PEL review: Super Mario Galaxy

Phoenix: Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Contradiction. Its continuing mission: To discover new games to review. To seek out good games that are worth buying. To boldly go where no review has-

Edgeworth: Who are you talking to Wright?

Phoenix: Er… nobody, I was just… muttering to myself…

Edgeworth: Well stop mumbling and come on.

Larry: *leaping 50 feet into the air* Hey guys look at me! I can fly!

Phoenix: That’s… great Larry.

Edgeworth: Where’s that damn forth Power Star?

Phoenix: Wrong game Edgeworth…

Larry: *leaping into the air again* Nick! Nick! Look at me! Look how high I am!

Phoenix: Amazing Larry…

Edgeworth: Can these places really be considered planets? They’re only populated by a few creatures that we have to kill anyway.

Phoenix: Hmmm… you raise a good point.

Larry: *leaping into the air once more* Edgy! Edgy! Check this out! You’ve got to try it dude!

Edgeworth: Larry if you fall into a black hole we’re not jumping in after you!

Larry: Don’t worry, I’ll be careful!

Phoenix: Oh look, more Star Bits. What was wrong with using coins this time around?

Edgeworth: There are still coins.

Phoenix: Yeah but they’re not so common this time and are used to-

Larry: *leaping* Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…

Edgeworth: Okay that does it! *holds Wiimote at Larry*

Phoenix: Edgeworth don’t!

Edgeworth: *presses B button and fires Star Bits at Larry*

Larry: *gets sent flying into a black hole* Wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…

Phoenix: Edgeworth!

Edgeworth: He was annoying!

Phoenix: Not that! Those were our hard earned Star Bits!

Edgeworth: That’s not a big issue; there are hundreds of them lying around.

Phoenix: But still…

Edgeworth: End log.

*T.V Static*

*Zooms out of a computer screen to show Phoenix, Edgeworth and Larry back on earth*

Phoenix: Why do you get to do the log?

Edgeworth: Because I am the captain.

Larry: You didn’t have to kill me you know!

Edgeworth: You were wasting time.

Larry: You’re lucky I had that extra life.

Edgeworth: Let’s discuss exactly what “lucky” means Larry.

Phoenix: Better yet, let’s discuss the game we’re supposed to review: Super Mario Galaxy.

Larry: Oh yes. One of the most hyped Nintendo Wii games, along with Super Smash Brothers Brawl and No More Heroes.

Edgeworth: That’s mainly because of what Reggie said at E3 that year.

Larry: What did he say?

Edgeworth: He said that it was, in a sense, “the only worthy successor to Super Mario 64”.

Larry: Wow… even the president of Nintendo USA thinks Mario Sunshine sucks…

Phoenix: It wasn’t that bad. It was just hard, that’s all.

Larry: Nowhere near as hard as “The Lost Levels” (the real Super Mario Brothers 2).

Phoenix: Oh yeah…

Edgeworth: Back onto Super Mario Galaxy. Is it really a worthy successor to Super Mario 64?

Phoenix: That’s a tough call to make. Either way we’ll be called biased by somebody.

Edgeworth: Then I suggest we review it as a game on its own, and not out of nostalgia.

Phoenix: Well it worked with NiGHTS.

Larry: AAAAAHHHHH! Don’t say that name!

Phoenix: Well the story is once again “Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach! It’s up to Mario to save her!” except this time in space.

Larry: Yanno, she’s been captured one too many times… I think she enjoys it.

Phoenix: That’ll probably get us some hate mail from Princess Peach’s horny fanboys…

Edgeworth: Upon failing to catch up with Bowser, Mario is taken to a strange space station known as the “Comet Observatory”. There he meets a strange woman named Rosalina-

Larry: Who’s basically just a hotter version of Peach.

Edgeworth: *sigh* I suppose…

Phoenix: O_o

Edgeworth: As well as her, Mario also meets a race of star creatures called the “Lumas”. They say they’ll help Mario find the Princess if he helps them to stop Bowser from destroying the universe, which he was most likely going to do anyway. To do this he must collect Power Stars to power up the Observatory’s core so that they can fly to the center of the universe, where Bowser is hiding.

Larry: Collecting stars again? Does Miyamoto have a fetish or something?

Phoenix: Well it’s a plot you’d expect from a Mario platformer. It’s simple and easy to follow. They did add a bit of a side-story of Rosalina telling the story of how she left earth and became queen of the Lumas, but honstly I didn’t really care much for it.

Edgeworth: I’d say a nice six will do nicely.

Phoenix: I’d give it a four myself, but it is a Mario platformer, ergo it doesn’t need a deap plot. So I’ll agree to a six.

Larry: Gameplay. The gameplay’s awesome!

