More Good Things

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Super Mario Galaxy
1. Insert disc.
2. Smile.
3. Start game.
4. Smile even more.
5. Play for two minutes.
6. Start laughing with joy.

Repeat 5-6.

More than any other game in recent memory, SMG is fun. Pure, wild, genuine fun. It took some effort to put it down long enough to write this post.

Portal
SMG is fun, but Portal is funny. The first-person comedy puzzler is a crazy genre notion, but it's a good one. The writing is often smart and hilarious, and the story is great. You'll get no spoilers from me, but I will say that the payoff for finishing the game is wonderful. It actually brought a tear to my eye from the simple beauty of it.

I can't review Mass Effect yet. It's just too much. Is it the best game ever? I don't know. It's a place I lived in for a while. It was a game? Yeah, I guess it was. All I know is, I was a starship commander and damn... what a life that was.

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posted by John Harper at 1:12 AM

4 Comments:

Blogger Remi says:  

I feel that way about SMG as long as I'm not trying to go outside the basic structure of the game (i.e. the basic Galaxies and their hidden stars). The level design, the sound design, the game play, and the art direction are all really wonderful. I'm not all that attached to Mario (the Wii is the first Nintendo system I've owned), but Super Mario Galaxy is an amazing game through and through, certainly the best I have for the Wii.

Some of the Prankster Comet stuff is just soul-crushingly difficult, though.


Anonymous Anonymous says:  

Mass Effect & Assassin's Creed are the two games I plan on picking up next, though it'll be awhile.

In the meantime, I'm still off and on playing Persona 3 and have also heard good things about Eternal Sonata.


Blogger John Harper says:  

Prankster Comets! Yes. So hard. I appreciate the opt-in nature of these, though. If I want something insanely challenging, I can do them. Otherwise, I just skip it.

Chris: Let me know if you try out Eternal Sonata. It's been tempting me.


Anonymous Anonymous says:  

My best friend has just finished Eternal Sonata and everything he's told me over the last few weeks has been good.

It's about 45 hours long on the first run through, and it has neat incentives for a fast, second run through that reward expertise in the game system as you go.

I'm flying up to Seattle and will get a chance to play it at his place, I'll let you know what I think.


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