Super Mario Galaxy Impressions Thread

The_Law said:
Do you think that a six year old would be capable of playing this game? My nephew has a Wii and I am thinking of buying this for him for Christmas, but I want to make sure it isn't going to be too hard for him. He is pretty good at video games and has been playing for about 2 years, but he still has trouble with games that require a lot of skill.

So, what do you think? I am sure there will be some parts that he needs help with, but overall is this a game that will require a lot of skill.

P.S. For a frame of reference, he plays Mario 64 on his Wii and he is really good at earlier levels. He has a hard time with some of the later levels though.
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Probably be much of the same for him.
 
My girlfriend even loves this game, and that's saying a LOT. I can't even play any levels anymore because all the lives disappear when it's my turn. :eek:

All in all though, really amazing stuff. The art direction is beautiful, and it certainly captures the spirit of the franchise's highlights. The whole galaxy/planet concept was executed wonderfully. I'd say that you need this game if you have a Wii. Ours hadn't been played in a few weeks (though, admittedly, I haven't picked up Metroid).
 
Lets just put it this way. I played it for 10 hours straight today. Unless a game kicks complete and total ass, it can't keep me interested for that long of a time period.

I have the Westinghouse 37" 1080p, and the SMG looks great on it. Like others said it has the jaggies, but the image is very crisp. I also agree with what others have said, once you get into the 50+ inch range, non-HD content looks horrible. The main reason I only got a 37" is because I thought it was a stupid idea to get a 50" plasma than made SDTV and 480p video look like total shit. With my 37" I can enjoy HDTV to its fullest, but regular cable and the Wii still look good on it.
 
The_Law said:
Do you think that a six year old would be capable of playing this game? My nephew has a Wii and I am thinking of buying this for him for Christmas, but I want to make sure it isn't going to be too hard for him. He is pretty good at video games and has been playing for about 2 years, but he still has trouble with games that require a lot of skill.

So, what do you think? I am sure there will be some parts that he needs help with, but overall is this a game that will require a lot of skill.

P.S. For a frame of reference, he plays Mario 64 on his Wii and he is really good at earlier levels. He has a hard time with some of the later levels though.
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I think it will be about the same. The Early levels in this are not too chalanging, but more train your mind and movements around the new style which is really fun and amazing! He will like it IMO. Small learning curv but eh.
 
I love the game and all, but the camera is absolutely infuriating. Its a combination of it not allowing the centering function to work 90% of the time and the wii remote's horrible dpad placement making that function pretty much useless. I get the sense that this game does it by design, to make it harder and keep you disoriented. There have been so many times I've died on the harder stars where it was 100% the camera's fault, its not even funny. I really can't stand when games make themselves difficult by being cheap and essentially exploiting themselves.
 
After having some time to spend playing, I can truly say this is one hell of a fun game. If your a fan of the Mario series, then this is a must buy, fantastic game!
 
Spaceman_Spiff said:
I love the game and all, but the camera is absolutely infuriating. Its a combination of it not allowing the centering function to work 90% of the time and the wii remote's horrible dpad placement making that function pretty much useless. I get the sense that this game does it by design, to make it harder and keep you disoriented. There have been so many times I've died on the harder stars where it was 100% the camera's fault, its not even funny. I really can't stand when games make themselves difficult by being cheap and essentially exploiting themselves.
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Hmmm, for me the camera seems to be just about perfect, just about *all* the time. On rare occasion I wish it were different, but mostly, it puts itself in exactly the place it needs to be. Maybe your copy is defective :D
 
DragonMasterAlex said:
Hmmm, for me the camera seems to be just about perfect, just about *all* the time. On rare occasion I wish it were different, but mostly, it puts itself in exactly the place it needs to be. Maybe your copy is defective :D
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I got the impression that they succeeded admirably in providing just the "right" view at any given time. The way the levels are designed (particularly the spherical ones), it's very important you see a certain area of it depending on where you're standing. Every once in a while it's a little off as you said, but I'd agree that it's just about always optimal.

It feels a little weird at first just because the gameplay is pretty wacky compared to anything I've tried before. I really like the camera now that I'm more used to the utter geometric weirdness of the environments.
 
DragonMasterAlex said:
Hmmm, for me the camera seems to be just about perfect, just about *all* the time. On rare occasion I wish it were different, but mostly, it puts itself in exactly the place it needs to be. Maybe your copy is defective :D
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For example, I was just playing as bee mario, jumped off a platform, and the camera immediately moved underneath me for no reason whatsoever, and all I could see was the sky. Thanks, game. I also don't understand why there's so many places you can't go into first person view. Why should that ever be impossible?
 
