The 'Shroom:Issue XXVII/Review Corner

Review Corner by

Well, here is another mediocre…. Erm…. Wonderful? Issue of the shrooms very own…. REVIEW SECTION! Sorry if this is a little late, but this month I got sent to the hospital, had to present a speech, got promoted from my school, and many other things. Back on topic, it was really hard for me to pick this month’s game. So please please put suggestions on my talk. Anyway, I decided to pick Super Mario Galaxy for this month’s review. On any review site, you will see reviews that say something like “This game is the best work Nintendo has done since Super Mario 64,” ones that say “not worth the hype” and others that say “The worst game in the super Mario series.” But which one do you trust? Read the review to find out all that….. and more!!!!!!

Story
Well the story…. You are trying to save the princess, again…. And Bowser tries to take princess peaches castle. (think Paper Mario) You fall of and find yourself on a distant world. After finding a princess called Rosalina, you go off and find a giant star. The star is used to power Rosalina’s observatory. You can now go to some other galaxies. The only other thing that happens story wise happens at the end of the game, and of course I’m not giving that away!

Gameplay
Ze gameplay: outstanding. If you have played super Mario 64 or super Mario sunshine, controls and moves are similar. Your new weapon/ attack this time is a star spin. You quickly spin around and knock an enemy silly. You then proceed to kick them off the planet you’re on. Speaking of planets, obviously this game is set in space. You may think “Planets? What’s the deal about stupid planets?” How wrong you are. Super Mario galaxy introduces the concept of gravity. That’s right, you can try to jump over a pit and use the planets spherical shape to vault over the gap. In addition, if you can’t find a way to get off the planet you’re on, if you find a planet with a larger gravity, you can jump and get caught by that planets gravity. In some puzzles, you can change the gravity, so it defiantly makes the game interesting. As for the battle system: Well, I told you about star spinning. You can also jump on enemies, or shoot star bits. Star bits are collectables that are the currency of Super Mario Galaxy. You can shoot them or buy stuff with them. Not much to say.

Diversity of enemies
The enemies are plentiful; you will pretty much find a new enemy per world or sometimes per level. I can’t really say that I was bored by them. It’s a nice surprise to actually see enemies different from area to area. You will not be bored because of the enemies, and the battle system is smooth, simple, and fun.

Diversity of Levels
As for the levels: Here’s how it breaks down. Each world is called a dome; each dome has about 5 worlds/ galaxies. 2-3 of the galaxies have 3 levels, 1-2 of them have one, and one has a boss level, where you fight Bowser or one of Bowser Jr.’s minions. Overall, I would personally have just one world with 8 missions, but several with three is okay too. You won’t be disappointed, with 6 domes and 20+ galaxies, the levels aren’t boring.

Replayability
I will skip the diversity of characters, as there is only one person you can play as. (Or is there?) Onto the replayability. After you beat the game, you can collect 120(!) stars. After you collect 120 stars, you can play the game again with some….. minor changes. So, in other words, you will be occupied for days. If you hope to collect all 240 stars, be prepared to have no life for a couple of months.

Pros

 * Great and smooth gameplay.
 * Good diversity of enemies and levels.
 * Hours of Replayability.

Cons

 * Story could have been built upon just a bit more.
 * Can get a little too challenging when you have to collect all the stars.

Summary
Let me quickly explain the addition to the summary. Diffuculty means how hard or easy it was. If it is too easy, I will give it a low rating, if is too hard, I will also give it a lower rating. I will also present the total without the difficulty because some of you enjoy the challenge, or like an easy game. That being said, The two main things that brought this game down is the difficulty and diversity of enemies. The game was really hard at the end, as some of the levels made me want to smash the controller. The reason I gave it a 7, was, the game was really easy at the beginning, so it kind of balanced out. I gave the diversity of enemies an 8 because even though there were technically a lot of enemies, you didn’t really notice because a lot of them you saw once. It wasn’t bad either, as each enemy is different. The final verdict? This is way better than the previous two installments. The innovation in the gameplay was huge, the puzzles were amazing, but be prepared for some serious challenges. Buy it if you are looking for something different or if you are a fan of Sunshine, Super Mario 64, or any other 3d platformers. A new gamer can easily enjoy this game, too. So BUY IT!
 * Story: 8/10
 * Gameplay: 10/10
 * Diversity of enemies: 8/10
 * Diversity of levels: 9/10
 * Replayability: 9/10
 * Challenge: 7/10
 * Total: 8.5 B+
 * Total without story: 8.6 B+
 * Total without challenge: 8.8 B+