Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Speak your mind, or lack thereof. There may occasionally be on-topic discussions.
User avatar
James McGeachie
Posts: 589
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:09 am
Location: Scotland
Contact:

Post by James McGeachie »

Single stage, not especially long.

I think there's an additional cutscene if you get 120 stars (and of course the rewards). You can't get 15 of the stars until you beat the game regularly though.

User avatar
Esrever
Drano Master
Posts: 2981
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 2:26 am
Contact:

Post by Esrever »

Good to know! I'm at 75 stars now, with every star that it will let me get at this point in the first three observatories. But maybe I'll beat it tonight to open up the other missions.

One thing that came as a bit of relief is that you don't have to wait for the prankster comet to randomly appear in a level to do it's respective prankster mission... the comet automatically appears when you've collected all the other stars in the stage. Thank goodness! I was expecting that to be really annoying.

As for the prankster missions themselves, I'm finding them kind of a mixed bag. The speed run missions are the worst, because aside from the time limit, the levels are totally unchanged and are just forced replays of missions you've already beaten. The daredevil missions have the same problem, although at least they only force you to replay portions of stages instead of the whole shebang.

The racing missions and sped-up stages, on the other hand, are a lot of fun. But then, both of them make actual alterations to the stages themselves that put a new spin on them and add new challenges.

If there is one thing the prankster comets have taught me about this game, it's that the extra level challenges have to come from additions, rather than restrictions, to be enjoyable. Making a stage harder by altering the layout or adding new obstacles is fun. Making a stage harder by lowering Mario's health or giving him a shorter time limit is not. Those are the weakest stages in the game, and the only time you will ever play a new mission that never surprises you.

User avatar
Yami CJMErl
Posts: 1271
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:03 pm
Location: Western New York
Contact:

Post by Yami CJMErl »

There is an additional cutscene, but it's nothing major--just Rosalina flying off in the Comet Observatory and your Luma companion (who seemingly sacrificed himself in the final cutscene) waving goodbye amid the overgrown ruins of a Toad ship.

User avatar
James McGeachie
Posts: 589
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:09 am
Location: Scotland
Contact:

Post by James McGeachie »

One thing that came as a bit of relief is that you don't have to wait for the prankster comet to randomly appear in a level to do it's respective prankster mission... the comet automatically appears when you've collected all the other stars in the stage. Thank goodness! I was expecting that to be really annoying
Actually from what I've seen it doesn't always appear. I'm up to 90 now and there's a few stages with comet stars left on them that have no comet hovering above. It doesn't seem to be a glitch, they just move around randomly.

In regards to "extra" stars, the Purple coin challenges unlocked after you complete the game feel surprisingly fun for collectathon missions, or at least to me anyway. Levels are also re-arranged for those to compliment the placement of the coins, they're not randomly strewn around the place (at least not from the ones I've played so far), they're nicely positioned and generally you don't have to go out of your way to search down the last few coins you missed in stupid places or anything.

I wouldn't say the Daredevil comets are entirely bad by the way. I haven't played too many but I enjoyed fighting the Bouldergeist boss again with 1 health as it was fairly challenging and forced you to really put some effort into playing skillfully to avoid hits. It's not really an example of quality game design but I always feel satisfied when I have to raise the bar significantly to accomplish a task, at least as long as it doesn't get to the point of frustration.

User avatar
Esrever
Drano Master
Posts: 2981
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 2:26 am
Contact:

Post by Esrever »

Mother @#$)ing icebats!

That is all.

User avatar
Zeta
Posts: 4444
Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 11:06 am
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Zeta »

So I just got Luigi in the game, and I have to say whoever designed the Purple Star galaxies needs to be beaten in the groin. They had the worst layout and design of anything in the game, usually requiring you to make tricky jumps over one-hit kill hazards to complete. Playing through them made me feel like I was playing Sonic Xbox all over again, especially since you had to restart the stage from the beginning if you died with 99 coins, and a lot of the coins just aren't intuitively placed. So yeah, this would be a perfect game if not for the fucking Purple Coin stars. The game jumps suddenly from relaxingly interesting to "punch you in the balls" whenever you select one. Of particular HATE is the Dreadnought Galaxy Purple coin challenge, which causes you to run a floating obstacle course while collecting 100 coins and if you miss one the character at the end more or less shoots Mario in the head. It didn't help that the gravity for platforms in the game isn't quite worked out. If you're on a flat level and you get hit while moving on a platform, you stay on the platform. If you're in some other sort of galaxy, you magically hang in the air stunned while the platform moves out from under your feet, killing you instantly for one hit.

So yeah, someone deserves to die for almost ruining an otherwise great game.

User avatar
Locit
News Guy
Posts: 2560
Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 3:12 pm
Now Playing: Breath of Fire IV
Location: Living that enby life

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Locit »

Most of the purple coin stars weren't anything to write home about, but I absolutely loved the ones for Battlerock and Toy Time.

