmick, although not a new one, is handled well and employing it permanently through the game is an interesting feature. The fun, cartoony tone is consistent and the variety in every level makes this a memorable game for all the right reasons. The music suits every level and there are little touches, such as meeting homesick Toads, that are quite cute. The Hub world also makes complete sense in relation to the game and the levels.

However, it is too easy to begin with, which means it lacks that adrenaline rush you often get with these types of games - there's no real sense of danger for quite a while, so you feel like you're shuffling through the early levels.

A steeper difficulty curve would make this game more challenging earlier on - just a few more enemy types or obstacles to make you worry a little bit when playing.

Overall, this is a truly great platformer. The levels are widely varied and there are plenty of gimmicks in place that add to the fun factor rather than trying to distract from mediocrity. As an adventure game, it falls a little flat for me. There is no story beyond ‘Bowser is bad, stop him’ – and it’s painfully obvious who (or what) the ‘mysterious’ Rosalina is going to be, so that doesn’t count either. I feel this game is trying to be more than a platformer, with its Hub world and the fact you can talk to non-enemy characters, but it’s missing that crucial story-telling element that would put it squarely in the adventure camp.

Nevertheless, this is a well thought out, well made and entertaining game that deserves all the plaudits it has received as a truly great 3D platforming game.