Spring Break
'Galaxy' brings back old glory
Karna Sura
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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Super Mario Galaxy begins with a Mario attending a festival of the 100-year comet at the castle. However, Bowser ruins the party by stealing the entire castle and taking it into space. Thus, the story of Super Mario Galaxy begins. Mario is introduced to the Rosalina (the mother of the lumas) and the lumas. Lumas are like baby stars that become everything, including galaxies and stars.
Although it has a weird story line, Super Mario Galaxy is an artistic and musical masterpiece. The game has the best graphics for the Wii. Although not in high definition, the game is flawless. There is a definite improvement in the look and feel of Mario and the areas he visits. The music is composed of the classic songs but now orchestrated, making the songs more vibrant and colorful.
The game play is totally changed in part to the Wii but mostly because of co-op and addition of gravity. Co-op can make the experience of getting 121 stars a lot easier, especially with the more complicated levels. The second player can literally stop bullets from hitting you, especially when Mario only has three hits till death. Gravity changes the classic levels, making the entire level a potential star hunt.
The control scheme is somewhat faulty. The use of the Wii remote as a pointer requires exact precision. This is especially frustrating when you have to aim at only a distant pole that covers one-tenth of the screen. It is especially frustrating when you are sure you are aiming at the object but totally miss. Furthermore, the depth is sometimes deceitful. One level requires the player to use a slingshot-like web to move from point to point where the player has to aim with the Wiimote. The problem is aiming to the next point without any guide a tedious task.
Otherwise, the control scheme is amazing. The use of shaking the Wii remote for a various number of tasks including scaling vines and stunning enemies easies game play but allows the player to focus on more important tasks such as finding hungry lumas who hide extra stars in the level. The best use of the Wii remote is pointing to pick up and use star chips. In this game, coins have become more of a bragging right (counted as the high score). Star chips are the true currency of this game.
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