• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Official Super Mario Galaxy Review Thread (1up - 9.5, EuroG - 10, GI - 9.75)

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
1up - 9.5/10


Super Mario Galaxy should be free of any such contention. It is an exceptional game by any standard, Mario or otherwise. It doesn't invent new kinds of gameplay, but it represents something that is perhaps equally important: A rethinking of how 3D platformers should work. The decade since the N64's debut has seen the genre struggle (and generally fail) to move beyond simply piling needlessly complex controls and obsessive-compulsive item collection on Mario 64's foundation. Galaxy strips away those encumbrances, revisits the essential concepts that made its esteemed predecessor so enjoyable, and then expands on them in new and intriguing ways.


In short, Galaxy is one of the most impressive, engrossing games in recent memory -- and quite the contrast to the rest of this year's triple-A gaming crop, which tends toward the dark, the M-rated, and the first-person perspective. Gaming may be growing up (per se), but gamers will always appreciate beautifully polished gameplay and inventive design...even if it's sugarcoated with squeaky baby stars and a goofy cartoon of a hero. Galaxy proves that Mario matters just as much today as he did 25 years ago, and that makes him one of a kind in this medium. But don't play Galaxy simply because Mario is the timeless godfather of gaming. No, play Galaxy because it's fantastic.

Eurogamer - 10/10

Super Mario Galaxy is an embarrassment. It's an embarrassment for platform games. It's an embarrassment for adventure games. It's an embarrassment for Nintendo and an embarrassment for the Wii. What have we all been playing at in the ten years since Super Mario 64 came out? This is what gaming ought to be like.

Bright, bold, unrepentantly loony, Galaxy is everything you wanted it to be. It's beautiful and inventive. It's pure-blood Mario without being a retro indulgence. It's a stiff platforming challenge and a free-wheeling romp. It's the best thing on Wii, and the best traditional game Nintendo has made in a decade. The only thing about it which dulls your enjoyment is the memory of all the mediocre games you've had to play in the meantime.


IGN 9.7



Super Mario Galaxy is one of the greatest platformers I have ever played, Wii's best game, and an absolute must-own experience. And to me, this odd trek through space really does feel like the true sequel to Mario 64. It harkens back to the N64 classic with nostalgic faces and places from the Mushroom Kingdom, but it also re-invents the franchise with new space-themed mechanics and fresh Wii-enhanced controls. It is, as I have said since I first played it, a near-perfect combination of old platforming values and new design.

Except to be blown away by the fantastic level challenges and galactic variety. Expect to be blown away by the addictive gravity effects -- you will jump off ledges just to see if you can rotate all the way around a structure. And expect to be blown away by the tight controls and beautiful graphics.




Gamespot 9.5


When all is said and done, the thing that really makes Super Mario Galaxy such a standout game isn't the fact that it's another Mario game, but the fact that it doesn't even need to be a Mario game to be successful. Sure, it's got all the nostalgic flavor Mario fans would want, with the updated soundtrack, familiar foes, and various other Mario-related bric-a-brac scattered throughout the adventure, but the game never leans on these nostalgic aspects as a crutch. It instead puts the whole of its focus on its gameplay design, and with good reason. You could probably swap in just about any other characters from practically any other franchise, and this would still be a phenomenally fun game. That it layers all these memorable characters and components on top of that phenomenal design just makes it all the sweeter. If ever there were a must-own Wii game, Super Mario Galaxy is it.



Gametrailers 9.8
 

MrDaravon

Member
People still won't be happy.

_leech_ said:
Right now, that 9.5 means a shitload more than a 10 coming from 1up.

Good point, especially since it's from Parish, is who harsh on stuff. He loved FFT and gave it an 8, and raved on about Halo 3 and gave that a 9. So this is like a 13 from any other reviewer.
 
I've told you. The hate versus the Wii and Nintendo is reaching ridicolous levels. And the entire press community can go to the hell.

Edit (after 22 pages): it is always the same stupid provocation and always people believe that I was serious. I'm a great actor.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
[Nintex] said:
so.. why no 10?

