Super Mario Galaxy

I find it interesting that Mario's well-known platforming mechanics still make for a great game today.  In just about every game where Mario is the main feature, there is some kind of platforming element that gives it a traditional gaming feel.  Obviously Super Mario Galaxy is no different.

What intrigues me most about this game though is that the 3D platforming element gets turned on its head.  Galaxy features platforming from planet to planet, changing the orientation of the gravity with each switch.  As Mario maneuvers around on the planet, he always remains tangential to its surface.  The engine is rather unique in that it accounts for many different situations that the player can get into so it is rather solid.

The basic idea of this game is the same as any older versions of 3D Mario games (such as Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine) in that the player must collect the stars to eventually beat Bowser and save the princess.  The stars are strewn across many unique worlds or levels that all feature different obstacles that Mario must jump, duck, and slide through to accomplish his task.

Though this may be the same pattern that Nintendo has used for years, they also have a habit of adding or tweaking a new gameplay mechanic into the core of the game to make players think differently about how they can get the stars.  In SM64, Mario does not start off with any special powers, but in Sunshine, the designers gave him F.L.U.D.D., which was a never-before-seen mechanic in any game.  Instead of giving Mario another tool, the developers of Galaxy decided to change the world, or in this case worlds.  

As I said before, changing the gravity makes the game more visually appealing, yet it takes away a small amount of control.  The way that Mario moves around on the planet looks cool but it messes with your head way too much.  Perhaps this is due to how the camera moves in a cinematic structure.  This makes the movement unnecessarily inconvenient.  In particular, depth perception is very difficult to determine.  As I've said before, this game looks amazing but the core mechanics seem a bit flawed.

I think that this just goes to show that making a game look good will mean nothing if the game does not function correctly.  Don't get me wrong though.  Galaxy is a fantastic game and a mere inconvenience of depth perception shouldn't stop anyone from playing this great game.  In fact, all of the Mario 3D platformers seem to have a slight problem with distinguishing the distances between objects because of the camera.  Fixing the camera may solve most if not all of the problems with this game, which isn't many.  Making a game with broken mechanics isn't going to make it a very good game, even if it is pretty.  Broken mechanics mean that the game has no possible chance at being perfect.  I think that any prospective designers should keep this in mind when designing they're next game.