Greetings all. I'm the sarcstic, contemplative sort (See, bitter), and both myself and a good friend of mine bought Galaxy at the same time. Much discussion ensued when it briefly took the #1 spot on Gamerankings, where my comment was "Well, the top games are kinda like looking at 8 pairs of near identical breasts. Galaxy may just be there because it's younger, but at the same time, what's the complaint if it's not #1". If you do not like breasts, insert personal female body part choice. If you like men, insert favourite male portion of anatomy.

But that comes to pass, I'm curious that why some people may dislike the game. I hope to avoid the Xbox thread, where most 360 owners seemed pat each other on the back and say "Jealousy, which to me sorta seems like "They hate our freedom", but anyway. The purpose of this thread is reasons, real or imagined, why you or someone else may actually not like Galaxy. Allow me to start:

1) Swimming. Probably the most commented on in reviews, the swimming works better in Mario 64, mostly because A) There was variation in swimming B) The Camera did not always change what direction you needed to go, whereas in Galaxy you and the battle are often in a tight struggle for control underwater. It was actually quite jarring to feel like the swimming had taken a significant step back.

2) Linearity - The game holds your hand and guides you precisely to every single star, save for the secret ones. Though levels often have hidden quirks, those who have wanderlust will find it quickly filled in every level.

3) Ecclectic Star challenge: Some stars will take you 5 minutes or so of platforming bliss. Others will involve you assaulting an innocent penguin and stealing what it's carrying. Also, some races are quite confusing, sometimes the fastest time has absolutely nothing to do with how fast you need to go to win the race on time (2nd Manta, First Boo Race)

4)  Camera view on the spherical worlds: There are moments where what Mario is moving and where you think he should be moving have suddenly changed because of a swap in Camera view. For those who's minds don't quickly grasp changes like this, this is damningly bad controls. Miyamoto said he wanted a game that everyone can play, and there are definate moments where you need to pause, re-orient your momentum, and continue. Stomping Goombas on a sphere world takes time to get used too.

5) Personal complaint (Opinion) - Bowser. None of those fights felt special or deep, compared to the Baby Bowser Airship fight. For the main bad guy, I just wish they had some better surprises in store for him than what they give you.

So, I am curious. For those who played the game and disliked it, what else can you add? For those that liked it, were there any other irritations?

I honestly wish I had something more constructive to add, but your comments about the depth of Mario 64's swimming system (pun not intended) are off-base.

I never used the kicking swimming move and always used the stroke. The former was too slow to ever be useful in that game. The latter was always used instead and always as fast as possible.

1) They hate fun.

2) They hate video games.

3) They're just generally a bitter shell of a man/woman.

I disagree, and here is why I disagree:

Maybe the kick was mostly useless, but it was choice. That wasn't my full point. In Mario 64, if you spammed the swim button, you just got jerky half pulls. In Galaxy, you can pound on it like Wal-Mart Security on a shoplifter, and Mario will not move perfectly, but will get full strokes and near speed.

Also, that has nothing to do with the Camera complaint :)

1.) This game will not be enjoyable for people who do not enjoy excessive amounts of fun.

I think most of the valid comparisons with SM64 are:

1. The hub in SMG isn't as great as the castle in SM64.

2. The linear platforming in SMG pretty much gets rid of the slightly more open feeling and exploration of the worlds in SM64.

Making the hub smaller increases the linearity of the game. I welcome the move to a more 2-D feel of platforming set in a 3-D world. As far as the camera when swimming I found that tapping the C button would take care of this. Moving around a sphere could be disorienting and stomping on a goomba did take practice when Mario was upside down.

I wish it wasn't as linear as well. I mentioned before I would have prefered about 10 large Galaxies.

Not a reason to dislike the game as a whole but I think spring Mario is one of the worst ideas in gaming. So let me put it as I hate every level with sring Mario. Also not a big fan of the upside down or sideways view. Would have prefered if the camera just rotated so you were always right side up (kind of like the way it does in the very first level)

1. Easy
2. Camera doesn't work very well
3. Personal Opinon- Why does Mario have the same running animationas he did in SM64.

My only complaints:

1. Camera is weird on certain planets.
2. Swimming toward the camera sucks.
3. You can not see the intro of the game as Luigi.
4. You can not swim in the water or even go on the bridge before the Peach's castle before or after you do it as Luigi.