Don't believe the hype: Super Mario Galaxy is not that great
Eh, it's OK
(Credit: Gamespot)After sifting through a host of reviews calling Nintendo's new Super Mario Galaxy game "one of the best Mario adventures yet", I decided to head down to my local Gamestop and pick up a copy.
Now, it should be noted that I have played each and every Super Mario game dating back to Super Mario Bros. and have always been a fan of the series. In fact, to this day, I still consider Super Mario Sunshine to be one of the better games in the Mario franchise. Further, Super Mario 64 was simply a marvel of its time and easily one of the best experiences I've ever had gaming.
But after playing through Super Mario Galaxy for the past week, I simply don't get all the hype surrounding the game. Is it a good game? Sure. Is it a great game? No.
The first thing that struck me about this game was the utter lack of beauty. And while I realize the Wii doesn't have the horsepower we've all come to know and love in the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or the PC, this game looks no better than games released back in 2001.
Is graphics everything? Of course not. But don't you think Nintendo could have done a slightly better job creating a better looking world? I hate to be picky, but compare this game to Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube -- Nintendo's last generation device -- and there is no contest. And after playing games like Call of Duty 4 and Assassin's Creed, I can't help but think this game is downright ugly for this generation.
But alas, Mario games have always been about gameplay. And while much of the jumping and fluid motion I had come to love in Sunshine is still present, the interaction of the game with the Wii-Mote made this game feel gimmicky.
Am I the only person in the world who started playing this game and thought the need to "shake the Wii-mote" back and forth was one of the dumbest aspects of this game?
And I think that's where Nintendo lost me. With a first-party game, I truly believe the Wii-mote should be inexorably tied to gameplay. Unfortunately, it simply wasn't. In fact, it almost seemed like this functionality was tacked on at the end because, after all, a Wii game must use that Wii-mote in some way, right?
But perhaps this is an issue that plagues the Wii more than this game itself. Is it possible that Wii-mote interaction is difficult and it only really works on mini-games and sports titles? Now that I've played Super Mario Galaxy, I certainly believe so.
One other major issue I had with this title is its unbearably boring story. Why must I sit through drawn-out text discussions of the story when all I really want to do is play the game? Suffice it to say, Nintendo's way of telling a story through a dialog box is out-dated and stupid. It should have been thrown out the window with the Gamecube.
Of course, not everything was bad in Super Mario Galaxy. In fact, Nintendo broke the mold of gameplay in quite a few ways that should usher in some new ways to make games. I especially enjoyed running under planets and moving around and jumping was as simple and fun as it always has been.
But in the end, I was left wanting more out of this game. Not only does it look downright ugly at times, the tacked-on feel of some of its controls and its utter lack of a compelling story preclude me from calling it the "wonderful" game others have called it. Is it a good game? Yes. Is it great? Not a chance.
If you ask me, this game deserves a 7 out of 10.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
"I especially enjoyed running under planets and moving around and jumping was as simple and fun as it always has been."
Conclusion: This review needs some serious editing and evaluation. It's almost hard to believe you didn't write and play this game in under ten minutes.
And as for your distaste of the lack of voice dialogue: big deal. I don't mind it and I rather enjoy it, actually, running by the Toads and seeing what they're saying in a brief voice bubble. It means I don't have to stop by and listen to what they have to say.
Don't worry every time I said this lots of nintendo fans jumped on me and told me that I was a XBOX 360 lover, and you know what, yes I'm, I love gaming and the only console that is doing good games (I don't have a PS3, I will soon) is the 360.
HUGE Mario fan for years, and Super Mario Galaxy fell far below my
expectations.
At first, I noticed many of these replies, I take that back, nearly every single
reply is a rebuttal from someone who obviously has a liking for Galaxy. As I
said, I've loved Mario since the beginning, but Galaxy DID NOT live up to the
hype. Obviously, many Nintendo fanboys and girls cannot take even the
smallest bit of criticism, and flagrantly disregard this review.
Sadly, this happens with too many Nintendo supporters. One review, not even
that critical of a review, is written, AND SINCE THIS REVIEW IS NOT
CHERISHING EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF SUPER MARIO GALAXY, YOU NINTENDO
FANBOYS GO ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. It is really sad to see the overall response
to an article providing a small amount of criticism, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism,
not to mention. I'd be really surprised to see how you all react to criticism in
real life, because from what I've seen too many people are overly sensitive.
Now, I'm not sure if your emotions have weakened by playing too much
Cooking Mama or Ant Bully, but you all need to learn how to accept an
opinion. In the author's opinion, he thinks Galaxy does not deserve to be
praised as the greatest game of all time. In response, the Nintendo loyalists
threaten his position after ONE bad, no, not even bad, a slighly criticizing,
review.
At this point in a video game lifestyle, I am so sick of fanboys and fangirls
blindly lashing out at anyone who says the slightest hint of anything negative
about their console or their console's games.
I am addressing this to the many, many fanboys around the world,
particualarly Wii fanboys, who need to get their heads out of their ásses and
look at a game from a neutral point of view. Too many people are willing to
blindly defend Nintendo with such alactricity that it makes me sick.
