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     Justice's Blog
The Justoid Review #2.5: Super Mario Galaxy First Impressions
 by Justice on 11.17.2007      8 comments




Contains spoilers.

I'm calling it first impressions but I've put 5 hours into it and got 30 stars.

OK so 5 years after Super Mario Sunshine we are back with the latest in the tubby plumber's adventures.

When I first started the game I got that feeling in my stomach that I got with Super Mario 64, that sense of grand adventure. Just playing with Mario after not touching Sunshine so long, along with the intense music (gotta download the offical soundtrack) just made me realise why I fall in love with the Mario games everytime.

From the start I realised that Galaxy wasn't going to be a generic Mario game, for example, when running towards Peach's castle, a Toad told me "Going to my happy place, blah blah blah" while meteors were raining down on the Mushroom Kingdom. I never expected Nintendo to have something like that in the game, but there's alot of these moments that made me chuckle.

Galaxy is a very pretty game, with Mario being very shiny in space, but not PS3 over-shiny. The backgrounds are amazing too, with space looking breathtaking at moments.

Galaxy is also a very nostalgic game for Mario fans, with certain stages having the tune from the first level from SMB3 (I think), a return of the penguins from SM64, having pictures of scenes from SMB in the background of special galaxies and etc.

Control wise, the game is pretty much perfect with the game playing pretty much how 3D Mario games have always played and the spin feature being incorporated with ease, never feeling out of place. The wiimote is also used to control stars that can pull Mario along a path, collect bits for later use, to fire Mario from cannons and etc.

The camera, may be unusual for those who have played 64 or Sunshine but you adapt to it quickly, realising how unnecessary a fully movable camera is.

The new idea of running around planets quickly grew on me, with me feeling the need to do long jumps across tiny planets and landing on the other side. It's all very fun.

One thing I really liked is "Rainbow Mario" (which is just Star Mario), when Mario gets the Star the infamous music plays, with a slight speed increase in Mario and Mario turning all colours of the Rainbow. Another thing I like is the comet feature (which I won't go into) but make's replayability a lot better than usual. Also spinning through the water at a fast speed while shaking the wiimote is fun also (wait that didn't come out right).

One thing I dislike though, is the easiness of the game, I figured after 10 stars it would get a bit harder, but alot of the 5 hours I spent playing the game was spent just messing around with Mario. There is a LARGE ABUNDANCE of 1up mushrooms everywhere.

Overall I think this game will go fairly quickly, but it's definitely going to be a classic for me forever.

I'll write up a proper review when I finito the game.


The Justoid Review #1: Super Princess Peach

The Justoid Review #2: Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll

There are 8 comments about this post:
ZekeThePlumber's Destructoid Blog
I'm not really concerned to much about the issue of the 1ups. That seem kinda pointless if you really think about it since if you do happen to get a game over, you'd just end up restarting at the same spot you just died anyway when you continue. Alot of games seem to have taken this approach with the steadily available save systems they've been implementing. The 1ups may more of an actual tradition than an intended gameplay mechanic to boost difficulty. I think they might have actually taken the right approach to the issue by reducing Mario's HP to just 3, a great improvement from 64 where you could magically restore health by jumping into water.

The difficulty on the other hand can be on and off. Take the Manta Ray courses for example. I'll let you experience that one on your own. The vast majority of the stars are still fun so no complaints there.
Justice's Destructoid Blog
Actually yeah you're right about each point in that comment, and it really is a fun game
Corak's Destructoid Blog
It is fun, not sure if you got to the Luigi haunted mansion level, but the mini boss fight there in the third part of that galaxy caught me off guard. I had your same feelings going through the game at a relatively fast pace, but that boss took me a few lives to get right. Not an overly tough fight, but it definately keeps you on your toes. I honestly can't wait to see what else is in store for me. And 1ups, while seemengly abundant doesn't mean much when you turn the game off and start at 4 lives again.
GrayFox's Destructoid Blog
The later levels are way better than the first IMO. It gets pretty challenging toward the end. I've got 98 stars and I think the last 20 are going to be pretty tough.

Awesome, awesome game. Not as revolutionary as SM64, but that was the first 3D game, so obviously it is revolutionary. Overall I think this game might be better than 64, but it's really, really close. And as good as this game was expected to be, I never thought I would say that.
Necros's Destructoid Blog
I also note that they took a lot of humor from Paper Mario's dialogue, but without the wordiness.
Necros's Destructoid Blog
I also note that they took a lot of humor from Paper Mario's dialogue, but without the wordiness.
Snaileb 's Destructoid Blog
Thank god. You need more posts.

Star Mario sounds like fun, suprisingly I didnt even know he was in the game. And remember how many 1ups there were in Mario64? There were like, 5 on each Bowser level.
MaxVest's Destructoid Blog
Justice: The following message is still sitting in my PM outbox, so I'm assuming you never opened it.

Here's your Play-Asia coupon code:

Code PE-PXQ-SVY

Get US$8 off a purchase of US$50 or more

Both coupon codes are only valid until the end of 2007 and can be redeemed just once. Feel free to pass either coupon to anyone else if you can't use it for yourself. Please be reminded that shipping costs do not account for the minimum purchase amount and only one coupon code can be used per order. Coupon codes are further not valid in combination with our weekly special promotion.

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I am Justice, aged 19 ZOMG LESS THAN A YEAR TO 20! I've got every nintendo console (excluding the virtual boy) but no I'm not a fanboy. I've got a DS and a PSP in terms of this gen handhelds, and I've also got a Wii and 360(elite with the falcon chipset) :D
I enjoy gaming, playing sports, chilling with mates and so forth. I reside in London, UK, and I go to University studying Multimedia Technology & Design (Graphic Design, Web Design. animation etc).
Happy reading!

Gamertag: TheSolidSound
Friend Code: Your guess is as good as mine



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#1: Bon Jovi VS Megaman, and Smif-N-Wessun VS Super Mario Bros
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Reviews:
The Justoid Review #1: Super Princess Peach
The Justoid Review #2: Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll
The Justoid Review #2.5: Super Mario Galaxy: First Impressions
The Justoid Review #3: Professor Layton & The Curious Village

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The Justoid Preview #1: Assassin's Creed - Altair's Chronicles

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#1: Tristero
#2: Electrobes (ghost-written by Coonskin05!)
#3: Elbartoqwertyuiop
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