Truly, this is a game that could only take place in space. There exists, in the public subconscious, a kind of mythology behind space travel. These are the elements that make us watch a space shuttle launch in awe. The weightlessness. The freedom to move in any direction unimpeded by such earthly forces as friction. The endless void interrupted only momentarily by the most amazing things in the universe. Supernovas, comets, black holes. The unending supply of fresh wonders. And so on. Super Mario Galaxy takes these elements and makes a game out of them. I'll never go into space but now I can at least get an inkling of the fun only a select few have had first hand.

I saw Tron Knotts elevating Galaxy over 64. I'm not quite ready to do that but the case can certainly be made. Galaxy improves immeasurably over 64 by deftly sidestepping the issue of boring repetition. In the earlier title, one had to revisit each area ten different times to fully complete the game. Here, there's a driving force, a sense of rushing headlong into new experiences, that keeps any area from becoming stale. The most you'll have to come back to an area is 4-5 times and, each time you play through, the terrain of the level changes a bit or you're asked to explore a completely different section of the area or now you're being timed or so on. Little side quests open up and help even further. You can even enable the creation of new planets inside the galaxies that you're visiting. It's very very difficult to become bored with Galaxy.

Issues? I think the difficulty bounces around too much. Some parts are horrendously easy and then others will be surprisingly challenging. I don't mind the challenge but the abrupt shifts disrupt the tone for me. I also don't necessarily agree with the decision they've made to shift the focus onto gaining lives rather than prolonging the one you currently have. There are millions of star bits littering the levels while you only need 50 for an extra life. Meanwhile, coins still recover Mario's health but the coins are few and far between especially in contrast to the ridiculous amounts of star bits. I think I exited one level after a good amount of exploration and a few deaths with over 600.

So far no levels have had any large unique overarching/unifying mechanics like 64's Wet-Dry World, Tall Tall Mountain, or Tick Tock Clock. By this I mean elements that change the entire landscape/gameplay. Not so much disappointed/concerned about this as excited about what's to come.

I was also concerned in the early going that the game would have little character to it. The levels were flying by and there weren't any memorable experiences character wise like reuniting the baby penguin with its mother in 64 (or throwing it off a cliff, you sick bastard). Those concerns evaporated once the Toad Brigade started showing up in the levels and getting into wacky hijinks. I love them, unabashedly. I smell a spin off. Toads in Space. Make it happen, Nintendo.

As for surrealism, Psychonauts still takes top honors because Galaxy has nothing to react to . If everything is odd, if every object (from cakes to beehives) is thrown out there in the middle of space, then there is no juxtaposition. Dali's surreal because he takes everyday objects like clocks and bends them all over the place and puts them in the desert. You can get a sense of what he was thinking there. Galaxy hasn't done anything that purposeful yet. It is as surreal as an average Looney Tunes cartoon but pales in comparison to that one where Bugs Bunny is animating Daffy Duck and he's fucking around with him. God, what a good episode.