haxxiy

User Score
8.5

Presentation - 9.5
Gameplay - 8.5
Value - 8.5

I need to confess I didn't expect much from this game before I started playing it. It has been six years since the last Mario platformer, and at first it seemed not many things changed at all from Super Mario Sunshine or, say, even the twelve year-old Super Mario 64. Basically, the game's premise remains the same - collect 120 stars scattered among a huge ammount of levels and chapters. I sighed - coming back to an old formula almost never is a good idea.

The game starts with a short, simple introduction that personally I found to be unsatisfying, especially after the incredible small movie at the beginning of Super Mario Sunshine. Then you start controlling Mario just before the start of a party celebrating the apparition of a comet. I know Mario games for long now, and I guess you do to, so guess if things will turn out alright.

At first, Mario's gameplay seems awkard, especially if you are used to standard controllers. You better make sure you sit or stand from where the pointer always point at the screen without any extra arm effort, otherwise you'll be tired soon, very soon. If you lose the pointer, the game will interrupt and guess it, smartie. You'll have to point at the screen again. 

After solving that small issue, I notice more problems in the gameplay. Much like Super Mario Sunshine, sometimes Mario will vanish from your sight except for a small black shadow, and most of times you can't correct it since camera controls are locked in many places. The same happens with the first person view. Mario's motion controlled moves are simple and very fun to perform -- later in the game you'll find out why.

It won't be long until you reach your new 'base' and start playing the many levels in the quest for the 120 stars. Each 'world' consists of a observatory where you can acess various galaxies. The galaxies you can reach depend in the number of stars you have already collected. There isn't any significant event to acess these 'worlds' like in SMG, but is better that way, really.

The levels are nothing short of incredible. The scenarios are much more variate than SMS's scenarios, and many levels have only three or four chapters. Some of them - usually the hardest and nicest level at each observatory - have only one single chapter. Much of the tasks you need to perform to get shines - sorry, stars - are really innovative and there is the game main strength. If I were to rate this game by level design alone, it would be the first game deserving a max score since Super Metroid, in my opinion. Of course, things are not that simple. After many Mario games, standards are set high - maybe way too high. The worst of it all is that many bad gameplay aspects from SMS remain into SMG. You'd expect Nintendo to have detected these issues and solved them as of now.

Overall, SMG remains a very enjoyable experience, surely the best platform game in this generation. Let's just hope SMG 2 - the first direct sequel to a Mario game - is even better than the first one. In other words, let's expect for a perfect game.