User avatar
Esrever
Drano Master
Posts: 2981
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 2:26 am
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Esrever »

I actually liked the purple coin missions like the Dreadnaught Galaxy, where the coins basically form a particular path you're required to follow! Yes, there is zero room for error, but the stages themselves are very short. It's like a little obstacle course that requires a perfect run.

Actually, it was the standard scattered-throughout-the-level collect-a-thon purple coin stages that I didn't really enjoy. Like the first bee stage! It takes forever to round them all up, but if you fall off the side even once you have to start over.

User avatar
Xyton
Posts: 222
Joined: Fri May 05, 2006 9:53 am
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Xyton »

Esrever wrote:Actually, it was the standard scattered-throughout-the-level collect-a-thon purple coin stages that I didn't really enjoy. Like the first bee stage! It takes forever to round them all up, but if you fall off the side even once you have to start over.
Seconded -- more because of the starting over thing than anything. The other stages are hard, but fun. :) The timed stages were pretty cool, too. Still, I like the scavenger hunt stages more than the Mario Sunshine find-blue-coins-somewhere-in-the-world-and-we-don't-tell-you-where thing. ;P I think in a way it's a bit more annoying than the red coin thin from '64, but since the stage changes with each star, this is a better solution, methinks.

User avatar
Senbei
Posts: 800
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 6:45 pm
Now Playing: Art school...
Location: Art school!
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Senbei »

I really liked the purple coins. They offered just about the only challenge in the game. The best was undoubtedly the Toy Time one -- just seeing the level as you fly in and realizing, "Oh shit, this is going to be hard," was a wonderful, giddy feeling.

Now, that garbage disposal mini-game, that was shit. That's the kind of mediocre, un-fun task that Nintendo can't seem to exclude from even their best titles.

User avatar
P.P.A.
Posts: 950
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:36 am
Now Playing: Flying Princess - Inter Breed -
Mount & Blade: Warband
Location: Rhineland
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by P.P.A. »

I third the Purple Coins in Toy Time mission being the best. At first I was totally shocked by the layout, but once I realized I didn't have to collect all coins it was great fun.
To be honest, this game has disappointed me. The worst factor being the quasi non-existent difficulty - except for a few purple coin challenges, the whole thing is incredibly easy and fails to offer even the slightest bit of a challenge (with few exceptions). In fact, it's so easy it's almost not even fun any more! Also the stages lack replay value; once you've played them once, you don't really feel the need to revisit them just for fun.
Probably due to its easiness the game is over very quickly. I got to and beat the final Bowser in no time, getting all 120 stars didn't take much longer. Sure, you unlock Luigi to play as, but since I already didn't like the game the first time around I could not be motivated to beat it directly again.
The technical side on the other hand was amazing. The graphics are some of the best 3D ones I have seen so far, everything looks so plastic and adorable. The orchestral soundtrack is impressive, but it appears to be that the excellent instrumentals somehow tried to mask the fact that the new compositions for the game aren't very catchy. The controls are good for most of the time, except for the underwater ones, which are the worst I have ever seen.
Not only the controls but also the camera seems to drown in the water. Unlike the former though, it doesn't work that well on the ground either. While it's not horrible, it sometimes fails to catch the angles you'd need - even worse that you have few (if any) control over it. You can only ever rotate it a few degrees which is usually exactly then when you don't need it. But at the crucial places, the camera is fixed.
The innovative level design does need to be mentioned, although due to everything being on super-easy mode, they stages are not as great as they could have been. Nonetheless, some ideas are really excellent and I was sometimes really impressed with what the makers of the game have come up with. All those tiny round planets in a lot of galaxies are a bit annoying though...

Overall UR MR GAY is a great 3D platformer. But certainly not the best - Sunshine beats it easily, and some other non-Mario games I also found to be more fun. Wii owners have to give it a try, but buying the console for this game alone I don't suggest. If I had to rate it, I'd probably give it a 8/10 or 85% or something.

User avatar
Wooduck51
Posts: 523
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:31 pm
Location: apparently, in front of my computer

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Wooduck51 »

Senbei wrote:Now, that garbage disposal mini-game, that was shit. That's the kind of mediocre, un-fun task that Nintendo can't seem to exclude from even their best titles.
If you are speaking of the dreadnought one, just throw the bombs on the little yellow lights and it is a piece of cake. Of course it took me an exercise in aggravation until a non gaming family member wandered by and asked why I wasn't throwing the bombs on the little yellow markers; so I can only blame myself for time wasted.

As for purple coins and prankster comets in general; the only two hard purple coin levels were dreadnought and toy-time, and of the two the only one that caused me distress was dreadnought. As for the challenges there were only one or two timed or one hit levels, and only bouldergeist made me go through more than twice.

User avatar
j-man
All-Time Everything GHZ Award Winner
Posts: 3227
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:07 pm
Now Playing: Sea of Friends
Location: Entirely Unmoving
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by j-man »

Bought it Thursday. Wonderful. Can't stop smiling. Nothing else to add. Fantastic. Playing more now.

