By: Nintendo EAD Tokyo
Published by: Nintendo
Came Out: May. 23, 2010 (American release)
With news of a new Super Mario Galaxy game on the horizon, fans were predictably in awe, if not understandably mixed. We're going to get a sequel to what is consider one of the most widely praised, universally loved game in years, if not ever. Nearly everything about that game was innovative, fun, and addicting as all fuck. How the hell can a sequel top it? For that matter, this is the first Mario sequel to appear in the same current console since the original Nintendo! Now that's a BIG step. Almighty God Miyamoto stated he had leftover plans from the game, but can even the Incredibly Deity of Video Games captivate us as he did three years ago?
Let me spoil this review for you: if any of you thought I was going to make a negative review for this game—let alone a Mario game, then you can stop reading because the next set of paragraphs are nothing short of worship for the game and its creator, Mastery of all Holy Gamedom, King Miyamoto.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is good. Every level, every world are by and large, different from one another. There is not one that is remotely the same. One level will start you off with generic platforming, another has you dashing up walls with a jacked up hot peppered Yoshi while another has you lighting up invisible platforms with a flashing (not like that) Yoshi, you'll be creating clouds or rolling like a rock, swimming past enemies, or drilling planets to get to the other side.
To add that extra oomph, they're not as straightforward as I make it out to be. You could be drilling dirt to get from one spot to another, but you have to counter the ever-changing gravity as you do so. You must traverse flipping platforms, but only when it activates via your spinning attack, forcing you to time things right. Running and jumping rears its challenging head when it turns the entire floor upside down. There's a traditional level that composes 90% of nothing but revolving platforms. One way to get a star involves you completing an entire sequence with Rock Mario, meaning you have to master his rolling technique or fall to your doom. One star is hidden in a lone planet that you would have no fucking way of seeing unless you curiously land on the small planet and sprinkle it with flowers. One level involves you rolling a snowball in order to create a pathway through lava. Grabbing five silver stars prove to be harder said then done when your platforms disappear back and forth in rhythmic beats. And that ass The Chimp dishes out several mini-games that ranges from hopping contests to an ice-skating challenge, all elements present in the main game.
I haven't even talked more then 10% of the game here. Each one is cleverly integrated, built, and solidly designed—the levels are a joy to breeze through. They're never too hard nor strikingly easy. If you fuck up, it's usually your own damn fault. Except the Fluzzard levels; the controls for the gliding is damn near stingy. I hate that stupid level and I curse it to hell.
Each level is just as intriguing and unique to look at: grassy plains overlook space, there's an entire level of floating sweets and snacks, giant instruments and windmills coast another, the classic, but ghoulish spooks haunt empty mansions, and the boiling lavas surround Bowser's castle (my favorite might be Slimy Spring Galaxy if not because of the gorgeous sunset - picture below). I'm usually iffy on how color actually works on a specific environment. If they're anything like FFX's backgrounds, I tend to stay far away because it's overall fruity nature makes it more laughable then anything else. SMG2 captures that perfect balance where everything is just the right touch. It's colorful when it has to be and dreary or dark the other.
The newest and obvious addition is Yoshi. He has three separate powers that can be used, a;; fun (or tolerable; I didn't care much for Balloon Yoshi) and useful in their own ways. Yoshi's downside is I don't like his hovering attack as hinders as it helps, especially on moving platforms. Timing your jumps as Mario becomes foreign when Yoshi straddles that extra air, causing me to get killed because I didn't time it right, but as I stated above, that's really my fault then anything else. He's also only selectable in a few chosen levels, but I suppose it just as well should be; his first incarnation didn't have him sprinkled all over the game. Doing so would ruin the other game mechanics and structure.
The newest power-ups Rock and Cloud Mario are welcoming, though it's the former I loved the most. The latter is just him producing three clouds per Cloud Flower and while that's all fun and games, it's more for said generic platforming then the more fun, though slightly less reliable rolling you do with Rock Mario. Bee and Spring Mario return and they suck as much as they did in the first game. Thankfully, they are not as frequent.
