I've always been a huge fan of the first Super Mario Galaxy. Its fresh new take on the genre and brilliance in nearly every category had me playing it and singing its praises for a long time. When Super Mario Galaxy 2 was announced at E3 2009, while it did look extremely similar to the original, I thought "More of the same isn't bad if the same is fantastic". So, I eagerly awaited its release. I wasn't as excited about it as the original Super Mario Galaxy, but I still thought it looked wonderful. So on May 23rd, I got the game and popped it in my Wii.
Super Mario Galaxy
2 is a disappointment. That's not to say it's a bad game, no, but being
a sequel to one of the best games ever, by no means does it live up to
what was expected of it. Allow me to explain this a bit more thoroughly...
STORY - 4.3 out of 10
It's the Star Festival yet again, and Princess Peach has invited Mario over to her castle to watch the shooting stars. On his way to the castle, Mario stumbles upon a little white Luma lying on the floor. It seems like this little star is lost, but after seeing Mario, it decides to travel with him, giving Mario the ability to spin. Once Mario gets to the castle grounds, he sees that something is terribly wrong; Bowser is attacking the kingdom, and he's huge! Grabbing Princess Peach, he flees from the scene after telling Mario of his plans to create a galaxy that's big enough for him. To help Mario save the princess, several other Lumas that have mysteriously appeared in the Mushroom Kingdom agree to help Mario find her. Turning into Launch Stars and leading him into outer space, Mario eventually ends up meeting a hefty Luma named Lubba on a beat-up planetoid. Apparently, a group of Lumas had lived on this planet until Bowser scattered them about, apparently sending some of them down to the Mushroom Kingdom, luckily for Mario. Lubba wants to help Mario as well; he says that collecting Power Stars is the only way to get rid of Bowser and rescue Princess Peach. Lubba then turns the old planetoid into a fully-functional spaceship in the shape of Mario's face. With this, Mario can traverse the galaxies, collecting Power Stars until he has enough to challenge his arch-nemesis.
Given the fact
that Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy both had surprisingly
good stories, it's upsetting that Super Mario Galaxy 2 had its narrative
down to this. Something that annoyed me was that it completely disregarded
the events of the original Super Mario Galaxy. For example, when Mario
meets the little white Luma (this scene was abrupt and poorly-thought-out,
by the way), he would normally recognize it, but instead he just acts like
he's never seen a Luma before. Despite that it disregards the events of
Super Mario Galaxy, the story is ultimately just a very dumbed-down retelling
of the original.
GAMEPLAY - 7.9 out of 10
As you can probably tell, Super Mario Galaxy 2 functions largely the same as its predecessor, so its more or less a revisit to Nintendo's original 2007 product. Mario has no new moves to speak of, and new gameplay elements aren't exactly abundant. Although this game tries to clone the nearly-flawless gameplay of the original, it is greatly hindered by a few select flaws. Our first major flaw - the new overworld map system. This bothers me a lot more than I thought it would. Instead of wandering around a hub world like you did in the past 3D Mario outings, you're now restricted to a world map, similar to those featured in Super Mario Bros. 3. The only difference is that this map is a LOT less interesting. You simply move back and forth across a yellow line until you find a new galaxy. It's not nearly as fun as having a hub world; but the game tries to make up for this with Starship Mario. This is your own, personal planetoid that you can use as a hub world. However, to be perfectly honest, Starship Mario was a good concept, but its execution is shameful. Not only is it microscopic compared to past hub worlds, but there's so little to do on it besides talking to random NPCs and playing a few minigames. Something so shallow and uninteresting just can't make up for the world map system - which was a bad idea in the first place.
On the positive side of things, the level design in this game is far more fleshed-out than Super Mario Galaxy's. The levels aren't nearly as fun - we'll get to that in the Fun Factor section - but I can't deny that they're very well-designed. The galaxies range from ancient ruins, to molten lava lands, to haunted stretches of space, and so on. The variety in level design here is highly impressive. The planets that Mario traverses upon are also quite a bit larger than the planets featured in Super Mario Galaxy. However, the level designs are quite a bit more focused on looking beautiful rather than actually being fun to play, unfortunately.
