Platformers

[Spark Of Spirit]

I finally got to play some more Tools Of Destruction, and my biggest caveat is that the only proper way to play this is in lock-strafe mode due to the PS3 controller. I know I'm in a minority here, but I preferred holding the shoulder buttons to strafe and using the normal controls for the platforming. Because I have to use lock-strafe to reliably hit anything (which is hard to tell because the guns don't have much impact) I have to constantly move the camera to platform which is annoying.

It's weird, so far I like everything about the game except the things that made the Ratchet games fun to me. Movement feels less like the R&C games and tighter for movement but looser for shooting, and the weapons themselves are not all that great (The Groovitron is amazing, though) but thankfully the humor, platforming, and great sense of style is still there.

Also- tilting the controller to dive... Why?

[gunswordfist]

My brother got that game like a week or two ago due to  suggestion. Will play after I beat Crack in Time since I started that first.

[Foggle]

I finally got to play some more Tools Of Destruction, and my biggest caveat is that the only proper way to play this is in lock-strafe mode due to the PS3 controller. I know I'm in a minority here, but I preferred holding the shoulder buttons to strafe and using the normal controls for the platforming.

That's exactly how I like my Ratchet gameplay. People who started with either R&C 1 or GC generally prefer it that way.

I had no problem playing with hold-strafe once I got used to the shitty PS3 triggers, though. I hate lock-strafe mode... it doesn't fit the series at all.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Maybe I just need to get used to the triggers, but... I really hate them. Maybe when I really get to sit down with the game this summer I'll just suck it up.

[Foggle]

Yeah, they're awful. But you'll get used to them eventually.

[Spark Of Spirit]

So during the week I've been making may way through Super Mario Galaxy, the original, from start to finish. The game takes a bit long to get going, the intro is so slow and the first few stages are a bit too simplistic, but once it gets going it gets awesome. But I'd just like to make some general points on the game as I go.

As far as the 3D Mario games go, this was the first one I legitimately liked a lot. I appreciated Super Mario 64's first few worlds for trying something new, but IMO the game got boring as later levels became chores and multiple stars (that were as lazy as "collect some coins") didn't encourage me to replay levels. Sunshine basically took everything I disliked about Super Mario 64 and emphasized it and took away everything I liked for boring levels based around a boring gimmick. By the time I got to the last boss I didn't even really care anymore. Neither game really encouraged me to get beyond the base amount of stars.

Flash forward to Galaxy and everything is different. The levels are far more straightforward, yet far more fun, the levels are fully original in even the platforming genre, and it was the first game in the series that made me get all the base stars (not ALL of them... I'll get to that) to be sure it was the first 3D Mario game that felt like a Mario game in 3D to me.

But it's not perfect. While it is one of the best games to come out this generation, there were a few things that kept me from 100%-ing it and replaying it until now. I'll list them out here.

• I hate time trials and playing the same level with slight differences. This is why I don't even do the comet levels. I hate time trials because it requires precision to get through a normal level when a single fault will make you restart from the beginning. I'll admit that's a personal gripe, but I still find it to be needless padding.
• The bunny catching levels are boring. And there are a few of them throughout.
• The destroying trash levels are probably the worst blemish on this game. They are unbelievably bad.
• I don't like hub worlds. I'm sorry, but they're needless and nothing a world map can't do- and much faster at that. They slow down the action and break all flow of gameplay. While this hub is way more manageable than the previous 3D games, it isn't ideal. Loading up the game and having to platform back up to the level you were on to continue the game is a needless chore.
• There don't need to be 120 stars when over 30 of them are filler. I got 90 stars after beating Bowser, none of which were comet stars. Even some of the base stage stars felt like filler, which means there didn't need to be that much to pad the game. It's more than long enough without them.
• The one thing this did better is that the animal riding level here (manta ray surfing) is a lot easier to manage than the bird riding in 2. The manta's at least require a fair bit of obstacle dodging with a fair bit of leeway on mistakes.
• Preferential, but this game proved to me why I like run buttons in platformers. There were a few times when I was hit while in a rising or sinking platform situation and by the time I recovered it was too late to build up enough steam to jump to the next platform. If I had a run button, I would have made all those failed jumps.
• The game's a bit on the easy side, but it doesn't really matter since it's so fun. The game is actually less enjoyable when it's hard because that stuff usually involves bombs blowing up trash and short time limits to do something you could easily do without it. The difficulty fits here.

