10lives, A Realistic Way To Review Videogames

• Swimming might have been more fun if they provided a frog suit.

I am not sure when swimming became the most un-fun game mechanic in a video game, but it is clear that swimming on most galaxies is extremely annoying and un-fun. Yes, un-fun! Which is weird because in the actual Mushroom Kingdom swimming was never not fun. You know, the locale where Super Mario 1 ,3, and 64 took place. Equally enjoyable swimming adventures took place in Super Mario World as well as the original Black and White Gameboy Super Mario (albeit you did get a submarine which is probably always way more fun) . So why is it, in the entire rest of the universe do I have to swim with penquins in warm locations?! Why do I need to swim laps on a donut like planet in order to get a star that ultimately can turn into new planets? I’m not quite sure. I just know that I’m glad there was never a Mario Swimming Adventures yet.

• Linear levels disappoint compared to Nintendo 64 levels
• Certain worlds that have 1 star are forgetable at best and lack the replayablilty that you would come to hope in a Mario Game

So far I find this game to be likable. Not lovable. It has it’s charm in terms of level design and ease of playability and needless to say it plays well, which is important, but the game feels really detached from the Mario Universe (no pun intended seeing it is set in space!). Although there is bowser and peach and about a bazillion toads (who sound annoying by the way), it all feels very lifeless. Maybe it’s because I have come to expect more personality out of games these days or perhaps because Mario is as Cliche as cliche gets in videogame land, but hearing peach just utter “Marioooooo” once leaves me somewhat empty. I think they should either choose to voice act or not at all and end this Navi Zelda story type crap.

Speaking of Zelda,I’m not sure at what point someone at Nintendo decided EVERY game has to have a colored word scheme, but it is something that I find deters from the overall experience. Seriously. The story is bad enough, but why do I have to have endure a hint for EVERYTHING in the game!? I know I have to rescue the Luma for some Princess Peach look-a-like but the games world is not nearly as complex as the Zelda series of which this color thing started from. It leaves for very little exploration for both the story and levels. Speaking of… so far the levels are too linear! Seeing this game mimics Mario 64 the most (find a star to beat the level) it just makes me miss the open levels of it’s ancestor. There was something magical about visiting the same world, knowing there was something you missed as there were 6 stars to every level with only a minor clue to get you going in the right direction. It was a unique, more “Groundhogs day” type approach that kept you both familiar with the levels while giving you a little more to do and learn. Most of Galaxy’s levels have 3 stars, and some of the more niche worlds only have 1. I find that I play through these levels, beat it once, and find myself wanting to move on already considering I can’t even find the other stars by exploration… I only find them when I choose that path. Sorry Galaxy, but you only have 8 lives left.

I am a huge Nintendo Fanboy. Don’t ask me why, but I just am. However, I’ve grown to become very critical of Nintendo games before playing them as I find over the years I have grown to enjoy them less and less. Not saying that enjoying them less means I do not enjoy them at all… it just means compared to older versions of the game. I enjoyed Super Mario 3 more than Super Mario World, which in turn I enjoyed much more than Mario 64, which i loved way more than Sunshine… in fact, I did not enjoy most of Sunshine at all. I still think they are all solid games but this seems to be the pattern. I guess we’ll see what Galaxy has in store for me!

Power On! Game Start! Ten Lives Left….