... Now, getting back to the negatives. I mentioned early that this game is really similar to the original. I didn't think this would be much of a problem considering Super Mario Galaxy's grandeur, but think about it; all of the other 3D Mario titles have had something that differentiated them from all the other games in the series. Super Mario Galaxy 2 has no distinguishable features like that; it simply tries to emulate Super Mario Galaxy's greatness while adding a few new gameplay elements in the process. In fact, a few galaxies are just clones of levels from the original game, only with a few little quirks added in. When playing through these levels, it feels like the game's lack of creativity reached out and slapped me in the face. There's no doubting that Nintendo created this game with very little ambition in mind.
A more minor flaw
is that most of the game's galaxies only have one or two Power Star missions
in them- at least, only one or two normal Power Star missions. I
found that the game focuses too much and forcing you to seek out hidden
Power Stars or to wait for a Prankster Comet to pass by the galaxy. The
low amount of Stars is kind of a good thing, since you can quickly get
past the galaxies you don't like... But, it's just as much of a bad thing,
because it almost means you won't get much of a chance to play through
your favorite galaxies.
GRAPHICS - 10 out of 10
Well, I can't
complain here, these are the best graphics that Nintendo has ever created.
I already thought that Super Mario Galaxy pushed the Wii's graphical power
to its limit, but somehow Super Mario Galaxy 2 managed to exceed that.
At first glance, the game looks like its graphics weren't changed at all.
Once you play through the game, you'll start noticing some obvious improvements
in the visuals; the grass is now so much more fuzzy and vibrant, that's
the first thing that caught my eye. The grass in Super Mario Galaxy didn't
look too realistic, it was flat and rather boring. The grass in this game,
now it actually looks like grass. Later, you'll also notice that
the game is capable of handling more impressive special effects. I'm not
overly-fond of the game itself, but it sure is a beauty.
MUSIC - 8.5 out of 10
Oh, Super Mario Galaxy had such a phenomenal soundtrack. It's too bad that Super Mario Galaxy 2 couldn't live up to its aural prowess, but it still offers up a fun and impressive soundtrack that anyone can enjoy. Like the original, it constantly switches between orchestrated music and typical, midi-based pieces. While the music is great, the soundtrack doesn't have nearly as many stand-outs as the original did. There are some very nice themes, like the Flip-Swap Galaxy, the Freezy Flake Galaxy, or the Speedy Comet theme, but most other themes are just good for ambiance, like the Cosmic Cove Galaxy's theme. There are also some tunes from Super Mario Galaxy that were lazily reused in this game. However, none of these tunes were ever particularly notable. Really now, would you rather have the Honeyhive Galaxy theme return (which it did...) or the Melty Molten Galaxy theme return (which didn't...)?
Of course, Super
Mario Galaxy 2 remixes some classic Mario tunes, and does so surprisingly
well. The Super Mario World ghost house theme makes an appearance here.
Frankly, I was never really fond of that theme, but this new version of
it sounds lovely, and a lot more chilling than the original. Also appearing
is a more jazzy version of the main theme of Super Mario 64, another theme
that I was never particularly fond of until now. See, this game's remixes
are great enough to make me like music pieces that I didn't like beforehand.
That's how good of a job the composer did of remaking these tracks.
LENGTH & DIFFICULTY - 8.2 out of 10
If Super Mario Galaxy 2 made any improvements from Super Mario Galaxy - and trust me, rarely did it do so - it's the difficulty level. Super Mario Galaxy, while still extremely fun, was quite a short and easy game that I was able to beat in about three days. With the game's new "Cosmic Guide" feature that can guide Mario through a level, it seems that Nintendo didn't shy away from challenging its fans this time around. While you won't particularly find yourself struggling too much with the levels, you'll notice a significant boost in challenge from the original. The bosses, in particular, are quite a bit more deadly; a dragon called Gobblegut was surprisingly challenging, and don't even get me started on his second form that appears in an entirely different galaxy.
... But, the game's
length still remains an issue. This sequel is just as short, if not shorter,
than the last game. When I beat the game, my gameplay time was clocked
in at approximately eight hours. Not overly-impressive. Not to mention
there are still only six worlds that you need to complete, and some Power
Star missions can be extremely brief.
