Super Mario Galaxy

[Big Seany]

LOLzers @ 3/10

Had a good go on this last night, up to about 15 stars. It is unquestionably the game of the year in a year where there have been a slew of grade-A releases.

Everything about it is perfect. I stick by my earlier quote, it is utterly, utterly magical.

[briareos_kerensky]

So far, the camera has been oddly great for me

I've found the camera a bit better than SM64, probably due to its many fixed angles. They do limit your viewing angle, but even during SM64 I mostly used the camera controls to have a "2D" viewpoint on most difficult jump, like the poles in the volcano. Speaking about that, I'm happy that poles in SMG only allows for four directions, it keeps wrongs jumps down, if not non-existant.

[Dogg Thang]

I love when it switches to a 2D viewpoint in SMG. It's a real sign of the focus on pure gameplay in SMG - it gives you exactly what you need at the right time. Gains an extra point for that. 4/10.

[djjimbob]

mmmm... generous

[reektan]

Think I'm on 58 stars but I have been mopping them all up before moving on. I think I've got unopened galaxies worth about 29 stars still.

Did the

->Open Spoiler<-

mole boss

last night. Once again, the daredevil comet hit is straight afterward - more fabulous game design.

I had the measure of the little monkey though

I'm desperate to find the final

->Open Spoiler<-

green star

. It sounds so intriguing.

The green stars were very easy to find as they're marked on the star list as ? I think it was - i'd totally forgot about them the other night then just got them all in a few minutes and did the extra stuff once I got them - well worth it

[H-Man]

I've found the camera a bit better than SM64, probably due to its many fixed angles.

When i'm playing 64 the angle never stays still. Being able flip it around and zoom in and out is half the fun. I've lost count of the times I wanted to change the camera angle to something more interesting or dynamic in Galaxy and not been able to. This is a minor niggle - the times that annoy me are when i'm running about and enjoying a certain view and the game chooses something else (often zoomed waaaay out). I find it jarring, too aggressive, and almost as bad as the times it follows a path round a corner for you.

Having said all this - Galaxy is simply staggering. There's more than enough that is great for me to forgive this.

[Dazzyman]

This sounds too good guys hehe Decided for me Im going to do him justice and am now saving him for christmas day to make it extra special

[reektan]

When i'm playing 64 the angle never stays still. Being able flip it around and zoom in and out is half the fun. I've lost count of the times I wanted to change the camera angle to something more interesting or dynamic in Galaxy and not been able to. This is a minor niggle - the times that annoy me are when i'm running about and enjoying a certain view and the game chooses something else (often zoomed waaaay out). I find it jarring, too aggressive, and almost as bad as the times it follows a path round a corner for you.

Having said all this - Galaxy is simply staggering. There's more than enough that is great for me to forgive this.

I think due to the structure of the levels and the use of gravity if the camera wasn't forced on a majority of the sections then you'd end up walking past most sections or just not seeing stuff that with the forced camera is made more obvious to you. You'll probable find in the background the camera is used as a guideline for certain gravity effects to kick in etc dependant on where it's focusing and all that jive. Still - I do agree it would be a nice extra perk.

[H-Man]

Yeh - I should note that on the small planets the camera is awesome. Not once have I wanted to mess with that. It's the more open levels - like the Bee level or the hub - where it grates a touch. Perhaps it's because control isn't consistent? Sometimes you can flip the view and sometimes it does nothing, leaving you pushing a button and getting a strange noise.

[Dogg Thang]

When i'm playing 64 the angle never stays still.

I see this as symptomatic of a poor camera system. I reckon if a camera system works, you shouldn't have any need to take direct control of it. Giving camera control to the player says to me that the devs couldn't get it to work.

Whereas in SMG, so far, I can't think of one occasion where I have needed to see anything other than that which the game is showing me. It means I can get on with controlling the little gay plumber guy and not having to fight the game system.

[Julio III]

Yeah, underwater the control/camera can become a problem. I've found this is also a problem with the

->Open Spoiler<-

flying bits i've just unlocked also

. I also didn't like the springy mario. My first 2 stars there took me a ridiculously long amount of time. For the next 2 I realised that the only way to make sure I am doing the big high jump is to contiuously tap the A button. It worked, but I shouldn't have to resort to that. I did enjoy the level more though as I wasn't fighting the controls.

I'm now up to 77 stars and am impressed that there a still a lot of galaxies to go!

[TommyG]

My struggles are over.

Wii and SMG GET!!!

[reektan]

Yeah, underwater the control/camera can become a problem. I've found this is also a problem with the

->Open Spoiler<-

flying bits i've just unlocked also

. I also didn't like the springy mario. My first 2 stars there took me a ridiculously long amount of time. For the next 2 I realised that the only way to make sure I am doing the big high jump is to contiuously tap the A button. It worked, but I shouldn't have to resort to that. I did enjoy the level more though as I wasn't fighting the controls.

I'm now up to 77 stars and am impressed that there a still a lot of galaxies to go!

I just press and hold A as he lands from a normal spring - never had a problem really with that. It's just all in the timing I guess.

[rmoxon]

When i'm playing 64 the angle never stays still. Being able flip it around and zoom in and out is half the fun. I've lost count of the times I wanted to change the camera angle to something more interesting or dynamic in Galaxy and not been able to. This is a minor niggle - the times that annoy me are when i'm running about and enjoying a certain view and the game chooses something else (often zoomed waaaay out). I find it jarring, too aggressive, and almost as bad as the times it follows a path round a corner for you.

Having said all this - Galaxy is simply staggering. There's more than enough that is great for me to forgive this.

I have 91 stars now and ive only just realised that you can flip the camera around with the d pad on the remote! lol, thats helped with the camera problems alot now.

[reektan]

I have 91 stars now and ive only just realised that you can flip the camera around with the d pad on the remote! lol, thats helped with the camera problems alot now.

Reminds me of Super Mario 64 when I had the JAP version - had been playing for hours and hours but there was one star I couldn't get as the jump was just out of range - ended up ringing some guy up who posted on digitiser or something who told me about holding the trigger down then jumping to do the ' Wahooooo ' long jump. He was confused as to how I'd got a fair few of the stars without that jump haha Felt like a right fool