The game also fixes a few problems the first game had. Hints for one thing. Characters still tell you what you need to do. There are TV screens in certain levels that shows you various tips and if you die enough time, Rosalina will appear to play the level for you, bypassing the tough parts you've struggled with. Fortunately, they are all optional. You never have to view the television or seek Rosalina's help (in fact, the game encourages you not to do so as letting her play for you only nabs you a Bronze Star). You can easily avoid them and be on your leisure. Unlike the first game, you do not need 120 stars to unlock Luigi. You'll be able to play him in selected stages after 20+ stars. Better, you can select between him and Mario anytime you like after you beat the game once, so Luigi fans (like me) can rejoice. He's also a bit more challenging for the hardcore gamers as his traction is lighter then Mario's, causing him to slid once he lands. Irritatingly, Luigi does not have his own unique model when you play him, reverting to Mario-size like the first game.
The story is much more simpler this time around - not that the first SMG has a plot that could could rival an RPG - instead of suffering an unskippable cutscene, the second puts you right in the heat of the game as you control Mario while the plot unfolds. It's quick and efficient. However, they still haven't learned and every time a new star opens, there's at least one cut scene of some sort that you can't fucking skip. Most of the time, this is fine as the brief level intro gives you the layout you need to know to beat it. Boss fights or anytime you're forced to talk with a character, it gets annoying because you do not have the option to skip it nor is there the ability to speed through the text. You skip cutscenes the first time you view it, but if you enter the level again, you are forced to sit and watch it again. This is bothersome, Nintendo. While Mario games aren't revered for their plot nor should they, the lack of plot in SMG2 means it pales in comparison to the first's surprisingly emotional moments. Rosalina's back story is a tearjerking while Bowser's invasion feels a hell of a lot more deadly and aggressive. Lubba does not have the interesting, mysterious, and captivating personality of the elegant Rosalina and the ending didn't have that astonishing and unexpected ending that the first did.
The music as a result takes a slight backseat because of it. Oh, it still plays like a beauty. One of my favorite tunes involve a jaunting fiddle riff, another is the soothing and calm music played on several world maps. There are some remixed tunes from past Mario games that are as catchy as ever, and the march to Bowser's castle is as awesome as it was during its Super Mario 64 days. However it does lack the engaging tunes that accompanied the more dramatic scenes of the first (Bowser's final boss battle isn't feel as grand as the first), so I wasn't quite as moved by this soundtrack. It's still diverse and good.
Like the first, the camera is never too problematic, but often doesn't end up the way I want it to. With levels that defines gravity and goes in every direction that it can, this is a damn frustrating thing to endure.
Because this is a sequel, there are many elements from the first game: the gravity-defying, the numerous mini planets, hopping and bopping, and gigantic bosses (that dragon Gobblegut may have been easy, but damn if it wasn't impressive looking), returning power ups (all but the Ice Flower), and bonus stars to nab, including those fucking purple coins. Though they do feel a tad more fun to grab this time, mainly because they're not spread all over the levels, forcing you to collect all 100, taking some 30 boring minutes nabbing them, only for you to DIE with 97 coins, and causing you to start all over again. EVIL. The purple coins here are much more faster, though no less demanding, so I don't feel that sense of dread that I had earlier. As of this writing, I am not at 120 stars, so I haven't experienced how fun or full the Green Star hunts are.
I don't think this game can reach the pedestal or contribution to the gaming world as a whole in comparison to its prequel. The first brought another new brand of platforming to its genre and proved Mario is as relevant today as he had been some 30 years ago. I, however don't think Super Mario Galaxy 2 is inferior to the first in anyway. I just can't see it that way. Maybe it's my Nintendo fangirlism or despite my cynicism, my ultimate faith in O' Great and Rich (it prints money!) Miyamoto, but I am firmly dead set that SMG2 is on equal grounds with the first. it fixes a lot of problems I had with the first game (however little they are), yet outside of its stupidly fun gameplay, doesn't break any molds the first did. It is more or less an extension of the first, but what would you have expected? Don't let the shadow of its older brother deter you, it is every bit as fun as the first.
9/10
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Article written in: Jul. 3, 2010
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