REPLAY VALUE - 8.7 out of 10
To be perfectly honest, I haven't seen much of what this game has to offer - After I beat the game, I just didn't feel like collecting more Power Stars, and most of the post-game activities that I did were out of obligation. However, I can make an assumption based on what is available to me. There's a secret world that is revealed to you after you beat the game, much like World 9 from New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It's filled with more galaxies for you to play through, however, it is very strict about letting you proceed. After you beat one of the galaxies in this world, you will instantly find out that you need about four or five more Power Stars to proceed. So, you must backtrack to other galaxies and collect a few more Power Stars, then you can come back and play through another secret galaxy. You'll be repeating this process several times if you want to get to the end of the secret world. It gets redundant, but I must praise Super Mario Galaxy 2 for all the post-game content that it has included.
Something that
I found to be entertaining in the original Super Mario Galaxy was the goal
of collecting 9999 Star Bits. Tedious as it sounds, I still did it with
happiness, because I just loved Super Mario Galaxy that much. The reward
was mediocre, but hey, at least the game acknowledges that you did
it. I'm a perfectionist, so yes, that does matter to me. Judging by the
fact that your Star Bits are stockpiled after you beat a galaxy, I'm assuming
that the 9999 Star Bits sidequest remains in this game. Regardless, this
game just isn't entertaining enough for me to go after that, but it still
offers a little something to do for those who like the game more than me.
Oh! Did I mention that coins are stockpiled, as well? I wonder what the
reward is for getting 9999 coins... Hey, this makes Super Mario Galaxy
2 the first Mario game since Super Mario Land 2 where you actually have
a decent reason to collect coins!
FUN FACTOR! - 7.9 out of 10
Fun? Yes. Enjoyable by anyone? Sure! As fun as the original? Nah. Super Mario Galaxy 2 just isn't nearly as fun to play as Super Mario Galaxy, and that is disappointing, but it still manages to be a fun game in its own right. Hard as this might be, try not to look at the game as a sequel to Super Mario Galaxy, but rather as an individual game all together. When compared side-by-side to Super Mario Galaxy, the game will seem kind of boring, but try not to compare the two games, just enjoy Super Mario Galaxy 2 for what it offers you.
While the game is fun and all, something that made the game a bit less interesting was that it lost the mystical and mysterious atmosphere of Super Mario Galaxy. If I didn't know any better, I wouldn't be able to tell that seventy-five percent of the levels were in space. Quite a few galaxies will be filled with blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and vibrant green grass. It's a shame to lose the beautiful, starry skies of Super Mario Galaxy. Just the feeling of being in the depths of outer space made it feel like such a magical adventure. Now, Super Mario Galaxy 2 didn't abandon the outer space atmosphere completely, but it's not nearly as noticeable in this sequel.
Now then, I said
I'd be talking about the level design a bit here. Some levels are really
fun, like the Haunty Halls Galaxy or the Tall Trunk Galaxy. The Tall Trunk
Galaxy, in particular, had an obstacle-filled slide that was a very pleasant
surprise to me. You also have some levels that LOOK fun, but are actually
pretty boring once you start playing through them. The Supermassive Galaxy
is a prime example of this. The Battle Belt Galaxy was also kind of a letdown,
since all you're doing is fighting against barrages of enemies in order
to proceed through the level, sort of like Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Subspace
Emissary mode, or something. The galaxies range from very fun to gruelingly
dull, to abridge this paragraph.
OVERALL - 80 out of 100
Yes, I did simultaneously call this game a disappointment and then gave it an 80 out of 100. Normally an 80 can't be considered a disappointing game, but considering that's a whole 18 points less than I gave Super Mario Galaxy, wouldn't you say the ratio between those two scores is a little... off? Super Mario Galaxy 2 is strangely forgettable and throwaway compared to most of Mario's other platforming outings, but even one of Mario's worst titles can still be fun. However, if you played Super Mario Galaxy first and loved it like I did, this game is going to leave a bad taste in your mouth for a while, in the fact that it's just a sequel, and not much else. Nothing really makes it stand out from the rest of the Mario platformers.
Fifty dollars is quite a bit of a price to pay for this game, but if you buy it, I know you'll enjoy it. Expect to encounter none of the awe-striking surprises that Super Mario Galaxy had, but do expect to see some lovely level designs and amazing visuals. I am still kind of bitter that this game wasn't as great as Mario's first outer space adventure, but take this into account - being as good as Super Mario Galaxy is an extremely difficult task. So, don't expect the kind of amazement that you received three years ago, but I do recommend you at least try this one out. You can't go wrong with it.
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