Phoenix: Well I’ll admit the game is a lot of fun, but there are some things wrong with it.

Edgeworth: Let’s explain the gameplay first of all.

Larry: It’s just as simple as the plot. You move with the analog stick on the nunchuck, jump by pressing the A button and duck with the Z button.

Phoenix: And by shaking the Wiimote Mario will do a spin attack, which will send enemies spinning. While they’re spinning you can run up to them to kick them away. This is neat, but you have to wait a few seconds before you can do the spin again.

Edgeworth: By pointing the Wiimote at the screen so a star cursor comes up then pressing the B button you can fire Starbits (the replacement for coins in the game). This will stun enemies so you can kick them.

Phoenix: All of this is very cool, but you can still kill things by jumping on them anyway, so it seems kind of pointless.

Larry: Your goal in each level is to collect a Power Star. Most of the time this means just running to the end of the level, but sometimes you will have to do other things.

Edgeworth: Well running to the end of the level isn’t as simple as it sounds. There will be many different obsticals and puzzles to solve to get to the star.

Phoenix: That’s true, but at the same time the levels are very simple and easy to complete.

Edgeworth: But this isn’t supposed to be a game aimed towards ‘hardcore’ gamers. It’s supposed to be a game the whole family can enjoy.

Phoenix: True.

Larry: The Power-Ups are awesome!

Phoenix: The Power-Ups are… okay I guess. There are some nice new ones, such as the Bee Mushroom which turns Mario into a Bee giving him the ability to fly and cling to honey walls. There’s the Boo Mushroom which turns Mario into a Boo Ghost, giving him the ability to hover and go invisible. The Spring Mushroom which wraps Mario in a giant spring allowing him to jump higher. The Ice Flower which gives Mario the ability to skate and freeze water. As well as having the classic Fire Flower to give you the ability to shoot fireballs and the invincibility star (which is called the Rainbow Star in this game) that allows you to become invunrable for a short period of time.

Larry: Why are they just “okay”?

Phoenix: Well they’re fun and all, but you lose them way too easily. Some of the only last a short period of time, and some will disappear if you hit a launch star.

Larry: Well, yeah, but this is a 3D Mario game.

Edgeworth: The more stars you collect the more galaxies you will open up. Collect enough and you will unlock a boss stage, however these will always involve fighting either Bowser Jr, Kemek, or Bowser himself. All of these fights are very simple, and you use pretty much the same stratergy each time.

Larry: That’s gay…

Phoenix: Well there are some sub-bosses in certain stages.

Edgeworth: But there’s no real stratergy to them either.

Larry: What were the problems you mentioned before Nick?

Phoenix: Well for one thing, as we said, the game is way too easy.

Edgeworth: But I explained why that is Wright.

Phoenix: And that was a good point, and it’s a fair enough reason, but there are some things about it that get on my nerves.

Larry: Such as?

Phoenix: For one thing you only need 50 Star Bits or coins to get a 1-Up. What the heck? What kind of achivement is that?

Edgeworth: I suppose it was done for the children.

Phoenix: But the children of the 1980’s had to get 100 coins for a 1-Up.

Larry: I have to side with Nick on this one Edgy. The game is a bit too nice with the 1-Ups.

Phoenix: There’s also this mailman Toad who gives you letters from Princess Peach (how she’s sending them is beond me) with five 1-Ups attached. What’s the point in that?

Larry: That wouldn’t be an issue for me if it happened when you’ve been playing for a while and need some lives, but it happens nearly every time I turn on the game.

Edgeworth: But you don’t HAVE to take them.

Phoenix: True, but the fact that it does it that oftern is annoying.

Edgeworth: My major complaint is the lack of camera control.

Larry: What do you mean? There was camera control.

Edgeworth: But only at certain points. In Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine you had complete control over the camera, but this time around you have little to no control over it.

Phoenix: Also the camera angles can be off at points. There will be times where you can’t see over the side of a planet so you don’t know if you’ll end up on the other side or falling into a black hole.

Larry: Which is not a pleasant experience let me tell ya.

Phoenix: One last thing to mention is the mulitplayer mode.

Larry: Is that even worth mentioning?

Edgeworth: I think it is. Yes there is a multiplayer mode, however the second player doesn’t get to play as Luigi. Instead they take control of a second cursor that can also fire and suck in Star Bits.

Larry: Why did they even bother putting that in?

Phoenix: It was for people who are new to video games.

Larry: You mean n00bs?

Phoenix: …

Edgeworth: Why are you both… never mind…

Phoenix: As I said, it was done for people who are new at this. While it is kind of stupid, it’s actually pretty fun. It’s fun to shoot things and annoy your friend who’s worked so hard collecting those Star Bits.

Edgeworth: Oh no, we forgot about the comets.

