Didn't like this one as much as I had hoped to. The soundtrack is amazing, the graphics are phenomenal for the Wii, and there are some really interesting ideas in here, but it just doesn't hit the mark.
My biggest problem comes with how you control Mario. Coming from Odyssey to Galaxy is like going from being a professional athlete to learning how to walk. Mario is so painstakingly SLOW. He barely has any moves and even simple things like falling off of a small ledge grind you to a nearly complete stop. The spin move is such a boring, generic idea that is expanded upon so much in Odyssey with Cappy that this feels like a very early idea that somehow stuck with the project in its simplest form. I know the levels are designed around these movement limitations and it was likely done this way because of the Wii Remote being such a weird controller, but playing it today with a modern controller shows just how rough it is. Mario controls like a guided missile underwater for some reason, very tedious.
The level design is good at times, but can definitely feel a little lazy. This is by far my least favorite style of Mario. He is not meant to be on these tiny little planets, he's meant to be in far larger environments. The game is at its best when you are just on the ground in a larger environment, but unfortunately that's pretty rare. When you are on planets where you are meant to go all around the surface, the controls and camera really struggle for some reason.
The camera is not controllable by the player for the vast majority of the game, usually only allowing for a weird first person view instead of any real control. I'm sure this was because the Wii remote didn't have a second stick, so the rare camera control is done by the D-Pad. You'd imagine that the game would have a very smart camera and many scripted sequences, and while yes there are many scripted camera sections, it is very jarring when they aren't there. You'll be heading in one direction and instead of following Mario, the camera will just show you what is behind you instead of where you are going, which can definitely lead to some falls. It's just disappointing how frustrating the camera can be, a problem that 3D Mario struggled with until 3D Land.
The enemies and boss fights are pretty good. Enemies have a large variety and different ways that they can be defeated. Boss battles are kind of hit or miss, some are really great where as others are insanely easy or just boring.
Many obvious Quality of Life features are not present, such as the game booting you back to the observatory when you get a bonus star, even if you were in the middle of getting a different star. There's a level where you have to go around collecting pieces of a star, very simple stuff, but it can take quite a few minutes to do. If you somehow fall and die, all of the star pieces will go back to where they were and you have to do everything all over again. I could understand that if I ran out of lives, but come on, it's not like the game doesn't already have checkpoints. There are various other small problems, but you get the idea.
The Hub world is an interesting idea, but heavily lacking. The best hub world in Mario is definitely Peach's Castle in 64. Peach's Castle is such a good hub world because it's so large and fun to explore, you never know what you are going to find next! The Hub in Galaxy is the complete opposite. It's small and has very few interesting things to see. Instead of feeling like an fun place to explore and run around in, it feels like a menu that has NPC characters to talk to. The Hub starts off mostly shrouded in darkness, but will power up as you collect Grand Stars. This is a good idea in theory, but it doesn't feel very impactful. The only thing you really gain from powering up the Hub are more levels. You could say the same thing about Peach's Castle, but there you also got new, interesting areas to explore.
Galaxy features many optional stages. There are three types, ones that you unlock by feeding a hungry Luma with starbits, ones that you unlock from simply playing the game, and comets. The first two are perfectly fine, but comets have a slight issue. You cannot choose when you would like to play a specific comet level, as they will randomly come in orbit of a planet. It sounds like it could be a fun mechanic, randomly approaching you with a slightly more challenging level. The problem arises when you don't want to play these levels, they are optional after all. I wanted to play all of the normal levels on a specific planet, having already completed the other two planets in the observatory. As I clicked on the planet to start the second level, I was greeted by the comet in orbit. I tried the comet level, came to the conclusion that I didn't really want to complete it, and went back to the observatory. You'd think that skipping over an optional level would be as simple as clicking a button to dismiss the comet, but there is a bit more to it than that. I had to leave the observatory, slowly make my way to the other side of the Hub, talk to a luma, tell him to move the comet, pay him for his services, then walk all the way back. After playing through the second level, I was ready for the third, only to be greeted by the same comet again, having to redo all of those steps. It's not a huge problem or anything, but it definitely is a prime example of bad game design.
Story is a weird topic for Mario games. It's usually very simple, bowser captures peach blah blah blah, but sometimes it's made a bit more interesting, throwing in a new setting or maybe Bowser is up to something else along with his regularly scheduled Peach capturing. Galaxy goes for a wildly different approach, being far more dramatic with a lot more world building than previous and future titles. Bowser does capture Peach in this game, but his real goal is to create an entirely new galaxy. Mario is saved by a new princess, Rosalina, who is very mysterious. You are slowly given pieces of a pictures book as you complete sections of the game that further develop and give depth to Rosalina. I'm sure to many people this sounds great, but it's just not for me. Mario does not need a big story with super dramatic cutscenes, it just feels kind of ridiculous. He's a plumber fighting a big turtle, and it's just a weird decision to try and make it so epic. I hear that Galaxy 2 takes the same story and dumbs it down a bit, which I think I'll prefer. I believe Miyamoto is right about story in games when it comes to Mario.
Overall, Super Mario Galaxy is a game that surprised me with just how many faults it has, especially with the high amount of praise it continually receives. I know it sounds like I hated this game, but I still enjoyed the experience and I'm glad I finally gave it a shot.
