Super Mario Galaxy review-me-do.

Of course I bought it when it was first released. After all, it was getting rave reviews from everyone, save for the usual few monkeys who just want to attack anything Nintendo related. And, I played it, and loved it. And then, for whatever reason, I abandoned it for other games. Just .... for no real reason that I can see, other games were much more appealing to me. Which is not to say that any of them were better, incidentally. Just that they were on the 360, which meant achievments and communication with friends at the same time.

And then, the other night, nearly a year after I last played it, I decided to switch on the Wii again and give Mr. Gay another shot. The reason being that the Wii had finally seen some love over the weekend when we tried Samba de Amigo with friends. Before this, my message board tells me the Wii had been inactive in 6 weeks. Which pretty much explains why I hadn't completed Galaxy.

I still haven't completed Galaxy, but I have beat Bowser. Now, here is where things get interesting. Because I would normally not bother going back to 100% complete a game at this stage. I am more of a "Play them all" than a "Play it all" type of guy. But, I knew there was much more fun to be had in Galaxy, so I gladly went back in to add some more stars to my collection.

The closing credits pleased me, and surprised me. Apparently, 6 people were involved in level design, and 1 person was involved in in-game cinematics. This pleased me because it is the way all games should do it, and surprised me because I felt sure that there were at least 100 level designers! I have never played anything that has so consistently thrown new things at me. There are entire massive levels based around a single play mechanic that could quite easily support a full game, that is then thrown away. There are comets that change the rules completely, and yet are entirely in keeping with the rest of the game. There are of course the familiar old enemies, along with some entirely new creations. And it all sits hand-in-hand, and makes complete sense.

All the reviews you have read can't prepare you. They certainly didn't prepare me. I knew I was in for a good time, what I didn't know was that my entire gameplaying life for the last few years would be revealed to be as empty as it has been.

For example, there is a level where I had to multiple wall-jump from side to side up a tower that was sinking into the sand. Or maybe water. Or maybe just empty space, I don't remember now. What I DO clearly remember is the feeling of pure awesome as I made the jumps.It was almost as if I was all-powerful, with the knowledge that I could go pretty much anywhere at any time as of right now, and have no fear at all. Very few games give you that level of reward, Galaxy starts you off with it.

The level design shines. Every galaxy you open brings you at least one area that you can see, but can't quite work out how to get to. These areas may not contain anything, or they may contain power-ups, coins, it doesn't matter. You never feel as if they are out of reach, they are just slightly out of your reach at that moment. You trust that they are there for a reason.

This reason comes with the advent of the purple comet. Once the game is completed, you get a message telling you that 'Another chapter has been added to the storybook', and another one saying 'The purple comet has now appeared'. The purple comet is the one that scatters 100 purple coins through each galaxy, and gives you a star for collecting them all. It is an entirely optional task that is only available once you have completed the game. And yet, it feels like something you should have been doing all along. That is the genius I am talking about. 60 stars is all you need to fight final Bowser, but you will want to find the rest of the 120. Because every single star is just such fun!

Mario Galaxy has made me question just what I have been playing since Mario 64. Why aren't all games like this? I'm not suggesting that every game should be a cute platformer, but I am suggesting that every game should have this amount of love and thought lavished upon it during its creation. 99% of all other games look soulless in comparison.

I wish Mario Galaxy was on the PS3 and XBox 360, so that everybody could play it. Make no mistake about it, there are peole out there who loathe the Wii and all it stands for. These people are denying themselves one of the greatest, if not THE single most wondrous, gaming experiences ever crafted. Anybody reading this who does not have a Wii on which to play this game is hereby ordered to find a way to play it. If you do not, you will have to find a way to apologise to your own soul.

Excite Truck review-me-do.