Larry: Comets? Coming here?! We’re all gonna die!

Phoenix: Ignoring that. Basically comets occasionally appear in levels your either playing or have just finished playing. They allow you to go through a trial to get and extra star. These trials range from: reaching the star withing a time limit, racing a clone of yourself, getting to the star without being hit, and many many more.

Edgeworth: For gameplay we’re only going to give it a seven. It’s simple and fun with some interesting Power-Ups, but is incredibly easy. However this is a game for the family therefore it doesn’t need to be complicated.

Phoenix: Moving onto graphics. Now the graphics in this game are very good.

Larry: Yeah, but I hear they were downgraded.

Phoenix: That’s true, but they’re not bad in any way. They’re not as good as something like Brawl, but they’re not as bad as, oh say, NiGHTS.

Larry: *little girl screem*

NiGHTS: Hey! My game’s graphics were great!

Larry: Aaaaaahhhhh! *wets himself*

Phoenix: Get out of here! You had your turn!

NiGHTS: Fine! *flies away*

Edgeworth: Stand as far away from me as possible Larry. Discusting…

Larry: Hey! He… she… IT scares me okay?!

Phoenix: Getting back onto topic. Considering the game’s graphics were downgraded, they still look pretty good. I’d give them an eight myself. They’re not the best I’ve seen on the Wii, but they’re still not bad.

Edgeworth: Agreed.

Larry: I agree too.

Edgeworth: You’re forbidden from talking untill you change your trousers Larry!

Larry: Screw you dude!

Phoenix: *sigh* Now music.

Larry: It was aw-

Edgeworth: What did I just say?!

Larry: FINE! *takes off trousers and throws them at Edgeworth*

Edgeworth *dodges wet trousers* Don’t throw them at me! You’re revolting!

Phoenix: Can we-

*Larry fangirls screem*

Larry: That’s right ladies, they’re off.

Phoenix: Back here on the topic planet, the music in this game is pretty good. Like with Brawl there’s a nice mix of new music and some new versions of classic tracks from the old Mario games.

Edgeworth: While I do like the new versions of the old Mario music, not all of the newer music was to my liking.

Phoenix: I’ll agree with you this time. For the most part it fits the game, but I just don’t like some of the tracks. So I’ll say eight?

Edgeworth: Eight.

Phoenix: Larry?

Larry: *posing for his fangirls*

Phoenix: Eight it is then.

Edgeworth: Is voice acting really worth mentioning?

Phoenix: Well it’s a Mario game so there’s not a lot of it. You get the usual movement sounds, grunts and groans from Mario and some single lines from Peach and Rosalina. The only real line of speech is right at the end.

Edgeworth: Well this is better then when they tried to incorparate voice acting in Super Mario Sunshine. That was a huge mistake.

Larry: Bowser sounded retarded in that game.

Phoenix: Back with us?

Larry: My ladies wanted me.

Edgeworth: Well I think it’s good that they have little to no voice acting in this game. We all know about Sega’s voice acting troubles…

Larry: Death to Jason Griffith!

Edgeworth: Would you shut up about that! He’s really not THAT bad!

Phoenix: Besides he’s Sonic’s voice actor now, that’s not going to change for some time!

Larry: But he works for 4kids! That automatically makes him bad!

Edgeworth: *shoves a Star Bit in Larry’s mouth*

Phoenix: In conclusion:
- Story: 6
Pro: It’s what you’d expect from a Mario platformer.
Con: It’s what you’d expect from a Mario platformer.

- Gameplay: 7
Pro: Simple, easy and fun. Something the whole family can enjoy.
Con: Too easy. Little to no camera control.

- Graphics: 8.
Pro: Takes advantage of the Wii’s capabilities.
Con: Still not quite the best looking game. Some annoying camera angles at certain points in the levels.

- Music: 8
Pro: Some great new mixes of classic soundtracks as well as some interesting new ones.
Con: Not all of them were to our liking.

- Voice acting: 5 (out of 5)
Pro: Same great cast.
Con: Only really single lines.

- Overall score: 7
A great Wii game the whole family will love. Defiantly one for Mario fans. One worth adding to your collection.


Larry: *eating Star Bit* Mmm… this is actually pretty good.

Edgeworth: Finally we can go home.

Phoenix: Yeah. Let’s call it a day.

Larry: Right behind you dudes.

*A Luma appears infront of Larry and hints to wanting the Star Bit*

Larry: What this? This is mine! Get your own!

*An army of Lumas appear out of nowhere and pile up on Larry, trying to take his Star Bit*

Larry: Get off of me! You can’t have it! Nick! Edgy! Help me!

Edgeworth: Did you hear something Wright?

Phoenix: Nope. Must be your imagination.