Super Mario Galaxy is a good game. In my opinion, Super Mario Galaxy is a
better game, but that's just my opinion, and by the looks of it, you Nintendo
fanboys will take this opinion, twist it, and call me a fanboy for not absolutely
loving Galaxy. Trust me, I've encountered this many times before. Xbox
fanboys going crazy when someone doesn't consider Halo 3 a godly game... it
happens all the time. You people need to wake up an realize that not all
games are perfect, and not all people see games as being perfect.
Right now, I'm on the Deep Dark Galaxy. It vaguely reminds me of some of
the beach scenes from Super Mario Sunshine, and that's why it is one of my
favorite Galaxies so far. Yet, when you look around the environment, the
detail is simple, much too simple for a game in late 2007, in my opinion. The
beach texture is very bare, when you go into first person and look at the
umbrellas, towels, and pirate ship, you can even see the pixels. To be
completely honest, I prefer the graphics in Super Mario Galaxy more, but yet
again, that's just my opinion.
In all, I find the Wii-mote and nunchuk to be innovative and fun - the biggest reason I bought a Wii.
http://www.wiipals.net/Forum/showthread.php?p=171623#post171623
Weak sir.. weak.
with that, as much as I disagree with you.
But even if you were right, I think a lot of people would be willing to live with
modest graphics, traditional controls, and lack of a storyline if the gameplay
is as incredible as it is in this game.
You completely glossed over gameplay (you know, the fun aspect) in your
review. The only time you discuss the gameplay is when you talk about
running around planets and jumping. Ok, right, we all know about that. But
that's about 1% of the game.
What about all the new powerups, level design, physics/mechanics, level
goals, etc? You have no opinion on this at all? How much did you actually
play the game before you wrote a review?
-Graphics were good as far as Wii standards are concerned.
-Sound was great
-controls were good. I think the whole shake the wiimote is a bit overdone as well, but it didn't tick me off.
-gameplay, sorry, but I was bored
-story was terrible, but that doesn't bother me since plot isn't at the top of my priority list
I give SMG 8/10.
The comment about "lack of beauty" rings true for me. And to me that doesn't mean graphics power, but just an overall aesthetic sense. There was just some sort of WHOLENESS about the environment of SM64 & SMSS that I didn't get. The levels seems somehow sparse - I didn't get the same feeling of immersion and discovery that I did in past games.
I was also genuinely disappointed by the size & difficulty of the game. 15 worlds in SM64, 9 in SMSS, 6 in SMG. This might actually tie in to the lack of immersion I felt - everything sort of ended too soon. Which also ties in to the difficulty. With every other Mario game there wound up being some mind-bending, hair-pulling level somewhere in the game. Levels it took me 100+ lives to get through. And on top of it there were other levels that really tested me. But in this game I can't remember there being any levels that pushed me that hard, and I beat Bowser with ONE LIFE and only lost 1-2 health points.
All that being said, I do still think it was a great game. The weird gravity effects were a blast, and I will disagree with the complaints about how the controllers worked(I really liked this). In fact I think the biggest problem was that the basic design was SO good that it made the fact the game is too small all the more disappointing. You look and see how much MORE they could have done if they had fleshed out the worlds a little more and added another few galaxies.
Once you completed one galaxy, the set up was the same for all the others...purple coins,cosmic race mario,luma appears etc etc! To me that was so lazy and there feels like the story develops no further. The same in the observatory where all the characters say pretty much the same thing all the way to the end. And this game was shockingly easy too!
If you want an awesome game to get lost in try twilight princess or metroid prime 3,Both way better than this.
You can basically stop reading after this comment in the Review:
"In fact, to this day, I still consider Super Mario Sunshine to be one of the better games in the Mario franchise."
Miyamoto didn't even work on Sunshine, and it has been widely referred to as the worst in the series by reputable game critics next to Super Mario Bros. 2 which wasn't even an original Mario game in it's Japanese form. This is akin to preferring the CDI version of Zelda over the SNES version.
This was an extremely weak article, and the author has been blacklisted from my reading. Learn2Review, gather your facts, and support your statements with those facts, not rhetoric.
Just sounds like you're trying to get your internet 15 minutes of fame.
"Utter lack of beauty"? It has already been accepted that the Wii is not as strong as the 360 or the PS3. So when you go to play a Wii game, lower your standards,and don't just think about the technical aspects of the graphics. SMG looks better than some 360 games (not exaggerating, have you seen Gun?) and the artistic aspect of it is beautiful. It has some of the most imagination I have EVER seen in a video game, and is totally deserving of the title of one of the best games of all time. Forget just the best Mario adventure. It was difficult for me to keep reading after that point because I believe this article was just crap, but I did anyway, and I must say, you should be ashamed of misleading people because we both know you either haven't played the game, or you are lying about you opinion. If you actually believe what you are saying, then I feel sorry for you.
- Cnet - connection lost
- by distant2nd November 26, 2007 5:18 PM PST
- the connection between cnet and video games is about as strong as Buddah is to Al Qaeda. Stop posting videogame reviews. Cnet is as PC biased as they come, and when they're not, they're worshiping Microsoft products. People are entitled to their opinion, but are to only broadcast it on the right forum. Go to gamespot and make a review, not on cnet.
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