Super Mario Galaxy 2: Just as Fun as the First Blast Into Space

Well folks, Mario's back to his planet hopping ways that we first saw in the original Super Mario Galaxy. Once again the Princess gets whisked away by a Galactus sized King Bowser (this gal gets captured more than Nancy Drew) and Mario is off to save her. Storyline wise, I'm kind of confused as if this is supposed to have anyting to do with the first one at all. But this is Mario, let's not let something as trivial as "storytelling" get in the way of a good time.

This game is just as much a hoot as the first. The level design is nothing short of amazing. The boss battles are probably even more fun and imaginative than the first one as well. And I found those original battles full of both. I would say that I am very fond of the drill that shows up early in the game, I thought that was neat. The old powerups are all back, including a couple of new ones, including the neat-o cloud Mario and the insanely awesome rock Mario. I could still probably go through an entire game without being Bee Mario and and not lose a lot of sleep over it. And I don't know if its the fact that I'm not Super Gamer Man, but I still have a bit of trouble with the direction of the fireballs when I'm wearing Mario's patented White and Red Fireball Suit.

And let us not neglect our little buddy Yoshi, back after being absent in the first Galaxy Game. Yoshi, as always, is a helpful little dinosaur and I don't think I'll ever not get a kick out of watching him eat a red pepper. Go, Yoshi, Go!

If there's one nitpick I have, and yes, I realize its only a nitpick, it is the new World Map. I kind of miss the whole Hub World idea from the previous 3D Mario titles. Now we've gone back to Side-Scrollin' Mario's World Map where we go along a line til we get to the planet we must conquer next. Of course there are splits in the road, so you do get choices, but it just kind of loses that little feeling of freedom a hub world gives you. Like I said, just a nitpick really and has nothing whatsoever to do with the fun factor of actually playing these deeply imaginative and super-designed levels.

If Mario ever decides to take another trip out into the galaxy, I won't hesitate to follow him, even if he waits for the Wii U (which is more likely).

Twilight Princess

So I borrowed Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess somewhere like a year or so ago and got a good way through it before I had to return it.  I was into it, a big Zelda fan and all, but I kinda felt it was trying too hard to recapture Ocarina of Time magic at some points.  After Wind Waker had the audacity to look like a cartoon, go and flood Hyrule and changed up the thing a bit while keeping the core of what Zelda was and being very exciting in the process, I felt this one kind of took a step back. That aside, I enjoyed my time with it and was hoping to be able to finish it.

Not too long ago, the wife found a copy for me on Craigslist for about 15 bucks and it was a near mint beaut.  So I've put it in and began playing it again.  My initial fears of it being OOT redux went to the back of my mind as I just re- immersed myself in the Zelda experience.  Man, there's just nothing like it; getting sucked into the world of Hyrule and exploring your way around it.  Before, I was all into getting as much as the story done as I could and now, I don't want it to end.  I've stopped to smell the roses.   I've begun putting the story off and seeing what surprises await me in the corners of the kingdom.  I've never been much of a complete-ist, always just satisfied beating the story part of the game.  Sure, I'd like to get as much as I can before I ended the story, but it was no big deal for me to complete it at 100%, and honestly, it's still not.

But now I've made it to the City in the Sky and I feel the adventure beginning to dwindle down and I find myself doing any small task just to keep the thing going.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that as much as I do feel like it's trying a little too hard to go back to the Ocarina well, any game that makes me want to postpone finishing the storyline is not one to be ignored.  It is still Zelda, after all, and I have learned never to take that for granted.

Bring on Skyward Sword, baby.

No More Heroes

So I borrowed this little dandy of a game from someone and started playing yesterday. I basically have only played the first level, getting to and defeating the first boss of the game. For those that don't know, No More Heroes is a game of assassins. You play as Travis Touchdown, a bit of a modern gaming dude who needed some cash, so he killed a guy for money and then found out that guy was the number 11 Assassin in the world, making you the number 11 Assassin in the world. After finding out this bit of info, he decided, quite logically, of course, that he would like to be Numero Uno. So he's off to whack number 10 and so on and so forth. Oh, and he's armed with a sword that can only be described as a lightsaber.

That's the gist of the story and, as I mentioned, I've only played the first little bit. The game is definitely for the mature audience, with it's over the top violence and explicit language. In fact, it reminds me a little of another game I've played in the recent past, Madworld. Now, there are differences in the two games, for sure. For one thing, in Madworld, you wield a chainsaw, not a lightsaber. The point is, that while I enjoyed Madworld at first, after the first couple of levels, the spectacle of the hardcore violence and over the top-ness of it all wore off and it became a very repetitive game to me. I hope this doesn't happen with No More Heroes, as I'm enjoying what I've played of it, but I can feel the similarities in the two. Specifically, the fact that it appears to be a lot of button mashing; you hit the A button over and over again til you can swing the Wii remote to execute a sweet finishing move. It's fun now, but will it still be fun three levels from now? I guess we'll see. I hear that there are things to be able to do in between missions to keep it a little fresh, so that might help.

Overall, though, I am enjoying the game. The stylized graphics are great for the Wii and there is something to be said about swinging that Wii remote to finish off your foes. The motion controls of the ol' 'Mote seems to respond pretty well to what you wanna do. It feels like the game could get addicting. Still, it's too early to tell what I really think about it, but I'm cautiously hopeful.