Spaceman, you know if the camera goes out of whack, you can use the button on the left nunchuck to automatically center the camera.

If you didn't know that, give it a try, it works perfect.
 
Spaceman_Spiff said:
For example, I was just playing as bee mario, jumped off a platform, and the camera immediately moved underneath me for no reason whatsoever, and all I could see was the sky. Thanks, game. I also don't understand why there's so many places you can't go into first person view. Why should that ever be impossible?
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Weird, I haven't had that happen to me at any point, so I couldn't say! Sorry you're having the troubles, bro! Maybe there's a setting or something?
 
The_Law said:
Do you think that a six year old would be capable of playing this game? My nephew has a Wii and I am thinking of buying this for him for Christmas, but I want to make sure it isn't going to be too hard for him. He is pretty good at video games and has been playing for about 2 years, but he still has trouble with games that require a lot of skill.

So, what do you think? I am sure there will be some parts that he needs help with, but overall is this a game that will require a lot of skill.

P.S. For a frame of reference, he plays Mario 64 on his Wii and he is really good at earlier levels. He has a hard time with some of the later levels though.
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Well when I was 6 years old I was left to fend for myself with a game called "Gumshoe" that was so hard that I finally smashed my Nintendo Lightgun all over my room in frustration. So I say let him take his chances with Mario.
 
The_Law said:
Do you think that a six year old would be capable of playing this game? My nephew has a Wii and I am thinking of buying this for him for Christmas, but I want to make sure it isn't going to be too hard for him. He is pretty good at video games and has been playing for about 2 years, but he still has trouble with games that require a lot of skill.

So, what do you think? I am sure there will be some parts that he needs help with, but overall is this a game that will require a lot of skill.

P.S. For a frame of reference, he plays Mario 64 on his Wii and he is really good at earlier levels. He has a hard time with some of the later levels though.
Click to expand...

My son is four and he has no problem playing it.
 
The_Law said:
Do you think that a six year old would be capable of playing this game? My nephew has a Wii and I am thinking of buying this for him for Christmas, but I want to make sure it isn't going to be too hard for him. He is pretty good at video games and has been playing for about 2 years, but he still has trouble with games that require a lot of skill.

So, what do you think? I am sure there will be some parts that he needs help with, but overall is this a game that will require a lot of skill.

P.S. For a frame of reference, he plays Mario 64 on his Wii and he is really good at earlier levels. He has a hard time with some of the later levels though.
Click to expand...

inotocracy said:
My son is four and he has no problem playing it.
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Nintendo tends to be really good about making games that everyone can play. You only need about 60 stars to beat the games. It is easy for a 6 year old, and apparently a 4 year old to get at least that many. However, there are 120 starts total in the game. Getting all of the stars is a much more difficult task and is something that allows older, skilled gamers to still get a challenge out of the game.
 
Just got the 120th star, and definitely enjoyed it all the way. I thought the hardest star by far was the purple coin one on toy time, although purple coins on battlerock and daredevil on lava spire weren't easy either. Other than those 3, though, the game was pretty easy. Can't remember the last game I 100%ed without a trip to gamefaqs.

It was an awesome game, don't get me wrong, but it feels like the standard mario platformer is kinda maxed out. Without some sort of character advancement, new items, or something, there's only so far it can go. I don't really have much of an urge to play the entire game over again. Certain levels maybe, but without any rpg elements there's no way to go back and do it differently a second time.
 
I got a chance to put a little more time into it yesterday night. I actually think this game is a lot harder than some of the previous ones. I can remember playing Mario 64 and not dying until I got 10-15 stars. With this game I've died a couple of times on almost every level. Luckily there are so many of those star-bits, I gain an extra life or two on every level as well.
Maybe it's because I've been playing too many shooters, but I'm not that good at this type of game any longer :)
 
Game of the year for sure indeed, it has already passed Ocarina of Time as the top reviewed game of all time with an average review score of 97.8%

http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/simpleratings.asp?rankings=y

with that being said, I am a bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the game is amazing and so much fun, I didnt want to put it down and played for about 6 hours straight the first night i bought it. The reason I am disappointed is because I don't really like the outer space theme. I much prefer Mario 64's unique worlds. I would have liked to see each planet being a larger area with a unique theme and several unique levels in each of them. Instead what I have seen is that most planets are broken up little chunks that you fly through space to get between. That in itself would be fine if it was contained to one galaxy, but the other galaxy should have solid planets that you land on with levels that are closer to the mario 64 type of levels.

