haxxiy

User Score
9.5

Presentation - 9.5
Gameplay - 9.5
Value - 9.0

Alrightya. I've got to go straight to the point this time for I feel my NSMBWii review was long beyond a good measure. I haven't hid my disappointment with the first Galaxy game since most things were justway too derivative from previous games. Even if for some it could have felt innovative, for me the basic structure was a carbon copy from Sunshine with some planets thrown in the middle for good measure. Even the shines and the starts did sound the same.

Being fair, I have to recognize Miyamoto and his crews had their reasons for the way the first game was shaped. They did need a great hit on the Wii, and choose to step on familiar ground with Super Mario Galaxy. Not to mention it was the first time they were experimenting with Lumas and transform screams and planets and star bits...

Well, the success of NSMBWii sales-wise clearly influenced the design of Super Mario Galaxy 2. There are more 2D parts - the very prologue is almost entirely based on it, much like a Mario Bros. level - and Yoshi is back. That's right, and more on it later.

Like the first game, Galaxy 2 begins with a tale about something in the mushroom kingdom and Peach calling Mario to it's castle. Once he gets there, though, a fat and big Bowser is kidnapping the princess and some lumas Mario found in the way propel him all the way to the first level. After some Galaxy platforming, Mario fights a Piranha plant boss with a massive red butt and then lands on a starship of lumas who take Mario as their captain and blah blah blah.

This ship will be your avatar in the world map, and you travel between galaxies truing to get stars enough to go ahead. The levels themselves are extremely well-thought, much more than the first game and making it look like child's play compared to it's successor. Hungry lumas are back too, opening different ways to go ahead in the world map should you feed them.

The world map (divided in a series of zones ending up in castles) and the overall structure of advancing in the game give you a different feel when compared to the previous games and fixes my 14-year grip about 3D Mario suddenly wearing later in the game once and for all. You'll find new friends along the way and some other interesting stuff instead of getting the light back to your base like the previous games...

Oh, and there is Yoshi. You lose the ability of throwing stars around but earns the skill of eating your enemies just holding the cursor (changed from a star into a red ball) over then and waiting a second or so to be able to lick them with B. Yoshi jumps very high too, much more than Mario alone. It will take a little to fully master it's controls but very cool once you're done with this smallish issue. 

The graphics keep about the same as the previous game, not very elaborate in some senses but still being vivid, bright, and extremely pleasant from an artistic point of view. Solid 60FPS and distance drawing are still there, as good as ever. The soundtrack is better too, with beatiful orchestral scores. The co-op is improved also, but I still haven't checked this one. Both me and my brother are too busy beating everything on single player.

Well, there isn't much else to be said. For sure it beats Metroid Prime 3 Corruption as the best Wii game released and enters this generation's top five even belonging to the console that soon enough, maybe unfortunately, with Natal and Move, will offer the most limited gaming experience. Ops - forgot I ever said that. Surely one of the best Mario games and another masterpiece from Miyamoto and his crew. Mmm, Miyamoto and his crew. I liked that term.