Preview: Super Mario Galaxy (Page 2 of 3)
Spaceways
Mario doesn't have much of a choice: if he wants to save Princess Peach, he'll have to head for the stars. And once he gets there, life becomes very, very different. The environments in Super Mario Galaxy will be based almost entirely (if not exclusively) on small spheroids or moderately-sized islands floating in the void. What's very cool is that those spheroids and islands will be traversable on all axes.
Run all the way around moons; hop along platforms at right-angles to each other; slip over the sides of vertical cliffs to run along their sheer walls; follow pathways that reverse their orientations -- in Super Mario Galaxy, gravity is no longer an overarching constant, but is rather a dynamic factor in gameplay.
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The results are spectacular: puzzles twist in multiple dimensions, pathways fork around planetoids, and Mario rides the sky, shot from island to island by star-shaped catapults that propel him where he has never gone before. By integrating the ability to roam freely around space into the game, Nintendo has done away with the soon-to-be-archaic concept of planar gameplay. All that remains is potential; the potential for twisted puzzles, inventive environments, and engaging battles.
Controlling Freedom
But by allowing Mario to walk on walls and ceilings and reorient himself to his environment on a whim, Nintendo has created for itself a dilemma: How is it possible for players to quickly, effortlessly, and intuitively navigate around this metaphorical world, while at the same time interacting with it on a level that would be expected from the next generation of Mario gaming? The solution, of course, was already in place: by using the Wii remote, they could provide us with precisely the means of interaction we sought.
Nintendo's inventive control scheme for the Wii -- the combination of the Wii remote and the nunchuck attachment -- is perfectly suited to guiding Mario through his new locale. The analog control stick on the nunchuck moves Mario in the same fashion it always has. However, with the addition of the Wii remote, players can now control a second icon on the screen: a star-shaped cursor, which can directly manipulate objects in the game world.
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