User avatar
WW
Posts: 322
Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:34 pm
Location: Texas
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by WW »

You are now dead to me, P.P.A.

User avatar
FlashTHD
*sniff*
Posts: 1504
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:00 pm
Now Playing: Team Fortress 2
Location: Out of earshot

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by FlashTHD »

P.P.A. wrote:Also the stages lack replay value; once you've played them once, you don't really feel the need to revisit them just for fun.
I have that problem with every Mario platformer; eventually I realized it's best to do every level once per playthrough.

User avatar
P.P.A.
Posts: 950
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:36 am
Now Playing: Flying Princess - Inter Breed -
Mount & Blade: Warband
Location: Rhineland
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by P.P.A. »

FlashTHD wrote:
P.P.A. wrote:Also the stages lack replay value; once you've played them once, you don't really feel the need to revisit them just for fun.
I have that problem with every Mario platformer; eventually I realized it's best to do every level once per playthrough.
Oh, in Sunshine I often went back into the stages just for the sake of it. They were huge and explorable, you could toy around with FLUDD... And climbing high up in Noki Bay just to jump down into the water is an incredible feeling~
In the 2D ones, I also often went back into the levels trying to speed through them as quickly as possible or do other silly stuff, and it was fun.
Galaxy's stages however are too linear to explore, but at the same time usually not short enough to simply run through for fun quickly (as opposed to the 2D Marios).

User avatar
Zeta
Posts: 4444
Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 11:06 am
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Zeta »

Yeah, my main complaint with Galaxy is that the stages are too linear. Sure, there are like 3 main stars per stage, but each star feels like it's in a totally different stage. Aside from some of the background art, there's hardly anything linking the different stars of each stage together.


At times, I felt like I was playing a Crash Bandicoot game rather than a Mario game because there was always only 1 way to do things. It's still an improvement over Mario Sunshine, but I think Mario 64 DS is actually the best so far, sadly. The game is nearly incredibly boring early on because there's nothing interesting aside from the art style. The last 10 Galaxies or so are a blast (everything from the Kitchen to the Garden). But you could sleep your way through the Terrace and Fountain Domes . . .

User avatar
Cuckooguy
LEGEND
Posts: 761
Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 12:27 am
Now Playing: Sonic Generations 3DS, Asura's Wrath
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Cuckooguy »

P.P.A. wrote:Overall UR MR GAY
I already want to shoot you.

User avatar
DackAttac
Posts: 886
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:37 am
Location: Albany, NY / Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by DackAttac »

I can't get my head around the notion this game being in the same league as Sunshine, much less inferior. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Sunshine in the same way I (almost) enjoyed Luigi's Mansion, but this game is, as I've come to realize, my favorite 3D platformer. Really. I dare you to find me a title that surpasses it in level variety, originality, charm, and fun.
P.P.A. wrote:Overall UR MR GAY
I don't know which scenario is more pathetic: you seeing some dumbass on some other board come up with this, and think it was so clever it lent itself to quoting; or you actually coming up with it yourself.

User avatar
Isuka
Posts: 1436
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:03 pm
Now Playing: Tekken 7
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Post by Isuka »

I think everyone would be hard pressed to find a single platformer that surpasses Galaxy in those respects, but it's true that it lacks challenge, and the linearity in its development seems to be pretty heavy.
Though it really kills me, that "Challenge? The fuck is that shit?! I don't want any such 'challenge' in mah game, you hear me fool?!" mentality. Every single game can be made better by adding challenge, while not surpassing the cheapness extreme.

And I can't help but think that the game could have played better with a standard controller. Yeah I know, "but then what about the Star Bits, smartass?"
I'd ask how important and/ or essential that gimmicky mechanic actually is to the game itself, but then I just thought you could get them with an additional item, like Luigi's vaccuum in Mansion or something to that effect.

I still think the game's fucking brilliant, but I agree with P.P.A. in many points in that it works as a wonderful experience the first time you go through it, and falls short of replayability after. Then there's the soundtrack, which I also agree is amazing but not that much catchy if it's not a classic tune remix what you're currently hearing.

User avatar
Dr. SEGA Monkey
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 3:16 pm
Location: New York

Re: Plumbers . . . IN SPACE

Post by Dr. SEGA Monkey »

I agree with P.P.A. that after the first playthrough, it isn't really interesting to go back to it again.

The graphics are nice, the music is fantastic, gameplay was very well done.

But, during the initial playthrough, of course it was all like "WOW. THIS IS FANTASTIC." But the only reason I can think of to go back into certain levels is just to listen to the music. *shrugs* Maybe a year from now, I can go back to it with the same level of amazement that I had when I first beat it.....but definitely not now. It's an amazing game, but not the kind of game that I'd want to play every day.

In contrast, I still play SA2 over and over and over again. Just so I can nail every trick, get the best time, and the most amount of rings. There's an AMAZING amount of replay value in that game. Even though I got all A ranks, I still play that game.

Post Reply