By Chandler Claxton

Mario is one of the most recognizable faces in games, with his beautiful mug plastered over more sports and mini-game titles than anyone else. While he knows how to make a solid tennis game, “Super Mario Galaxy” returns him to his platforming roots, and it’s very much appreciated. His last effort in the genre was “Super Mario Sunshine,” which, while not a bad game, or even just a mediocre game, did not meet Mario’s higher standard. “Sunshine” was a sanitation simulator, and it only truly excelled when the gimmick was lost and Mario jumped around without the water-pump backpack he carried through most of the game. Before that there was “Mario 64,” released over ten years ago, the game that revolutionized 3D platforming and video games as a whole.

Finally, there is a game that rivals it in gameplay, level-design and pure Mario fun. The game occurs mostly in outer space, the bastion of space pirates, with Bowser being the leader of his own brand of space wandering ruffians. The typical lineup is back, with Mario fighting the likes of Goombas, Koopas, Bullet Bills and, the bane of land-walkers, moles. The story is the same with “save the princess” dominating the headlines, but there is a side plot that is not only uninteresting, it seems purposefully so. Maybe Nintendo thought that they could trick people into thinking that saving a princess was innovative in comparison, and if that was their plan, it works. With that out of the way, the beauty here is in other places than the anemic story.

The general gameplay premise is an intriguing one, where Mario runs around small planets, each with their own gravitational pull, solving puzzles and jumping higher than the normal plumber. Nearly everything about this is perfectly executed, because it’s still fun to run all over the platforms that are built and even more fun to do so with the new changes. Mario can turn into a bee, Boo, spring, a flame-throwing machine, an ice-skater and, of course, a flying union-worker. These power-ups, particularly the Boo and the bee, are too much fun, and, for the most part, aren’t just one-trick ponies, they actually are preferable to just walking around as regular Mario.

The planets are a major strength of the game; they are all brilliantly designed, from the world filled with toys to the one riddled with bees. Each one offers a linear but branching path from planet to planet giving the gamer a sense that many of the galaxies are enormous. In addition, the levels are challenging and return to making the player run and jump with deft maneuvers of Wii Remote and Nunchuk. This brings on the only real weakness of the game, which is the fact that it still doesn’t implement the Wii’s motion-control scheme well. The shaking of the remote still feels unnatural and pointless, and if Mario can’t do it right, maybe no one can. This isn’t to disparage Mario’s controls, because they work for the game, but still feel short of perfect. It won’t affect the enjoyment of the player much because the game is too enjoyable to dislike.

With the entirety of space in the background of many levels, Mario’s epic sci-fi adventure is a beautiful one. Every level feels handcrafted, and the island denizens of “Sunshine” have been replaced with more personable stars. The game looks amazing for a Wii game, with some of the best visuals on the system, but still falls short of the beauty on other systems and don’t even look greatly improved from “Sunshine’s” graphics. The two-player mode feels tacked on, nearly boring, a casual gamer’s paradise, or the opportunity for annoying the main player. Even with a few camera troubles, the game is still the best game released on the Wii, with the length being enormous if the gamer wants to collect all 120 stars, and the platforming is the real star.

“Super Mario Galaxy” brings Nintendo’s beloved character to the Wii, where the famous plumber returns to his platforming roots, now with Wiimote fun. (gamepro.com)