He doesn't really say.

But it seems like Parish doesn't give out 10's very easily right?
 

skip

Member
EphemeralDream said:
Nintendo didn't put an embargo on the score? Seems pretty damn early for their big holiday title.

they did, but it was at noon today, which was weird.
 
Mithos Yggdrasill said:
I've told you. The hate versus the Wii and Nintendo is reaching ridicolous levels. And the entire press community can go to the hell.
9.5 = hate crime
Nintendo should take 1Up to court. Mithos Yggdrasill can be their lawyer.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Mithos Yggdrasill said:
I've told you. The hate versus the Wii and Nintendo is reaching ridicolous levels. And the entire press community can go to the hell.

Parish isn't a Nintendo hater at all. This is probably his honest score.

My only complaint re: 1up reviews lately is it does seem like it's a lot easier for a HD game to get that 10. But it's a minor complaint.
 

skip

Member
Borys said:
What did Halo 3 receive?

Halo 3 received a 10. Bully received a 10. Shoe gave GRAW a 10 in EGM, but Garnett gave it a 9.0 on 1UP. A couple of games last month got in the 6-8 range, while we scored ACME Arsenal a 1.0

All other scores can be found at the multiplatform videogame website http://www.1up.com.
 

Salmonax

Member
Well-written and thought-out review - though they couldn't quite resist talking about how the rest of the gaming world has moved on from Mario's babyish ways.
 

Des0lar

will learn eventually
In short, Galaxy is one of the most impressive, engrossing games in recent memory -- and quite the contrast to the rest of this year's triple-A gaming crop, which tends toward the dark, the M-rated, and the first-person perspective. Gaming may be growing up (per se), but gamers will always appreciate beautifully polished gameplay and inventive design...even if it's sugarcoated with squeaky baby stars and a goofy cartoon of a hero. Galaxy proves that Mario matters just as much today as he did 25 years ago, and that makes him one of a kind in this medium. But don't play Galaxy simply because Mario is the timeless godfather of gaming. No, play Galaxy because it's fantastic.
PEOPLE.
This reads like a 11/10, so basically Mario Galaxy is > than everything else.
 

Borys

Banned
So basically...

Halo 2 Xbox 10.0 11/06/2004
Final Fantasy X PS2 10.0
Grand Theft Auto III PS2 10.0
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City PS2 10.0
NBA 2K2 PS2 10.0
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 PS2 10.0
Bookworm Deluxe PC 10.0
Decisive Battles of World War II: Korsun Pocket PC 10.0
Homeworld: Cataclysm PC 10.0
Madden NFL 2003 PC 10.0
Medieval: Total War PC 10.0
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic PC 10.0
The Sims: Unleashed PC 10.0
Grand Theft Auto Double Pack Xbox 10.0
Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich PC 10.0
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory PC 10.0
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess GC 10.0
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay -- Developer's Cut PC 10.0
Silent Hunter III PC 10.0 06/27/2005
Company of Heroes PC 10.0 09/14/2006
Bully PS2 10.0 10/17/2006

...are better than SMG.
 

traveler

Not Wario
Great score; can't wait to pick this up in two weeks. Hopefully, most of the idiotic comments will stay out of this thread since the title can tell those who would make them everything they need to know before they enter.

schuelma said:
Parish isn't a Nintendo hater at all. This is probably his honest score.

My only complaint re: 1up reviews lately is it does seem like it's a lot easier for a HD game to get that 10. But it's a minor complaint.

Why do you guys qualify those games with the HD as if that were their definitive aspect? You think the thing us Bioshock fans- Halo fans, Orange Box fans, etc. like most about the games is their HD graphics? That's really ridiculous if true.
 
Mithos Yggdrasill said:
I've told you. The hate versus the Wii and Nintendo is reaching ridicolous levels. And the entire press community can go to the hell.
what what what what

Its a nine point five. Thats awesome.
 
Top Bottom