I think I would happier if they simply redid Mario 64 keeping all the levels and stars in tact and simply updating the graphics, music, and controls
 
CodeX said:
Game of the year for sure indeed, it has already passed Ocarina of Time as the top reviewed game of all time with an average review score of 97.8%
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Yeah I completely disagree with the reviews here. It was fun while it lasted, but less than a week after it came out, I'm done with it. It took me about 25 hours all together. That's gotta be taken into account. I'd give it about a 95, but I wouldn't call it the best game of the year, let alone all time. Most reviews, it seems, are based off the first ~10 hours play time, and not the average finished game or the 100% finished game.
 
yeah but thats not just one site, that is the average of all reviews given to it by all review sites and publications.
 
The surealness of it all is incredible.
I like the space theme, but spaceship is lacking. It doesnt feel like the castle in 64 felt. It almost like you had more to do.

Other than that, I think the game is perfect. I'll be playing this for a long time. I've already started replaying certain levels, cause I liked them so much. (Gotta love the remixed SMB 3 music.)

GOTY for me.
I'll prolly play Quake Wars more, but this game will still be played years down the road. Classic.
 
I definitely am enjoying it so far, although I've only gotten 19 stars or so so I will reserve final judgement until I get all 120 stars.
 
CodeX said:
with that being said, I am a bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the game is amazing and so much fun, I didnt want to put it down and played for about 6 hours straight the first night i bought it. The reason I am disappointed is because I don't really like the outer space theme. I much prefer Mario 64's unique worlds. I would have liked to see each planet being a larger area with a unique theme and several unique levels in each of them. Instead what I have seen is that most planets are broken up little chunks that you fly through space to get between. That in itself would be fine if it was contained to one galaxy, but the other galaxy should have solid planets that you land on with levels that are closer to the mario 64 type of levels.

I think I would happier if they simply redid Mario 64 keeping all the levels and stars in tact and simply updating the graphics, music, and controls
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I was expecting this game to be real bad si I haven't been let down per say but I agree with your statment otherwise. Game seems to be pretty good to me but I don't think it is nearly as good as the reviews sites say it is.
 
so, yeah, i know i'm kinda late to the party and all but here it goes anyway. I just picked up the game earlier tonight, holy cow this game rocks!
 
Another late comment...

This game is a blast! Definitely a game that will help get you into the Wii, or back into it if your looking for a new title to play. I love how they threw a bunch of little parts from the previous Mario games into this one. I am up to 51 stars now and loving it! Very purchase-worthy.
 
TeK-FX said:
Another late comment...

This game is a blast! Definitely a game that will help get you into the Wii, or back into it if your looking for a new title to play. I love how they threw a bunch of little parts from the previous Mario games into this one. I am up to 51 stars now and loving it! Very purchase-worthy.
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Yea, I just got up to 51 stars and I have been pretty much blown away... the visuals are awesome the game has tight controls and it's extremely fun, and I've still got 2 galaxys plus the trials galalxy that I haven't even got to yet, if it remains this fun until the end I know what I will put as number 1 game of the year.
 
I enjoyed it while it lasted but it did seem short to me. Probably because I felt most of the game was easy and blew through most of it, I intentionally stopped playing sometimes to try to "lengthen" the experience. Don't know if the game was actually easier or just the controls and camera worked well for it to seem that way. Most of the time, the long jump got me through most levels fairly easily, game would have been more difficult without it for sure.
 
saber07 said:
I enjoyed it while it lasted but it did seem short to me. Probably because I felt most of the game was easy and blew through most of it, I intentionally stopped playing sometimes to try to "lengthen" the experience. Don't know if the game was actually easier or just the controls and camera worked well for it to seem that way. Most of the time, the long jump got me through most levels fairly easily, game would have been more difficult without it for sure.
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Did you collect all 120 stars or just blow through it? It seems pretty easy on some levels but some areas I died 10+ times to pass it. (Daredevil fight vs the rock thing in luigi's mansion galaxy)

So far I have collected every star that I can find in every planet I've visted. Most games I don't like collecting but for this game I'll probably get all 120 stars.
 
sculelos said:
Did you collect all 120 stars or just blow through it? It seems pretty easy on some levels but some areas I died 10+ times to pass it. (Daredevil fight vs the rock thing in luigi's mansion galaxy)

So far I have collected every star that I can find in every planet I've visted. Most games I don't like collecting but for this game I'll probably get all 120 stars.
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I'm OCD too. I wont even open another galaxy until there are no more stars to get in the open ones.

