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Name: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Back when Mario Galaxy was released on the Nintendo Wii, gamers and critics hailed it as a step in the right direction in Mario's long evolution, no one ever imagined that Nintendo would take the game back to its traditional style of 2D platforming. It is then a great surprise what Nintendo have done with the New Super Mario Bros. Wii, instead of doing down the Mario Galaxy route, they have taken the original Mario style game, overhauled the entire look, thrown in a bunch of new content and re-designed levels then added co-op support for up to four players on top. What more could any Mario fan ask for?

Fans of the original Mario games back in the days of the NES and SNES will fit right in with the gameplay of Super Mario Bros. Wii, Nintendo haven't made any drastic gameplay changes that would or could alienate any players from picking the new game up and giving it a try which, while not making the game unique or revolutionary, we haven't had a similar type Mario game for such a long time that the new Super Mario Bros. Wii does feel like a new game throughout the eight worlds that you play through. The gameplay of old is still the same, your objective is to find and tackle the nasty Bowser and his buddies along the way from point A to point B, among the levels you'll encounter all manner of obstacles to avoid and make your way across as the game tries to outwit your reflexes as you time your jumps and avoid any enemies you come across.

Of course, any Mario game wouldn't be complete without some power-ups to find along the way, thankfully you'll get to choose from a few of the traditional ones we have all come to love and some new ones. Such power-ups include the famous mushroom which increases the size of your character, basically giving you a second chance should you get hit or touched by an enemy, Mario's fire suit is back also, allowing you to throw fireballs at any enemies, the ice-flower suit and the starman are in as well. New suits include a penguin suit which, similar to the fire suit, allows you to throw snowballs that freeze your enemies for a short duration, the suit also makes navigating through some of the snow and ice levels much easier and allows you to swim through water like a fish. The other new suit you'll get your hands, in fact, body on to, is the helicopter suit, this suit much to its name lets you hover in the air for short periods of time allowing you to reach some of those more tricky coins you won't get without it. Fans of Yoshi will also be happy to know that he does make a return in some of the levels though only briefly.

Super Mario Bros. Wii is probably one of the most challenging games you'll come across in the series, the first level starts off fairly easy and rightly so since fans of the original games should recognise its design straight away, but, after the initial level the difficulty is ramped up quite drastically. With the increased difficulty it can at times get frustrating but never enough to make you want to put it down for good, you'll find you will still come back and try again which is definitely how it should be as if the game was too easy it could have ruined it completely. This high level of difficulty may put off some initial buyers if you were interesting in getting the game for the family or for some children, thankfully however the game has a trick up its sleeve just in case. The game comes with what's known as the Super Guide, this guide is a way of helping you through difficult and challenging situations without ruining the game, the guide itself is activated if you so wish after you have lost eight lives on a level, the guide takes control of Mario and can in fact run through the whole level for you if you would prefer to watch as the computer hits every jump and obstacle with pin-point accuracy, but where's the fun in that? After the level is completed you are given the choice of either continuing on to the next level or going back and attempting it yourself, hopefully having found new inspiration upon watching the computer do it for you. What some may hail as a feature which ruins the game, it is purely optional and the choice is yours whether you choose to use it or ignore it, and let's be honest, it's a great addition, it lets players of all types and ages give the game a try and not be put off because they can't get past a certain point. The Super Guide only shows the most efficient route through the level however, for those die-hard completionists who want to find all the hidden areas and special star coins, you'll still have to figure out where they are yourself. Nintendo definitely made the correct choice in designing it this way and you'll get plenty of rewards for finding such areas like unlockable movies which show where hidden areas are located and speed runs for those in a rush.

The biggest feature and one many will buy it for alone, is the newly introduced co-op system. Up to four players can participate in the fun Mario antics, the players don't unfortunately get to choose which character they get to play with which is mildly disappointing, player one plays Mario, two plays Luigi, three and four play as a blue Toad and a yellow Toad. Each of the four characters do however have exactly the same abilities and moves so no one has a better character over the other. In co-op you can push each other, pick-up and throw each other, and jump off one another in an effort to reach a higher area, it's fun and that's what it's meant to be, the game can't be taken too seriously when playing in co-op since unless you all have the set goal of getting to the end of the level in mind, you'll no doubt be flinging one another about and generally having a great laugh at the same time. Apart from the co-op, players can participate in two multiplayer modes; Coin Battle and Free Mode. Coin Battle has you competing against the other players as you make your way to the end of the level with the most amount of coins collected, where as Free mode is just a simple replay of any levels you have unlocked so you can have a general muck about without taking anything too seriously. The most disappointing thing about Super Mario Bros. Wii however is its lack of any online support, the game is simply begging for some online co-op play, any online functionality would of been a welcome addition but it just hasn't been included, while the game is still great without it, it would of been greater if it was included.

Controlling Mario and his buddies is fairly easy with support for just the Wii Remote with optional Nunchuk as well, unfortunately the Classic Controller has been absently missed for some reason. The Wii Remote is held in the same style as the Classic Controller would be with the D-pad controlling the movement and the 1 and 2 buttons being used for throwing and jumping. With this being a Wii title, it wouldn't be right without some sort of Motion control support, but is it any good? The motion controls are admirable, they are used for performing spin attacks which have you shaking the Wii Remote or jerking it back to pick objects up, why these abilities were not mapped to any of the other buttons is unfortunate however since trying to pull off one of these moves at the exact moment you need it can sometimes be tricky.

For anyone that played Super Mario Galaxy, you'll remember the leap it took in the audio and visual department, while Super Mario Bros. Wii doesn't give off the same impression as Galaxy does, the game is a side-scroller and not a fully fledged 3D world. The levels themselves are brightly coloured and pleasing to the eye but lack a certain level of sharpness found in other games even when used with the higher quality cables. The sound does include new pieces of music and effects throughout but what is a nice feature is the classic sound effects and music you'll find from previous games, while they don't sound great compared to today's high quality audio, it brings back the classic memories of the NES and SNES days when you played the classic Mario games.

So is this a step in the right direction for Mario? You can't really call it a sequel to Super Mario Galaxy since the gameplay is completely different, this is more a glorified remake of the original Mario with added features, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Super Mario Bros. Wii offers some fun and exciting gameplay for you and your friends, with a help system for those that struggle and plenty of hidden areas to find, plus a secret area you'll unlock once completed, the only real downside is the game being devoid of any online support but overall this is a great game any Mario fan will certainly enjoy and definitely one you will not want to miss.