Silent-Q.com

Picked up Super Mario Galaxy and Assassin’s Creed this week, and thought I’d share some very early impressions. Mario is first up, I picked this up on Tuesday. Excellent deal going on at Toys R’ Us for this one this week - buy the game, get a $25 gift card for free. So I popped it in Tuesday night and played for about an hour and a half. First thoughts, the game is *fun*. The controls are natural and intuitive, the levels are bright and original, and it’s Mario.

You can’t be a Ratchet and Clank fan and not think of some of those games while playing Mario Galaxy - the small “round” planets are very reminiscent of past R&C games. But that’s not an insult - I personally have no problem with developers borrowing what works & putting their own twist on it, and that’s certainly what has happened here. Saying it’s a must-have for Wii owners is kind of a no brainer. It may just be the reason some people needed to invest in the system in the first place.

Assassin’s Creed has stirred up some minor controversy. Most sites are rating it very highly, IGN being the main voice of dissension. I honestly haven’t played enough of this to give a firm opinion, but I can say that I have been very impressed with what I’ve played so far. Again, the controls are easy to pick up and become second nature quickly. The game is gorgeous, and you can tell a lot of polish has been applied to it - from everything to the character animations & cities to the menus and HUD.

The main knock I can say against it so far involves the Limited Edition. I posted last week about my failed attempt at preordering the LE. Turns out, I would have been better off if I had not been able to get it. The LE consists of a tin case (way too big in the case of the 360 version, which I picked up), a Penny Arcade comic printed on small, cheap paper, a tiny figurine of the main character that looks like something you get from those .50 machines at the grocery store, a strategy guide/artbook “preview” (which is so small it’s tucked in the main game case along with the manual) and a bonus DVD. I haven’t watched the DVD yet, but it had better be really good - because this other stuff definitely wasn’t worth the extra $10.

So hopefully I’ll get some playtime with these & be able to give some more detailed impressions next week. This is the month that many gamers wait for all year. We have AAA-titles releasing every week. Today Uncharted slipped out a few days early, next week will be Rock Band and Mass Effect. After that, we’re in for a dry spell. But that’s fine by me, my backlog is massive right now. I could use the break just to catch up!