Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2
An exceptional time in familiar territory
The life of Mario must be an exhausting one. When he’s not trudging his way through another eighteen holes of golf, painting artistic masterpieces with a mouse pad, or simply training for the next Olympics, he’s being forced off his Italian-stereotyped ass and pushed into action to save a comically inept blonde from giant turtles, as many as multiple times a week. There must be days where Mario just sighs and wonders if he’s not stuck in some “Groundhog Day”-esque nightmare.
And so begins Super Mario Galaxy 2, the direct Mario sequel to 2008’s runaway Wii success, with Mario going off to once again save Princess Peach. Now, I use the term “sequel” loosely here, as this game has about as much to do with its predecessor as it does the original Mario Bros, other than the evident “YO IT’S ALSO IN SPACE.” The curtain opens with Mario making his way to Princess Peach’s castle. Why? Well, just because, really. There’s a barebones narrative about Mario being invited to the castle to eat cake and watch shooting stars, but when I have to go back and watch the introduction on youtube just to remember the reason why he’s going where he’s going then you can just take my word for it when I say it’s not important. Upon entering the city limits what does one witness but a giant Bowser tearing down buildings, breathing fire, and generally doing what giant lizards do within the confines of Japanese entertainment. Why? Again, just because. I feel like I could explain this entire story with a “Just Because” to be honest but suffice it to say shenanigans occur, a princess may be kidnapped, and Mario has to travel through space to save her, riding a spaceship shaped exactly like his own head. Sidenote, I sincerely hope one day to be able to ride around in a vehicle designed to look like me.
Well, looks like Mario has to do something to save someone again!
Putting aside the dark machinations of Shigeru Miyamoto’s newest peyote-inspired mustachioed think-piece, Galaxy 2 is about what you’d expect from a 3D Nintendo platformer. There are six worlds, each with a number of galaxies, which within them also contain numerous planets…wait, what? If Japan’s international astronomy ranking goes down in the next year or two than Galaxy will be directly to blame. Looking past the mis-categorizations of heavenly bodies, let’s get down to what you need to know. Stars. There are 120(ish) of them, and you need to go and find them. Why? JUST BECAU They power your headship and allow you to travel closer to the centre of the universe, where Bowser apparently has the princess captured. The concept is basic and doesn’t really strike too far from the formulas of old, but it’s a case of not fixing what isn’t broken and its familiar uncomplicated nature helps bring gamers into the gameplay that much faster.
And that’s what’s at the heart of Mario Galaxy 2, the gameplay. You’ll be running and jumping around numerous new worlds in the search for Stars, which are obtained through (stop me if you’ve heard this) completing various tasks such as finding coins, racing against time limits, or through simple exploration, as well as the addition of a number of mini-games which are entertaining, brief, and don’t overstay their welcome. The recipe is a simple one but expands as the game goes ahead, especially with the addition of Mario’s new ability suits, including a cloud suit that allows you to create platforms out of the air, and a rock suit which allows you to roll your way through obstacles and enemies, as well as the inclusion of an old friend in Yoshi, who himself can change and be given new capabilities upon eating certain kinds of fruit, such as super speed and the ability to float. All of which handle naturally with the Wii controller, and after a few minutes of getting used to the dual point-and-move control scheme (if you weren’t already prepared for it from the original Mario Galaxy) you’ll be ready to handle whatever the game can throw at you.
Gemariodude, I choose you!
And this game will indeed throw a lot. Especially considering the plentiful and diverse set of galaxies to traverse, which are the real stars of the show. The classics are all here, with the ubiquitous fire, ice, and water stages, as well as a couple Mario throwbacks such as the giant stage (where all objects and enemies are made massive), and they’ve all been designed exceptionally well, especially when the altering gravity mechanics are introduced. This was something the original Mario Galaxy had touched upon, but it’s really dug into in this new iteration, with stages requiring you to run up walls and on the ceiling at a moment’s notice. The levels also seem more tightly built this second time around, with stages being shorter and more direct. It feels like the designers knew to cut out whatever wasn’t necessary and get straight to the heart of each stage.
What stops this game from reaching the stars (bad pun intended) in my books, aside from its paper-thin story, which, lets face it, isn’t why you’re playing a Mario game in the first place, is in how overly familiar the fun and challenge is. Aside from a number of new suits and a somewhat stronger level design this game feels for all intents and purposes exactly like the original Mario Galaxy. While this really isn’t too big of an issue, considering the success and popularity of the first, the words “more of the same” aren’t words you expect to hear about games in contention for game of the year. Nintendo certainly has a habit of pinning down a basic formula and iterating on it for years, and once again it seems to have succeeded, it’s just…I hope the next marquis Mario title comes up with something different, and doesn’t involve me simply collecting 100+ more stars.
So many Stars. So, so many.
Quibbles aside, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is still a fantastic game. You can be certain to wrest a number of hours of enjoyment out of it, especially considering its hidden collectibles and unlockable secret stages. With its subtle improvements and tried-and-true gameplay recipe, Galaxy 2 is a great addition to any Wii collection.
Score (Out of 4 Stars):
