How many videogames make you smile? I don't mean laugh at a clever piece of script or revel in multiplayer hijinks, I mean just you, the game and a massive beaming childish smile? Not many games that's how many. The last game that made me smile to any great extent was Ico, and even then as wonderful as that game was it was more of a knowing smile, realising that I was playing a game of true beauty. I'll let you into a secret - I'm actually being somewhat unfair to games in general here. It's not the game's fault that we aren't smiling, I mean as a 30 something gamer am I even capable of smiling at a game with pure childish joy?

Watching my 4 year old son play the latest generic cartoon character platform game, be it Spongebob or Cat in the Hat, and the fresh childhood joy is plain to see. The games are usually absolute pap, but he doesn't care; in fact typically he will be bouncing with joy, whooping and hollerin' like a Texan with a new hotrod. Do we remember when games made us feel like that?

Well don't worry a jot if you can't, because that is exactly what Super Mario Galaxy is all about.

I'll try to be concise with the superlatives, but it is no exaggeration to say that Super Mario Galaxy is one of the finest games ever made. Each and every single level has you smiling like an idiot, and the smiles keep coming as more exotic and fantastic worlds are introduced all the way until the very end.

Imagine how games developers must have felt when Mario 64 was first released, the bar had been raised so high all of a sudden their jobs became almost impossible - well that feeling is back and how! Most games dream of having just a handful of the highlights that SMG throws at you let alone a whole bloody games worth.

Put simply this game makes you that giddy kid again, bouncing up and down on your chair as you play, dreading the call for dinner or bed meaning you have to stop playing. If that wasn't enough, in a wonderful circular way the addition of a genius "no pressure" two player mode also means that I can play through the whole game with my small son on the second controller and we can sit there bouncing and whooping together - truly gaming gets NO better than this.

February 2008

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