7/10
My biggest problem comes with how you control Mario. Coming from Odyssey to Galaxy is like going from being a professional athlete to learning how to walk. Mario is so painstakingly SLOW. He barely has any moves and even simple things like falling off of a small ledge grind you to a nearly complete stop. The spin move is such a boring, generic idea that is expanded upon so much in Odyssey with Cappy that this feels like a very early idea that somehow stuck with the project in its simplest form. I know the levels are designed around these movement limitations and it was likely done this way because of the Wii Remote being such a weird controller, but playing it today with a modern controller shows just how rough it is. Mario controls like a guided missile underwater for some reason, very tedious.
The level design is good at times, but can definitely feel a little lazy. This is by far my least favorite style of Mario. He is not meant to be on these tiny little planets, he's meant to be in far larger environments. The game is at its best when you are just on the ground in a larger environment, but unfortunately that's pretty rare. When you are on planets where you are meant to go all around the surface, the controls and camera really struggle for some reason.
The camera is not controllable by the player for the vast majority of the game, usually only allowing for a weird first person view instead of any real control. I'm sure this was because the Wii remote didn't have a second stick, so the rare camera control is done by the D-Pad. You'd imagine that the game would have a very smart camera and many scripted sequences, and while yes there are many scripted camera sections, it is very jarring when they aren't there. You'll be heading in one direction and instead of following Mario, the camera will just show you what is behind you instead of where you are going, which can definitely lead to some falls. It's just disappointing how frustrating the camera can be, a problem that 3D Mario struggled with until 3D Land.
The enemies and boss fights are pretty good. Enemies have a large variety and different ways that they can be defeated. Boss battles are kind of hit or miss, some are really great where as others are insanely easy or just boring.
Many obvious Quality of Life features are not present, such as the game booting you back to the observatory when you get a bonus star, even if you were in the middle of getting a different star. There's a level where you have to go around collecting pieces of a star, very simple stuff, but it can take quite a few minutes to do. If you somehow fall and die, all of the star pieces will go back to where they were and you have to do everything all over again. I could understand that if I ran out of lives, but come on, it's not like the game doesn't already have checkpoints. There are various other small problems, but you get the idea.
The Hub world is an interesting idea, but heavily lacking. The best hub world in Mario is definitely Peach's Castle in 64. Peach's Castle is such a good hub world because it's so large and fun to explore, you never know what you are going to find next! The Hub in Galaxy is the complete opposite. It's small and has very few interesting things to see. Instead of feeling like an fun place to explore and run around in, it feels like a menu that has NPC characters to talk to. The Hub starts off mostly shrouded in darkness, but will power up as you collect Grand Stars. This is a good idea in theory, but it doesn't feel very impactful. The only thing you really gain from powering up the Hub are more levels. You could say the same thing about Peach's Castle, but there you also got new, interesting areas to explore.
Galaxy features many optional stages. There are three types, ones that you unlock by feeding a hungry Luma with starbits, ones that you unlock from simply playing the game, and comets. The first two are perfectly fine, but comets have a slight issue. You cannot choose when you would like to play a specific comet level, as they will randomly come in orbit of a planet. It sounds like it could be a fun mechanic, randomly approaching you with a slightly more challenging level. The problem arises when you don't want to play these levels, they are optional after all. I wanted to play all of the normal levels on a specific planet, having already completed the other two planets in the observatory. As I clicked on the planet to start the second level, I was greeted by the comet in orbit. I tried the comet level, came to the conclusion that I didn't really want to complete it, and went back to the observatory. You'd think that skipping over an optional level would be as simple as clicking a button to dismiss the comet, but there is a bit more to it than that. I had to leave the observatory, slowly make my way to the other side of the Hub, talk to a luma, tell him to move the comet, pay him for his services, then walk all the way back. After playing through the second level, I was ready for the third, only to be greeted by the same comet again, having to redo all of those steps. It's not a huge problem or anything, but it definitely is a prime example of bad game design.
Story is a weird topic for Mario games. It's usually very simple, bowser captures peach blah blah blah, but sometimes it's made a bit more interesting, throwing in a new setting or maybe Bowser is up to something else along with his regularly scheduled Peach capturing. Galaxy goes for a wildly different approach, being far more dramatic with a lot more world building than previous and future titles. Bowser does capture Peach in this game, but his real goal is to create an entirely new galaxy. Mario is saved by a new princess, Rosalina, who is very mysterious. You are slowly given pieces of a pictures book as you complete sections of the game that further develop and give depth to Rosalina. I'm sure to many people this sounds great, but it's just not for me. Mario does not need a big story with super dramatic cutscenes, it just feels kind of ridiculous. He's a plumber fighting a big turtle, and it's just a weird decision to try and make it so epic. I hear that Galaxy 2 takes the same story and dumbs it down a bit, which I think I'll prefer. I believe Miyamoto is right about story in games when it comes to Mario.
Overall, Super Mario Galaxy is a game that surprised me with just how many faults it has, especially with the high amount of praise it continually receives. I know it sounds like I hated this game, but I still enjoyed the experience and I'm glad I finally gave it a shot.
7/10
2 Comments
I read all that
SwagDaddy
10 months ago