super mario galaxy review
Test: Super Mario GalaxyNoticed by his absence at the time of the launch of the Wii, Mario had entrusted his friend Link with the heavy task of praising the merits of the new Nintendo console. Propelled into orbit at the edge of the galaxy to finally find a playing field commensurate with his talent, the plumber was in more serious business to resolve. His triumphant return can only mean one thing, the Wii has found its gem and the 3D platform its new master.
Since its announcement, Super Mario Galaxy has generated almost more perplexity than curiosity in the hearts of players. Does the evolution system at the heart of space not risk modifying, or worse, distorting the very spirit of the series and the formula established since Super Mario 64? Legitimate but very vain fears since the very idea of making Mario evolve in a galaxy turns out to be the sesame which opens to him precisely the doors of renewal and which allows him to leave far behind all his previous adventures.
Space was therefore the idea that absolutely had to be put in place to widen the field of action of our hero, the terrain no longer imposing any space constraints on a Mario who is now confronted with the most difficult situations. unthinkable. The universe of the game being made up of a cluster of galaxies, themselves composed of stars more or less close to each other, the first novelty lies in the fact that it is allowed and moreover frequent to s' launch from a small planet to another within the same level. An action made possible by the notion of gravity which, by its mere presence, enriches the gameplay in an incredible way. Exploited in an extremely subtle way throughout the game, gravity has for primary role to guarantee you points of attachment on these small asteroids which you explore, from the most tiny to those which extend as far as the eye can see. Like a Little Prince wandering around to discover the beings populating the stars of his galaxy, Mario roams much more varied territories than in all his past adventures. Running happily all around the spherical stars, the plumber very often finds himself upside down to make jumps which bring him either on the surface of his planet, or on a neighboring star of which he will have penetrated the field of attraction. Falls in a vacuum are not, however, banned since, depending on their configuration, some non-spherical planets have gaping chasms and steep edges which it is better not to get too close to.
From this simple idea of planetary attraction and gravity, the designers had the mischief to put in place an incredible number of discoveries that constantly revive our way of playing. Starting with these crampon stars on which one grips to rush towards another hold a little more distant, the impulse movement causing a delicate trajectory which must be anticipated to avoid being stranded against a sharp stellar body . Running and jumping upside down certainly takes a few minutes to fully familiarize yourself with this new mode of travel, but once you have made your mark it is then a delight to play your opponents without fear to escape the immutable laws of gravity. The interior spaces have just as many surprises in store for you, the difficulty residing in particular in the presence of attraction arrows which modify the sense of gravity intermittently. The more we advance in the game, the more we take the measure of the inventiveness of the established mechanisms. Trapped in a spider's web, you will learn to stretch its threads to propel yourself bravely into the heart of the web like a cannon ball. Resolved to cross an armored zone of mines and deadly traps, you will only have to grab onto the elastic cocoons to take the threat of speed and land gently in another cocoon. The last levels push the vice even further by offering decorations that materialize before your eyes as you go along, or that disappear with the movement of a halo of light. We could thus continue this enumeration for hours but nothing beats the pleasure of the discovery.
Characterized by its incredible creativity, Super Mario Galaxy shows an amazing variety in terms of level design, each new setting being an opportunity to discover a new way of evolving. Fully open and generally focused on gravity, the normal levels are complemented by trapped courses of pure platform requiring skill and anticipation, but also bonus levels brilliantly exploiting the Wiimote. Each of these challenges makes it a point to imagine a new way of using the remote control to relaunch the challenge and penalize those who have the weakness of shaking their wrists. In the same vein, each of the enemies present in the game requires a different approach, not to mention the bosses who shine as much by their number as by their desire to fight. The regular will not fail to note the winks and references to the old parts of the series, the third NES episode being evoked both by the presence of flying boats and by the remix of two of his best musical themes .
If the gameplay of the software is so irreproachable, it is already because it borrows from Mario 64 the full panoply of Mario's movements, while enriching it considerably. The use of long jumps and other back somersaults gives a feeling of joy that constantly emerges from the handling of the character. The underwater phases have been completely optimized and movement on the ice is now complemented by the possibility of skating like a pro. The new transformations also refer to SMB3 but they are all new. Dressing in turn his costume of bee, ghost or living spring, Mario inherits welcome movements which open up new possibilities for him. The fire flowers are back to allow you to play pyromaniacs, while the ice flowers make you walk by freezing the surface of the water. All the controls are used in parallel with the management of the Wiimote with which one scans the screen in search of fragments of stars, or which one shakes to whirl in order to throw shells or ring an enemy. This simple movement of a spinning top is enough to get out of many situations, to make up for an unhappy jump, to unbolt a screw or to take impulse on a star which propels you on a neighboring star. Late, you will even have access to a flight function much more pleasant to take in hand than in Mario 64 via the red caps. All this makes it possible to give Super Mario Galaxy the absolute reference title of the 3D platform, and probably for a very very long time.
