Super Mario Galaxy 2: A review from 4EVER

In 2007 there was a game which shook the Nintendo Wii's game pile like nothing it had ever seen before. That game, was the original Super Mario Galaxy. But three years later, Nintendo finally released the sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and it was awesome!

Very well designed.

For starters, Galaxy 2 looks amazing. The amount of detail, design and colour put into everything gives the whole world a lush, vibrant feel, much more so than the original. This is by far the best looking game on the system, thanks to the fantastic art direction and effort poured in to making the world look so fantastic. Some of the water, sky and lava effects are the best you will ever see in this generation of console. What also helps Galaxy 2's presentation is the design of the numerous locals across the many galaxy's you traverse. Unlike Super Mario Sunshine which sticks to a tropical Island theme, Galaxy 2 has a huge amount of different locations from beaches, to sandy planes, to volcanoes, to grassy fields, to intergalactic spaceships and even a toybox themed galaxy.
The story is....well, it's Mario. Bowser kidnaps Peach and Mario has to save her. Big shock right? The only real twist is that Bowser has been doing some serious nomming and is now the size of a small planet. Cool?

I can't actually continue with this review without mentioning the soundtrack. It's probably the best ever produced from a Mario game, almost as good as Zelda.

Onward to the gameplay. Galaxy 2 takes pretty much all of its mechanics from the original, which in turn takes most of it from Super Mario 64. But Galaxy 2 has a greatly improved camera to go with the action, making the game much less frustrating. You will be doing some awesome platforming and some fantastic boss battles. There are also some sections which see you using the Wii remote to maneuver. One example of this is holding the remote like a flight stick to steer a ball. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of these levels, but they are pretty interesting. There are several new power-ups in the game like cloud Mario and Rock Mario...trust me, it's cool. All of these powers make for some great and diverse gameplay. But the real star is Yoshi. He makes an impact in the Galaxy series, bringing with him the powers of the second jump and the ever awesome, swallow, spit, kill technique. He also has his own little fruits which he can eat to make for more variety in the gameplay. He has a fruit which gives him gas (flight) a fruit which allows him to see in the dark and of course the "OHMYGODTHISFRAKINGFRUITISSOFREAKINHOTWHYDIDIFERAKINGEATTHIS!" fruit (my favourite) It makes him run fast.

So much to do, so little time....

What impresses me most about this game is the sheer amount of variety that is present in each level. There will be one level where you have to eat a glow fruit, then quickly rush to the next one because you will fall through the ground if you don't have the fruit. There will be one level where you have to collect 100 purple coins off platforms which disappear once you touch them and you are being chased by clones which copy your exact movements and if you touch them you take damage. There will be one level where you have to fight five bosses in five minutes while only being able to take 1 hit. Yeah, hetic. And once you've finished all 120 levels, you have the green stars, which are...well, you'll just have to find out for yourself. Rest assure, there are a total of 242 stars to collect.


Super Mario Galaxy 2 is possibly the best game on Wii and without a doubt, a truly fantastic Mario game. You must own this game, if you don't already. 4EVER out.

5th Gen pokemon Bio: Zoroark

Black and white have been out for a while now, so im sure all you pokemon trainers know what the stats of most pokemon are. so thats why im going to do ine of these for every mystery gift pokemon.

Zoroark. Zoroark is a very interesting pokemon. To many it is the 5th gen version of Lucario. But, to tell the truth, it couldn't be any more different from Lucario. its special ability allows it to transform into the pokemon at the back of your party. when i first used Zoroark in battle, i was confused because i brought out Hydreigon. then i realised, "oh, I get it! thats Zoroark!" yeah...

anyway statwise, zoroark leans towards the Sp Attack stat, but that may be the mystery gift version. anyway, its Sp attack comes in very handy.

Also, being a dark type, zoroark is incredibly versatile. so teach it all kinds of moves. But be careful not to get rid of snarl. it does not normally learn this move.

zoroark

i gots it
im that awesome.
mystery gift is on at EBgames
a level 50 zoroark

So true:

So very, very true.

The awsomeness...

Behold!
The most amazing music remixes i have found that i hav'nt put up yet!!!

No. 1- Tower of spirits dungeon music

No.2- R/S/E champion theme

No. 3- What? Primal dialga FTW!

Tradition vs Innovation

Lets face it, Nintendo has a habit of being very cautious when it comes to making new installments of their classic franchises. They played New Super Mario Bros on the DS as safe as possible, making little change at all to the formula. Twilight Princess was arguably the best Zelda game to date, but it lacked something new. It was great, but it didn't really do anything new. But, on the other hand, Nintendo have done some very innovative things with many of their series as well. New Super Mario Bros Wii brought in some fun and chaotic multiplayer to the mix and the drastic shift for the Metroid series from a 2D side scroller into a First Person Shooter (even if most of the work was done by Retro Studios) And of course, they made some of the most innovative games of all time in the forms of Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. 

Where the real question lies is how games tackle this idea. Do the developers play it safe and stick to tried and true formula or do they do something completely out there and radical? Many people criticize Nintendo for lacking anything new, but I personally think that they are constantly raising the bar and making new masterpieces. Skyward Sword looks to be one of the most innovative games of all time. here's to hoping.

The 3DS, a new development.

Something new and interesting has come across the 3DS. Read this. Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a game that has been released in the U. S. for all platforms, but not yet in Australia. Here's the interesting bit, they've made a 3DS version. Now, while this doesn't sound too out there, what is really interesting is the fact that it's exactly the same as the console versions. Yup, exactly the same. This is a huge step forward for the DS brand to be able to play console games on it's system. Edge of Time's predecessor Shattered Dimensions had a DS version, but it wasn't the same as the console. It wasn't possible to be because of the lack of controls, but with the 3DS, it is able to be the same thanks to the addition of the circle pad. Although this doesn't sound like much to many, it's still pretty fascinating to me.

IMMA BACK

Yo dawg, i heard you like dawgs, so i got you a dawg, dawg. im back from holidays, im sure you all noticed a humongous difference in the blog, without my inspiring contribution, but im sure you endured. So yeah, i got you guys stuff, but sadly i didn't get either of you dogs, in fact i dont think that either of you will be terribly impressed with what i got, oh well. Anyway once the exams are over, and they will be early the term, i will be making posts, i even have a few in mind. I got kirby mass attack while is was away, and since my 3ds is such a boss it can play region locked ds games, even though you cant get the powers it is still definitely a kirby game, and a good one too. From what i have played of it so far, just like in the other good kirby games (squeak squad, super star ultra etc) you have practically zero chance of fully completing a level on your first try, it has those situations where there are several different doors to choose from and they are all one way. On the bright side though it is surprisingly fun to be able to gang bash your enemies. It also has a rating system where you get a gold star for completing a level with no damage, a silver star for a level without any K.O.'s, a bronze star for not losing any kirbies and absolutely nothing for losing one.Here's the trailer for it:



oh and 4ever, you're not a noob as much as ash is nonchalant in this video