From what I played at GC 2007, Super Mario Galaxy appears to be a prime example of how a game can utilise the strengths of the Wii console to their fullest. Not only are the graphics and sound design amazing, the game also takes advantage of practically every control feature offered by the Wii Remote and Nunchuk: You press buttons, move the control stick, aim, flick, and swing your way through the levels, and these actions never feel gimmicky.

The first level does a great job of introducing you to this varied control scheme. Taking place on a small green planet with a few houses, craters, and green pipes, the level prompts you to locate and catch three bunnies, hiding somewhere in the environment. If you’ve played another 3D Mario game, you will be instantly familiar with how Mario is controlled. Both the speed at which he runs as well as the control stick sensitivity and the jumping mechanics are similar. The only noticeable thing missing is the belly-sliding move, introduced in Super Mario 64.

You do get a spin attack, though. Functioning as the main attack move, it is handled by flicking the remote or Nunchuk. It feels great to pull off due to the responsiveness of the controls. Unlike in many other Wii games, in which your motions sometimes don’t get registered at all, the motion controls in Super Mario Galaxy seem extremely dependable.

The on-screen aiming cursor is another new addition. It appears whenever you point the remote at the screen. You don’t need to bring it up constantly, so you can spend most of the time playing the game with the controllers held in a more relaxing position. When you do use it, you can manipulate and grab items such as crystals floating in midair or shoot these crystals at the enemy targeted. You can also point the remote at blue grapple points to draw Mario towards these and thereby travel to new environments - or get propelled into the expanse of space, if not careful. Likewise, you can stretch a spider’s web and catapult Mario far away, if he’s caught in it. The sheer sense of creativity demonstrated by Nintendo through these scenarios is incredible – as is the fact that they never feel forced or get used excessively. You tend to intuitively know when to use the pointing functionality, and the results are sure to put a smile on your face, which is particularly important considering that the second player in a co-op game is controlling an aiming cursor exclusively.

You also obtain extra abilities at specific points by upgrading Mario’s suit. The only one available in the demo is the Bee Suit, which allows you to climb on giant honeycombs or fly in small bursts by pressing the A Button repeatedly to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. After a few seconds, Mario falls to the ground, as the flying meter becomes empty. Fortunately, it quickly regenerates. Clearly, these flying mechanics resemble F.L.U.D.D.’s hover mode in Sunshine much more than the fast-paced free-form flying found in Super Mario 64, but that makes sense considering the relatively small scale of the environments.

Speaking of scale, the fact that none of the levels in the demo has a planet with a size comparable to a level in Super Mario 64 is slightly worrying. The sense of exploration and discovery that comes from traversing a huge mountain or a complicated cave structure is much stronger than with planets that don’t even take up the entire screen. In the demo, you tend to instantly get an overview of where things are, and you never get lost. With less emphasis on exploration, the gameplay in Galaxy definitely seems more linear and puzzle-oriented than previous 3D Mario games. You basically solve a puzzle and then move on to the next, and there are few branching paths. Some puzzles simply revolve around collecting star shards that - when combined - send you to another planet. Another prompts you to sprint around a tiled floor filled with moving electrocuting blocks in order to turn all the blue-colored tiles into yellow ones by touching them. Others have you guiding Bullet Bills on a head-on collision with an energy core by making them follow you. Though easy to figure out, the puzzles are mostly very ingenious and satisfying. I like how each planet generally has its own puzzle to solve before access to a new planet is granted, but I still hope Nintendo will include bigger planets with a greater sense of exploration to break up this structure temporarily and add even more variety to the gameplay.

The only other concern I have relates to the low difficulty level found in all the levels of the demo. Most enemies are killed with a single strike, have very predictable movement patterns, and only knock off one eighth of your energy meter, when bumping into you. Even the most gigantic Goomba or Piranha boss can be beaten in a few seconds. There are few pits of doom, too, and even if you should fall into one, you’ll restart almost at the exact same spot. A life will be lost, but that’s hardly an issue, considering the amount of green mushrooms sliding around.

It is very likely that the lack of challenge is present because these four levels represent the first ones in the game. Reassuringly, Nintendo have revealed levels like Cookie Factory that look considerably harder, requiring extremely accurate jumps to complete. Unfortunately, I haven’t tried those. Nonetheless, I think it’s about time Nintendo embraces the option of multiple difficulty levels in their Mario games.

As mentioned earlier, the graphics are among the prettiest on the system. Most noticeable is how smoothly everything runs. The fact that Galaxy has so many planets and floating objects on screen makes this feat even more impressive. It also opens the door for an extremely varied graphical presentation. Some planets are made up of grassy hills, some are based on industrial areas with metallic buildings and electrical wires, and others appear rocky and barren. Add to that flying pirate ships, low gravity asteroid fields, and transparent walkways that suddenly spawn in midair, and you have a game world unlike any other. The attention to detail in these environments is stunning too – from the way beanstalks bend from Mario’s weight to the trail of dust particles coming from his feet, as he accelerates. The distortion in the water, the reflection in the crystals, and the beautiful lightning effects cement the high quality of Galaxy’s looks even further.

Super Mario Galaxy remains one my most anticipated Wii titles of the year. With superb graphics, intuitive controls, an accessible co-op mode, innovative environments with different gravity levels, and a promise of 40 levels with 120 stars to collect in the final build, the game is seemingly setting the bar for how well a Wii game can be designed.