Difficult to assess, the lifespan initially requires the collection of sixty stars to finish the game in a straight line at only 50%, which will not require more than ten hours for regulars . However, the last 60 stars will have to be earned since the real challenge begins with the system of farce comets which change the configuration of the galaxies. The main planets generally include 3 basic scenarios, plus 2 stars to be obtained via shooting stars and a bonus star to discover without clues. Depending on the color of the comet, you will face different challenges ranging from the time trial to racing against a dark double of Mario. In some cases, you will only have one life point to succeed, the slightest error being synonymous with sudden death. In others, it is the speed of play which will be considerably increased. After having completed the adventure for the first time, the purple comet will appear and you will then have to travel the worlds looking for the 100 purple stars scattered on each of them. The displacement of the comets being unpredictable, you can fortunately move their position by means of the sacrifice of a few fragments of stars. Add to that the collection of green stars and the search for Luigi from photos revealing his location somewhere in the game, and you will see that the content is far from light.
Offering a progressive and interesting challenge even for the relentless, the difficulty is perfectly suited to all types of players. If Mario dies in just three hits and the total life gained is lost every time you leave the game, you now have checkpoints to avoid trying to start all over again. In addition, care mushrooms (doubled life) and 1-Up are generally always placed before a difficult passage. But what personally amazed me the most is the incredible efficiency of the camera. Concretely, the player almost never needs to refocus it because it has clearly been designed to adapt to Mario's position on each of the pixels on the screen. The angle of view is ideal regardless of your location and it becomes easier to understand why it is rarely possible to change the axis of the camera or switch to subjective view. What was essential but tedious in previous Mario in 3D now becomes fully automated and that only inflates even more the pleasure of play. We will finish by evoking the presence of the mode 2 players in cooperation which considerably facilitates the progression and which is far to be as anecdotal as it looks on paper. Its interest is really revealed only in practice since we realize that the second player can squarely prepare the ground and simplify the work of player 1 by stopping the enemies, by taking charge of scrutinizing the screen in search of fragments of stars and blowing up Mario to help him catch up when all seems lost. An excellent find that allows you to rediscover the game in a really nice way alongside a friend. The conclusion seems obvious to me: Super Mario Galaxy exceeds all our expectations and can not be found elsewhere than in your toy library.
The notes
Graphics 18/20
There is no doubt that those responsible for the realization went above and beyond to offer environments of such richness and such inventiveness. The universe takes pleasure in making itself sometimes adorable sometimes repulsive, for a journey of astonishing diversity. Difficult to find better on Wii, although obviously the technique will hardly impress the regulars of competing machines.
Gameplay 19/20
The ultimate in successful gameplay, here it is. Super Mario Galaxy borrows the best from its elders while optimizing it with completely new finds. Those who were annoyed by the manual management of the previous shutters will be able to thank this opus for offering an automated management of the cameras for a result which will only impress the regulars of the genre.
Lifespan 16/20
The challenge has been carefully thought out to satisfy all types of players. If the sixty stars required to complete the game in a straight line is easy to recover, the real challenge starts only with the search for stars relating to the different comets and constitutes a real challenge even for connoisseurs. Redoing the adventure with two players allows you to rediscover the game in a slightly simplified but much more interesting way than it seems on paper.
Soundtrack 16/20
The soundscape benefits from compositions more inspired than usual but also from a few covers of known themes including certain melodies straight from Super Mario Bros 3. The nostalgic will be in heaven, especially as these winks eye are not limited only to the musical aspect.
Scenario 15/20
Nintendo insists on doing in children's stories, but ambient naivety is essential to the magic that encompasses the game and we can hardly complain when we see all this little world evolving with tenderness and sincerity. And when the brave and chubby Toads rub the obese stars and the fur mushrooms, we want more.
The 20 could easily have won if the 19 was not already explicit enough to convince you of the obvious qualities of this Super Mario Galaxy. The vastness of the space finally gives the plumber all the freedom to express his talent by bringing to the genre a new dimension that will be very difficult to approach in the future. As for the laws of gravity, they give rise to a multitude of situations that will surprise you until the end. Super Mario Galaxy is by far the best Mario I have ever played.
0 comments:
Post a Comment