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Review: ‘Super Mario Galaxy 2’ for Wii
If I were a professor of video game design, my first lesson would be to hand each student a copy of “Super Mario Galaxy 2,” a new Wii game, and tell them, “Go home and play this. Come back when you think you’re fit to mop the floors at Nintendo.”
The sequel to the 2007 holiday game “Super Mario Galaxy” is such a beautifully designed pleasure to play that it’s made me a fan of the Mario franchise all over again after I was disappointed by last year’s “New Super Mario Wii.”
They’re very different beasts. “New Super” was a frustratingly difficult and chaotic reboot of the classic 2-D Mario games while “Galaxy 2” pushes Mario further into the 3-D challenges that were opened up in the 90s by “Super Mario 64.”
While “New Super Mario Wii” felt hamstrung by the Mario games of yesteryear, “Galaxy 2” constantly feels like it’s hurtling forward, offering mind-bending, elaborate levels. For all their floating and twisting and gravity defying in space, they’re still remarkably easy to grasp and to play through. The game is challenging, but never feels impossible. Nintendo infuses the game with gameplay logic that always and draws from its long history of games. You draw lessons from the game and use them to progress almost unconsciously. That’s subtle, effective game design.
It’s also very, very fun. “Galaxy 2” eschews a detailed storyline — Princess Peach is captured by Bowser, a giant brute of a turtle. Go get her. Sound familiar? — to throw you directly into the action. There are short tutorials for newcomers, but overall the game moves swiftly, propelling you to worlds where bee costumes, drills, clouds and ice skates are effective weapons against Koopas, big cliffs and angry fish.
There’s also a new rock costume, the dinosaur Yoshi to ride on and munch on certain foes, and, of course, Mario’s brother Luigi. But the real stars of the game are the varied worlds that don’t seem bound by any laws of physics or imagination. (They they do work with their own set of rules and logic is what makes them so incredible.) Once your brain adjusts, it all makes perfect sense.
Waterfalls float in space, tiny planets with their own gravity pull on Mario can be stomped on to use as projectiles, a watery planet can be instantly frozen and skated upon. It’s a game that’s full of surprises and joy.
Once the game is over, you can go back and go through a second set of challenges, or earn stars you may have missed along the way. But even if you only go through the game once, there’s a lot here, too much for most gamers, in fact.
While many games in this console generation are starting to feel shortened, cheapened, half-realized, “Super Mario Galaxy 2” is refreshingly full.
It may be a sequel, but this plumber’s latest adventure feels fresh, stuffed with ideas and worthy of the long, remarkable Mario legacy.
“Super Mario Galaxy 2”
$50, For Nintendo Wii
Rated E for Everyone
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Comments
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By Omar Gallaga
June 2, 2010 2:07 PM | Link to this
Phil -- I got to a point with that game where I could not progress without having to start back from way earlier in the game every time and I just gave up because it got too frustrating.
That to me is not great game design. I'm glad you had an easier time than I did.
We disagree on the Internet about a video game. I'm sure the world will survive.
By Phil
June 2, 2010 1:12 PM | Link to this
Hey Omar,
I read your review for NSMBWii. I'm not sure I see what you mean in terms of the difficulty. Yes, a lot of lives will be lost when progressing through the game, but this is offset by how easy it is to collect them. By the end of the first world, it wouldn't be uncommon to have 30+ already, and that is before the difficulty of the levels really starts to come into play. I never used a continue because of that reason. Granted, if this was set up as an old school Mario game, where one up mushrooms and coins were sparse, then this could have been one of the more challenging entries in the series.
By Omar Gallaga
June 1, 2010 10:31 PM | Link to this
Cameron -- I did play it, that's why I linked to my review of "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" in this review.
I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I think "Galaxy 2" is a much better game.
Did YOU play "Super Mario Galaxy 2?"
By Cameron Valdez
June 1, 2010 9:36 PM | Link to this
Omar did you even play the New super Mario Wii? It is a solid game and a great remake of the classics. The only hitch is the game is very short and a bit on the easy side.
By Dale Roe
June 1, 2010 5:13 PM | Link to this
I can't wait to play this, Omar. Thanks for the great write-up!