Okay, so I’ve been absent from blogging for the past several days. Thankfully there was a weekend in there, and weekends are not made for blogging anyway, so it helped absorb the blow. More thankfully, Wii Centre welcomed our fantastic new blogger Angela, whose talented writing surely made our readers forget that I even existed.I imagine most of you are savvy enough to know where I’ve been.

Yes, dear readers, all of my free time has been occupied by the glorious Mario Galaxy. (At 25 years old, I’ve been around just long enough to have been with Mario since the beginning. Donkey Kong — featuring Mario as “Jumpman” — was born just one year before yours truly, and it got a lot of play in the Intellivision as soon as I was old enough to hold the controller.) And since I’m a writer and all, I figure it is my duty to at least share with you my impressions of the game thus far. I’m round about 50 stars in (out of 120, for those of you who don’t know) and thus far the game is everything it promised and ever so much more.

Rather than a lengthy, multi-paragraph review, I’m just going to throw out some of my biggest first impressions. Spoiler haters beware, as spoilers will abound after the jump.

Whew, where to start?

1. This game does away with the new-Mario tradition of vast exploration and blue coin scavenger hunts in favor of a slightly more linear feel which manages to both harken back to the roots of Mario and at the same time make the world feel even more expansive.

2. The music, as always, is wonderfully put together. Again, elements of classic Mario music are intervowen with new themes to produce a score which not only compliments to game play, but actually adds to it.

3. Bowser is freaking hardcore. The giant King Koopa has been around so long he’s almost turned into a caricature of himself, but in this game he has reverted back to his truly villainous self.

4. Likewise, it is nice to see Luigi in-game, and it is cool that he actually has plot impact. On a similar note, I miss Yoshi — but I’m an admitted Yoshi fanboy. Maybe I’ll see him later in the game.

5. Suits are back, as are flower-power-ups. A bee suit is so much cooler than a souped-up water gun.

6. Most of Mario’s new roster of moves are back — but I wish I still had the “dive” ability at the top of my jump. Maybe I do, and I’m just too stupid to figure it out. Spin attack is nice, but when I’m standing on top of a waterfall I want nothing more than to dive over the edge into the crystal pool of water below.

7. Hooray for Airships. And for the Princess sending me things to help me out. This game does everything possible to reach back across Mario history and make it part of Mario present.

8. The anime-esque physics gravity engine is more intuitively understood than I would have expected. While it can sometimes get confusing running upside down, it isn’t nearly as difficult as I expected it to be. Mario is once again making a solid effort at re-defining “platform gaming.”

9. Extra lives (1-ups) are too easy to come by. I don’t think I’ve ever been in danger of Game Over.

So there are my scattershot thoughts based on what I’ve done so far. Mario, as always, has delivered an absolutely stellar title, rich with familiar characters and themes but teeming with new and innovate experiences. After taking a break with the solid but unspectacular Sunshine, your favorite Italian plumber is once again breaking new ground in the industry he helped create.