Super Mazza Pants

Review
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Nintendo Wii

Gamers don’t play Mario games for story, right? Unless it’s the RPG series of games in the Mario Universe he is largely considered a bland character who merely serves a purpose for us to experience his superior game worlds with pin-point control and excitement.

In a rather strange move, Nintendo have decided to create a direct sequel to a Mario game, something which hasn’t been done since Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island but a couple of generations later here we are back in the colourful abyss that is space and it has never been more enjoyable.

While keeping the traditional template of collecting stars to defeat the evil Bowser by jumping in and out levels performing back flips, wall kicks and even riding on the back of Yoshi – Nintendo has gone and created a game so full of ideas and originality I’m surprised they didn’t flesh it out and make three or four games out of it.

Throughout the six worlds, which is now navigated by a much easier to use Map screen, you will enter levels and witness pure originality throughout with the exception of one or two mechanics making a reappearance. Nintendo have made sure that not only are you experiencing brand new and interesting ideas in each level you also won’t see it resurface for probably the rest of the game.

Re-introducing the “help mode” from New Super Mario Bros Wii helps players who struggled before and there’s even a DVD which should be viewed before playing if you’re new to Mario games to help ease the process. This game is hard, it will challenge any gamer out there to the very end but don’t let that put you off. It’s also one of the best games ever made. 10/10

Review

Duke Nukem Manhattan Project
XBLA/PC

Taking Duke Nukem back to his roots as a platform-shooter might of not been the best idea, even way back when it was released in 2002 for the PC. While keeping the traditional Duke themes of funny weapons, quips and enjoyable equipment such as Jetpacks and Pipe Bombs the levels themselves don’t seem to suit any of this. I often found myself lost within the labyrinth levels which led to either boredom of frustration; luckily this does get better with further progression.
It’s definitely a “marmite” game and should be trialled before buying. I have a love hate relationship with the game mainly for the unfair one-shot kills and undirected boss fights but overall it does turn out to be better than average platform game which unlocks a nice avatar jetpack upon completion.

6/10

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