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Super Mario 3D Land review: Depths worth plumbing
For the early portions of Super Mario 3D Land, I was under the dual misconceptions that I didn't like it very much, and I wasn't doing the review. Both of those assumptions proved false after I found myself playing through about half the game in a single, nonstop session. It became clear that I liked it much more than I thought I did -- and I had inadvertently gotten well ahead of our assigned reviewer during my Mario fugue state, hence the duty shifted to me. I also spent that first half of the game thinking this was the easiest Mario platformer I'd ever played. That turned out not to be the case at all.%Gallery-137152%
Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best Mario game ever. There, I said it. What Nintendo's EAD Tokyo team has managed to pull off in this game is astounding, especially when you consider just how good the original Super Mario Galaxy was. Like expert craftsmen, they've improved upon an already excellent product and delivered a seemingly endless volley of fresh ideas -- be they in level design or game mechanics -- that are every bit as polished as those in the first game and, most importantly, just pure fun. Since the sequel was first announced and up until, well, now, there's been a lingering question: Is it just Super Mario Galaxy 1.5? Despite what the original plans for the sequel may have entailed, one thing is clear: SMG2 is its own game. It shares the basic mechanics of its predecessor yet brings so many new experiences to the playing field that it stands alone. Even more, it features enough challenges to keep the most hardcore Mario player engaged for weeks. %Gallery-64834%
Super Mario Galaxy's unsung star talks player experience
When most gamers think of that sense of amazement the certain parts of Super Mario Galaxy seem to invoke, they attribute that moment to the Miyamoto touch, a direct result of the imaginative developer's attention and care. While it's a natural assumption to make, one shouldn't forget about Yoshiaki Koizumi, the director behind the critically-acclaimed platformer!In a recent interview with Next-Gen, Koizumi championed the importance of surprising players: "If you think about games only as a thing that you interact with, you're missing the possibility of immersion. The inspirations that I tend to draw on for that all come from real life itself. Hiking on a mountain and seeing a cave and thinking about what's inside -- it's that sense of wonder and excitement I want players to feel."Well, we certainly had a lot of that with just the Gusty Garden Galaxy!%Gallery-4735%
