MY OFFICIAL GAMESPOT 1-HOUR REVIEW
by Frank Kusumoto
God, I hate trying to read a thread and half of it is Sigs. For christsakes, DTEWI, NEOS, SORIKU and ISHY. If you need an idea of what an acceptable length is, look at sQRL's. Graphic oriented, stylish, always on message. And if it were any bigger it would be too big but as it is it's just fine. Jesus, Mary and Joseph you four, get shorter sigs!
Now, with that out of the way. I got to play SMG today at the Gamestop for an hour. Started from the beginning with a new save file. I noticed another save file that had 35 stars and 8 hours playtime. Somebody was hitting it hard.
The cutscene opened, the music welled up, I smiled. Bombs are dropping everywhere and I'm trying to do side jumps, triple jumps, wall drumps, butt stomps, you know, all the good stuff. I'm trying to do the waggle attack but it's not working. Maybe the controller is broken. After I've made the re acquaintance of my old moveset (and it fits like a perfectly tailored sheep-skin condom). I'm off to see what's up with the princess.
Well, hopefully you've seen the movie. Mario gets blasted by a Lakitu and thrown back to the world. Mario make friends with some star children who take him to their Queen... Rosalina! Now Peach has some competition in the "Would you do her" contest. Rosalina tells you to go fetch stars so she can power up her ride and get up off this place. This also takes from Bowser the power that is keeping him and his fleet in the catbird seat.
So I ran around. Flipped and smacked koopa's. Gathered stars. Pushed some buttons in a puzzle. Smacked a boss silly. But mostly just running around like a five year old kid in Willy Wonka's field of dreams going "yahooo, yahooo, yahhooooo!" I kept getting interrupted by a little star who wanted me to do something, head on over somewhere.
Turns out there were lots of his little buddies trapped on little asteroids barely a kilometre away and could I be so kind as to help free them. So off I go and in traditional heroic fashion I free the little star being and I get a STAR! And there's 120 more where that came from.
Controls are flawless, design is genius. The pacing is boom, boom. boom. Right on track. It's like playing a 2d platformer in 3d. I've read that you can go back and explore but if you're just trying to get to the princess before Bowser does dainty and dastardy things with a pudenda... leading to the ultimate dirty deed. You just feel obligated to push and pull and fling headlong into each new challenge.
That was my one hour and it was brilliant. I spent time looking at the screens and taking in the ambiance, the colors, the lighting, looking at all the choices and seeing how they came together. Just as important is the music and it makes claim to the mood and the space and covers it in tones that enhance the beautiful polished feeling that everything in the game has. Bravo Art Department!
Miyamoto says he wants to constantly surprise the gamer and this is the truest expression in a game that has been realized. Unfortunately there are men, between the age of 15 - 37, who have no wonder. These people will not find this game amusing. The only hope for them is that someday they learn to smile and enjoy something for what it is and appreciate something that is giving to the world instead of attempting to take it.
I've got SMG on pre-order and now I can rest easier with that little fix. And... when I was down at the Gamespot I bought GH3 and ZACK AND W!K!, so I have a couple other things to keep me busy.
The End. Oh yeah, 10/10.
