Super Mario Galaxy 2 Review.
Super Mario Galaxy first took Mario into the final frontier back in 2007 and received critical acclaim — many heralded Mario’s third 3D adventure as one of the greatest video games ever made. The impact on players was high; the gravity based gameplay was incredibly unique, with many great ideas and level design coming around every turn. Running on the same engine and featuring the same art style, Nintendo has to go above and beyond with Super Mario Galaxy 2 in order to prove that the game isn’t a simple expansion — the sequel was originally planned as a Super Mario Galaxy 1.5. Does Super Mario Galaxy 2 add enough to the already established formula to make it feel fresh?
Super Mario Galaxy 2 has virtually nothing going for it where story is concerned. The game starts right off with a gargantuan Bowser kidnapping Princess Peach and taking off into the far reaches of space. Compared to the first game, Galaxy 2 gets the action going sooner with no story elements other than the opening sequence to speak of. In fact, Galaxy 2 can almost be a stand-alone title as far as the story goes, since it takes place in an “alternate dimension” where the events of the first Galaxy didn’t take place. That’s all fine and dandy though, as story elements have never been an important part of a Mario game.
Nintendo’s pledge to make core games accessible to all audiences continues with Super Mario Galaxy 2, and is done in a very clever way. The game starts off its introductory sequence in 2D, similar to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and eventually changes to 2.5D and then to full 3D. This gives players who aren’t familiar with 3D Mario games a chance to adapt to the fundamentals of the gameplay. For veteran fans who are already masters of the 3D realm, it comes off as a mere story telling element — it doesn’t last long at all — and almost right after the intro sequence the game starts off the platforming action with the first galaxy.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is divided up into several different Worlds, which contain the game’s many galaxies — or levels. The mini hub world of the first Galaxy is long gone, instead replaced with Starship Mario, a small planetoid spaceship that’s shaped like Mario’s head. From Starship Mario, players can select what World and galaxy they want to travel to next; the galaxy select screen is very similar to retro Mario titles such as Super Mario Bros. 3, making for an incredibly streamlined interface. Furthermore, a futuristic sign is placed next to the controls of Starship Mario where players can take a look at every World’s galaxy that they have ventured to and see what stars they’ve missed. Starship Mario itself is actually pretty cool too, as the ship continually grows populated with characters Mario encounters from the game’s many galaxies.
Selecting a galaxy from the World interface.
What made the first Super Mario Galaxy so ground-breaking was its unique gravity based platforming. Each of the game’s galaxies contained several planetoids — both large and small, depending on the level — that players could travel to as Mario. The really cool thing about it was that Mario can jump all the way around a small planetoid, stand upside down on the bottom of one, and even orbit some small planets. This allowed for some really creative level designs, many of them pushing the idea of gravitational pull to what seemed to be its limits.
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, Nintendo has expanded on every idea and technical aspect of the first game. While it’s true that Galaxy 2 runs on the same engine and uses the same graphical style of the first game, the sequel looks far more polished and vibrant than its predecessor did. The game runs at an incredibly smooth 60 frames per second without a single hitch or slowdown. On top of that, the atmospheric vibe in Galaxy 2 is superb. Games like Metroid Prime and Dead Space have pulled this off exceptionally well — making players really feel like they’re on Tallon IV or the Ishimura — and Galaxy 2 is no different. One of the factors aiding in the great atmosphere of the game is its orchestrated soundtrack — something the first game didn’t feature. There are many new tunes in Galaxy 2, but there are also a good number of remixed songs from Super Mario World that sound really cool.
One of the several haunted house themed galaxies.
Level design in Super Mario Galaxy 2 leaps and bounds over what was provided in the first game; I constantly found myself wondering how Miyamoto and his team came up with all the fantastically clever designs found in Galaxy 2. One such level is in a haunted house themed galaxy — at the end of the level in order to obtain the star, players have to wall jump up a house that comes up from the ground pop-up book style. There are also a large number of 2D levels, with my favorite of those being the Rightside Down Galaxy. In this galaxy Mario is flipped upside down and rightside up periodically depending on arrow indicators seen in the background. A timer is also in place that switches the direction of the arrows, so careful platforming is a necessity so players don’t wind up falling into a bed of spikes.