As a whole, it's a briliant game and one I would recommend to anyone with a Wii. Ifyou don't have it, you're missing out.

[Spark Of Spirit]

And I popped in Super Mario Galaxy 2 and had trouble putting it down. The best 3D platformer of all time? Yes.

The soundtrack is pretty amazing, too. Much more variety than Galaxy 1 had.

[Foggle]

And I popped in Super Mario Galaxy 2 and had trouble putting it down. The best 3D platformer of all time? Yes.

Pure platformer, yeah. Definitely.

[Spark Of Spirit]

It literally fixed every niggle I had with the original (except timed Fire Flower, but it was used mainly for challenges so I didn't mind it there) and made Yoshi amazing to use. All the platforming gimmicks are better, the level design is fantastic, and there's just more to do in the levels.

Also the world map. The first 3D platformer to get why 2D platformers are so awesome by simplifying the entry barrier. I don't want to work to get to the real reason I'm playing.

I would love a 3D Yoshi's Island if Yoshi controlled like he does here (and not like in Sunshine...), Yoshi Island-style Yoshi is the only acceptable Yoshi.

[Foggle]

Also the world map. The first 3D platformer to get why 2D platformers are so awesome by simplifying the entry barrier. I don't want to work to get to the real reason I'm playing.

I don't know, I think Ratchet did that first. I mean yeah, you occasionally have to play some space shooter levels between planets, but for the most part you just choose a planet from the menu, watch a load screen, and start jumping/shooting instantly.

Literally the only previous 3D platformer I can think of that does that, though. Hub worlds suck.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Also the world map. The first 3D platformer to get why 2D platformers are so awesome by simplifying the entry barrier. I don't want to work to get to the real reason I'm playing.

I don't know, I think Ratchet did that first. I mean yeah, you occasionally have to play some space shooter levels between planets, but for the most part you just choose a planet from the menu, watch a load screen, and start jumping/shooting instantly.

Literally the only previous 3D platformer I can think of that does that, though. Hub worlds suck.

Yeah, there were a few that did it before like Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet, and a few others I'm forgetting, but the way it is done in Galaxy 2 is literally- Choose level > Play level > Beat level > Choose level in a proper world map like 2D platformers. The only hub in the game is completely optional. It's the best usage of one in a 3D game and the easiest to use.

Nonetheless, the game is unbelievably good. I don't quite get the haters.

[talonmalon333]

SMG and SMG2 are by far the best 3D platformers ever. I'd give the edge to SMG2, but I think SMG has a better soundtrack.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Really? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy both soundtracks, but I thought 2 had much more variety. Galaxy 1 was almost all orchestral style tracks while 2 had a bunch of other styles of music in it.

[Foggle]

SMG and SMG2 are by far the best 3D platformers ever.

You forgot Bubsy 3D...

[talonmalon333]

Really? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy both soundtracks, but I thought 2 had much more variety. Galaxy 1 was almost all orchestral style tracks while 2 had a bunch of other styles of music in it.

I think SMG2's soundtrack is more orchestrated, if not entirely.

Songs from SMG that I adore.

Star Festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1zOV6l3COo
Sad Story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8OqKebxqdY
Comet Observatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW7pdX7pDM0
Title Screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkv68xRtNLk
Good Egg Galaxy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzYBrUl926c
Gusty Garden Galaxy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z2kxFCQ_mQ
Peaceful Stars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Y5c3YLRJI
Space Junk Galaxy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Czms00U2w
Purple Coins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reO5AHNAEx8
Bowser's Galaxy Reactor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85CPQD6hpgU

That's just off the top of my mind, what I thought of in two seconds. So I could probably do more. I really do love SMG2's soundtrack. But SMG has possibly the best game soundtrack ever, in my opinion.