Saving the World
As harmless small stars fell, like candy from a pocket in the sky, onto Mario’s idyllic town, his longtime love, Princess Peach, waited joyfully for him in her castle. But like so many tragedies that befell Peach before, Bowser the brute swooped in and kidnapped her.
And so, nothing short of Mario’s saving the universe will lead to her emotional rescue. That’s how Mario tales wag. The damsel in distress is most in peril whenever her mustachioed hero is away.
But in Wii’s "Super Mario Galaxy," Nintendo’s crafty gamesmanship once again makes a familiar-looking Mario game seem like one of the best kids’ titles of its year.
Mario (in your hands) explores fiery and watery planets in distant galaxies. There’s nothing special about that. But the way you travel the universe is cool and new.
Planets are little things, appearing in the center of your TV screen as if they’re just large globes. They’re merely the sizes of an Earth house or an Earth neighborhood.
This keeps you on your toes. It’s harder to avoid death when you’re walking and jumping upside-down, sideways and diagonally around a violent orb.
The usual cutesy Nintendo villains try to snuff you out: Mushrooms squint cruel eyes at you; toothy giant flowers attempt to smash you with heavy heads.
I have to disclose I didn’t finish "Galaxy" before writing this review. I ran out of time while playing it and two other great new releases — each of which could take 20 hours just to speed through — so I can give you impressions of all three titles, in time for holiday shopping.
The other two superb games will appeal to hard-core gamers who love to shoot things to death.
"Mass Effect" is an action-role playing game from BioWare, the maker of fun "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" and "Jade Empire."
The look of "Mass Effect" is a cinematic feat. Like cinema, you watch the game’s graphic films just about as often as you play the game. Sci-fi soldiers and aliens from the 22nd century chat gravely about a complex political and military struggle. You pick your responses during these conversations, issuing snippets of curt dialogue such as "What did you find?" and "Why is Williams here?"
Yeah, that’s odd, but fans of role-playing games eat this stuff up. The fun comes from saving the universe by shooting evil robot-looking aliens, or whatever, across space stations, foreign planets and finely detailed capitols.
As shooting goes, though, my favorite war game in a while (especially online) is "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" on Xbox 360 and PS 3. Bad guys are terrorists (a little heavy on the Arabic, if you ask me). And the game play and illustrations are excellent, seamless and rich.
I just shot two guys in the back, in a dingy makeshift war zone littered with blown-up buses and fences, after I sniper-rifled a loser in his torso. I have to say I feel pretty good about that.
So there you go. You can save the universe from terrorists in "Modern Warfare," or from aliens in "Mass Effect" or from mean mushrooms in "Galaxy." God bless America and its violent choices.
("Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" retails for $60 for Xbox 360 and PS 3; $30 for DS — Plays very fun, especially online. Looks great. Moderately challenging. Rated "M" for blood, gore, intense violence, strong language. Four stars out of four.)
("Mass Effect" retails for $60 for Xbox 360 — Plays fun. Looks stellar. Moderately challenging. Rated "M" for blood, language, partial nudity, sexual themes, violence. Four stars.)
("Super Mario Galaxy" retails for $50 for Wii — Plays fun. Looks very good. Easy to moderately challenging. Rated "E" for mild cartoon violence. Four stars.)