Up to 60 stars now, in the Bedroom.
Which says alot, since I dont play video games very often on the weekdays. Plenty of time is going to this masterpiece. Its just so hard to stop once you start playing.... soo damn fun.
 
I'm up to 113 stars. The levels I have left are a bitch... 100 coin challenge on Toy Time Planet or whatever its called is owning me.
 
sculelos said:
Did you collect all 120 stars or just blow through it? It seems pretty easy on some levels but some areas I died 10+ times to pass it. (Daredevil fight vs the rock thing in luigi's mansion galaxy)

So far I have collected every star that I can find in every planet I've visted. Most games I don't like collecting but for this game I'll probably get all 120 stars.
Click to expand...

I collected all 120 in less thank a week, taking breaks and playing tf2 a lot as well. The only challenging part for me really was the luigi purple coin star and the last level had some good platforming parts, but for the most part the levels seemed easy. I would have liked some more of the end type of levels earlier, but the game was still fun.
 
GoldenTiger said:
I know what you mean... I just don't even bother with anything serious half the time because of people like that. I take regular hiatus from here because of that exact sort of thing that you're having.
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If you check out my account here, you will notice I had a prior infraction because I had flamed someone. Whats funny is it was in a paper mario thread with the Wii and it was something I said to GoldenTiger lol... I know I said some poor joke about hillbillies and the Wii being hard to find, and GolderTiger asked me what I had against people from the south or something rofl... I forget, but anyways, my reply was against the policy and I recieved a 3 day BAN from hardforum.... I do remember GoldenTiger's reply to that post that got me banned, and it was something like, " easy now, take deep breaths ". lol

So obviously what I said wasn't even threatening or worth GoldenTiger responding too, and nobody else said anything about what I said during the rest of the thread, so I felt banning me for 3 days was a little harsh. :p

My point is that don't let it bother you Mancannon, since it doesn't reflect on you, just the moderator.

The insults and comments I've seen from some members in some threads makes what I said look like a children's book... yet I've checked, and they haven't been BANNED.... :rolleyes:
 
VoodooChi|d said:
I'm up to 113 stars. The levels I have left are a bitch... 100 coin challenge on Toy Time Planet or whatever its called is owning me.
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Sweet Sweet Galaxy is owning me. Yes, I suck at platformers. :p I got so pissed the other day, I threw my wiimote at my door.
 
saber07 said:
I collected all 120 in less thank a week, taking breaks and playing tf2 a lot as well. The only challenging part for me really was the luigi purple coin star and the last level had some good platforming parts, but for the most part the levels seemed easy. I would have liked some more of the end type of levels earlier, but the game was still fun.
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You must be much better then me and probably are actually. I'm pretty good at real-time strategy, racing, fighting, rpgs and shooters but plateforming I'm not too great at.

Either way Galaxys mixed in with my other games is enough to keep me busy until Smash and Mario Kart come out for Wii.
 
Well technically Luigi has different jumping abilities, but the game doesn't change all that much.

I got the 120 stars, but I probably won't play it unless I'm bored on the quest to get 121...
 
yay 242 / 242.

I liked playing as Luigi better, the game seems to be a little bit more difficult with his varied abilities. Cosmic Luigi also is crazy, and makes the race challenges actually worthwhile.
 
I like Mario Galaxy. It does a good job of mixing fun and challenging levels, without becoming difficult and frustrating. It was kinda fun getting used to the idea that up isn't up anymore.

The only downside that really grabs me, is that the overworld is a bit pointless. Sure the station is pretty and the story is good for a Mario game, but unlocking rooms seems very linear, to the point that the overworld wasn't really necessary. I guess I got spoiled to the engaging environments that Zelda and Paper Mario have. Not really a fault of the game I guess, just my expectations.

I would love to see a full blown Mario game with a fully explorable sandbox type of world, and missions based in that world. I know that would be fundamentally very different than any past Mario game, so I guess it will never happen, but it's fun to think about. Essentially the kind of clues, quests, and traveling that Paper Mario and Zelda have, but the interface, appearance, and platforming that Mario 64/Sun/Gal have.
 
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