Overall, there is a great amount of variety in the different galaxies spread through the game’s Worlds. My personal favorite two galaxies are the Supermassive Galaxy and the Throwback Galaxy — the former being exactly what the name implies, and the latter being an entire stage from Super Mario 64.
Supermassive Galaxy.
Other than the plethora of new level designs in Galaxy 2, Mario is also provided with a good number of new and returning power ups. These include Rock Mario and Cloud Mario — Rock Mario is used more for quick destruction as it turns Mario into a fast rolling ball, similar to a power from the Goron Mask in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Cloud Mario is used as a mechanism to shake up the flow of traditional platforming, allowing Mario to create up to three clouds below him in order to span distances from one land mass to another. Early on Cloud Mario doesn’t have many uses, but as the game progresses the power up proves useful.
The best new addition to Mario in Galaxy 2 is everyone’s favorite green dinosaur, Yoshi. For whatever reason, Yoshi wasn’t included in the first Super Mario Galaxy, but the dino feels very fluid to control in the gravity based levels he’s featured in. Yoshi can also acquire three different power ups of his own: Dash Yoshi, Blimp Yoshi, and Shining Yoshi. All three are exactly what their names imply; Dash Yoshi runs extremely fast and can even run on water, Blimp Yoshi can float through the air for a set amount of time, and Shining Yoshi can reveal invisible passageways.
Cloud Mario in action.
Super Mario Galaxy received criticism in the difficulty department — many found the game to be too easy, apart from the purple coin challenges. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is just the right difficulty; the game isn’t frustratingly hard, but players will confront substantial challenges in the later Worlds and may lose a lot of lives. If players do have a hard time, however, New Super Mario Bros. Wii‘s Super Guide makes an appearance as the “Cosmic Guide”. When players die a certain amount of times a dark figure that resembles Rosalina will appear, asking them if they want to be shown how to get to the star. Of course, this option is completely optional to choose and will only show up if players die in one spot frequently.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is quite a large game, with 240 unique stars to collect and one Comet Medal to find per galaxy. Luigi can also be played as in some levels starting in World 3 — the difference in Galaxy 2 is that the 240 stars are unique, whereas in the first game there were 120 stars for Mario and then players could re-play the same levels as Luigi to get the remaining 120 stars. For those who are up for the complete challenge Super Mario Galaxy 2 has to offer, there is a special 241st star that only the most skilled players can obtain.
It's Yoshi!
Super Mario Galaxy 2
| Pros | Fantastic visuals; Extremely creative level designs that leap and bound over the predecessor's; Beautiful orchestrated soundtrack and outstanding atmospheric vibe; Yoshi works great with the gravity gameplay and is a blast to ride. |
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| Cons | See below. |
| Verdict | Super Mario Galaxy 2 surpasses everything Nintendo did with the first game. From presentation, visuals, atmosphere, level design, and pure fun factor, Galaxy 2 goes above and beyond what was originally supposed to be a simple level expansion. There isn't a single flaw to be found in the game; the inconsistent camera of the first title is long gone, and although it runs on the same engine as its predecessor, the gravity gameplay mechanics have been given a new life so to speak -- they're far more innovative and creative that in the first Super Mario Galaxy. Very few sequels prove to be better games than their previous installments -- especially ones that come after titles that are considered in the top games of all time -- but Nintendo has created just that in Super Mario Galaxy 2: an expansive, perfect and incredibly fun game. |
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Note: In my book, there is only one other perfect game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. There have been many games that came close recently (Metroid Prime, Uncharted 2, etc). For a game to be perfect it not only has to be flawless, but it has to expand on an idea and truly innovate it and the genre the game is in. From reading this review you will find that Super Mario Galaxy 2 has done just that, and will go down as one of — if not THE — defining games in the platforming genre.
