Digital Dave

It’s odd you should have that reaction to this particular game, because already several people I’ve spoken to about the game (myself included) have found that, for some strange, inexplicable reason, we couldn’t really decide whether or not we were having any fun while playing the game.

Now I went through the game. I beat it. My brother keeps searching for stars. But for some weird reason I just didn’t feel any vindication whatsoever when running through levels. I did not feel pleasure upon obtaining stars. I did not feel great when I managed to get to the final level and obtained the ending sequence. I didn’t even feel all that excited when I got those really difficult stars in various stages. I can’t say it’s boring–I wanted to play it, sure. But was it fun? I just… can’t say. I don’t know if I enjoyed it at all.

The graphics were really nice–a big step up from all the other trashy stuff I’ve seen on the Wii (I did not like Corruption’s graphics, I am sorry).
The sound was nice, though really unremarkable to me–I can’t remember any of the themes as I think back on it. In fact, I try to remember and come up with Mario 64 themes–which now I recall were at points re-used, as well as some older Mario themes, so okay, that gets some good points.
The difficulty was almost laughably easy, and that I find annoying in a Mario game, especially considering the complexity and difficulty of games like Super Mario World and Mario 64. At some point I had like 47 lives.
The story was lousy. I mean… really lousy. I’ve played Super Paper Mario. Now there is a story I felt was wonderful and rich and exciting. This story was just another excuse to get Mario to collect stars. No points for you. Even if you invent some magic comet thing that houses Star People, no. That’s just not going to cut it.
And the control system, while fine, becomes impossible when Mario changes gravitational fields. I can’t number the amount of times I kept jumping over and under a disk in space because I couldn’t orient myself appropriately in sync with the change of gravity. Plus, even if the camera’s movement was fluid, it took on such extreme angles for views that it gave me an intense feeling of vertigo and turned my mother completely off it, to the point where her original curiosity for the game disappated completely.

This wasn’t a weak Mario game, but I sincerely doubt it was the best of the series. I’d still give the title to Super Mario Bros. 3, World, or 64.

Very good perspective. Thank’s for taking the time to write!

Well, Mario games have not exactly been known to be really challenging for quite some time now. I haven’t played a challenging Mario game since Super Mario World, and that wasn’t too bad. But newer generation Mario games, Super Mario 64, Super Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy have been pretty easy.

I didn’t really think of obtaining stars as some sort of vindication. I loved the game for the exploration part, and to see what was coming next. Collecting stars was just a tool to show that I was done with that particular level. The level design really kept me curious to see what was coming, which was nice.

Yeah, the graphics were pretty nice. I haven’t played corruption. I haven’t been into Metroid since they went 3D. Just didn’t feel the game any longer. I’d definitely say they have the best graphics, along with the good ol` Zelda.

The sound was nice because they actually remixed the tracks in a really neat way. I mean, the castle track? That was really cool! Too bad there wasn’t more going on inside castles.

The controls were very simple to me, because I was really used to Mario 64. The gravitational effects didn’t bother me at all… This really changed when my girlfriend tried to play. She kept slipping into black holes, and having a hard time defeating the small creatures. The difficulty with the controls and her lack of patients killed the experience for her. ;(

I felt the story moving along decently. It’s not the best story, but its a story that is fed to you without being overly fed. Super Paper Mario, of course, had a better story due to it being more based on a RPG format, while Galaxy is more adventure/exploration.

I did let about 3 or 4 people start new files to play the game on Thanksgiving. They were all young, so they pretty much got it, and were laughing, running, and thoroughly enjoying their time.

I still have to say that this is the best Mario I have played. I just loved the scenario of being in space, hoping planets with all of the gravitational quirks, and all the bright and shining star bits flying everywhere.