There are often times in my life when I get somewhat jaded, and just don't want to play games. At least, none of the ones I have, at any rate. This leads to me constantly having unfinished games, and me constantly being in the middle of more games than there are hours in the day. For example, right now I am technically still playing Megaman 9. And Okami. CoD 4, GTA IV, Super Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy, Prey, Uncharted, Resistance, and it goes back even further. Shadow of the Colossus, for fucks sake! Why did I never complete that one? (Hint : It got dull.)

At times like this the last thing I should do is try something else. And yet, invariably, I feel the need for a new experience. When my latest title arrived from lovefilm, it was something I wasn't really bothered about ever playing. I had avoided it plenty of times, but I figured "Why not? How bad can it be?"

I shouldn't have doubted the quality. I know full well that the solution to Jaded Gamer Syndrome is to play something old-school. Something with zero story, PROPER VIDEOGAME PHYSICS (ie. no physics at all), and gloriously uncomplicated aims. You know, the kind of thing where you never worry about where to go next, or find the exact bit of scenery to interact with for the next cut-scene. Nope, just a straightforward twitch game.

Excite Truck suffices. It does more than suffice, actually. It lives up to its name. It excites, it truly does.

The speed of the game can only be described as blazing. Sure, these are not exactly Motorstorm quality graphics, but they are still nice enough. Better than anything you played until a couple of years ago, certainly. Backgrounds whizz past, trees come at you so suddenly you can't avoid them, and enemy cars all look like they are racing the same course as you are. It's all fantastic, unless you are one of those fuckheads on the internet who insist that everything needs to be full 1080p and that you CAN ACTUALLY TELL THE DIFFERENCE. (Hint : You can't.)

So, you narrowly avoid the trees, smash the hell out of the truck in front of you, and then you go up a hill. Flick your Wiimote up, hit the d-pad for a turbo, and see a whole new level of JOY. Flying through the air, sometimes at insane heights, tilt your Wiimote just right so you land all 4 wheels at the same time, and get another boost. This can usually take you right to the next jump, wherein you get to boost again. Or maybe it takes you to a ! icon, which allows COOL STUFF to happen. Like the entire terrain might deform to make a new jump for you to OMG WEEEEEEEEE up once more. There are tracks where you just don't get the time to drive any kind of planned route, you are simply reacting to the near-permanent boost. You will smile, you will laugh, and you may well even squeal.

Of course, being a Wii title, there are issues. Tantamount is the steering. See, you control it with the Wiimote on it's side. Not a porblem, except that none of us are as steady as we think we are, and the Wiimote is sometimes too bloody sensitive. So you often find yourself having to correct for movements you didn't even realise you made. Or, worse still, you find yourself unable to steer the way you wanted to because you moved the damn Wiimote, or tilted it differently. Thing is, it is always your own fault, so it's not a valid complaint. But it will make you shout. Waggle is used sparingly, and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself hammering the 2 button when I crashed instead of the usual mid-air Wiimote wank motion.

Blah blah blah, race mode and challenge mode, blah blah blah, 2 player option, blah blah blah, rising difficulty levels, blah blah blah, unlock tracks and trucks, blah blah blah. All the requisite boxes ticked. Custom soundtracks via SD card are a nice addition, something that should relly have become standard in all games since the days of the original XBastard. Being an early Wii game there is no online at all, which is a pity. 4 player would also be nice, but I can imagine 4 players having fun taking turns and watching others. It's just got that old feel to it.

The biggest fault I can find with Excite Truck is that it makes me REALLY want an online F-Zero. Which probably says more for the speed of it than anything else, and also probably marks me out as so big a nerd that I shouldn't be allowed out of doors any more.

So far I have completed Bronze and Silver cups, as well as a couple of the challenges. I prefer the challenges, as they are the exact kind of thing that I do best. OCD gaming, where you do what you did last time but faster, sooner, harder, better, chasing that boner-inducing S rank. But, that's enough to tell me that this is one excellent game. Also enough to tell me it may well be a little short.

'Outdated concept that has no real use' out of ten. My life has been improved having played it, and if I ever see it cheap enough I may well buy it. Definite rental for anyone else, it's just so much fun.