When you release a game that's the best on the Wii, a game that's had countless near-perfect scores from the world's reviewers, how could you improve on that? This was the challenge faced by Shigeru Miyamoto and his team and it's one they've managed to overcome with Super Mario Galaxy 2.
If you were wondering how the game was going to follow on from the original's bizarre ending, the simple answer is that it doesn't. Galaxy 2 takes place in a Star Trek-style alternate universe, one in which Mario and the Lumas have never crossed paths before. The original game's intro was beautifully presented and this one is arguably better, as you play through side-scrolling levels drawn into a storybook. As you progress, the pages turn while the story appears at the bottom of the screen. It's lovely stuff. Naturally, the plot involves Bowser kidnapping Peach.
What's All The Hub-ub
Early on you're greeted with Starship Mario, an old planet that has been taken over by an industrious Luma called Lubba and converted into a spaceship. The ship needs Power Stars for fuel but Bowser nicked those along with Peach, so Mario agrees to help Lubba retrieve the Power Stars from the various galaxies in return for the use of his spaceship. Lubba then gives the planet a quick makeover so it looks like Mario (leading to the classic line "nice spaceship, huh? More like a FACEship!").
Starship Mario is not a true hub like Peach's Castle, Delfino Plaza and the Comet Observatory from previous 3D Mario games because you can't directly access levels from it. Instead, you simply use it to wander around, mess about and generally take a break. There's not really much to do except for talk to the various people you've already encountered on your travels. Moving to the ship's wheel calls up a map screen similar to that in New Super Mario Bros, where you choose which level to move to next. It's a much clearer way of showing which galaxies still need to be completed and doesn't get confusing like the Comet Observatory did towards the end of the original.
Galaxy 2 really shines when you leave the Starship. The game feels a lot brighter than the original, since there are far fewer levels with a simple, black, star-filled sky. There are loads more stages that take place in sunny locations, snowy settings, forests and in the sky, and it adds a lot of variety.
Every single one of the game's 40-plus galaxies offer a completely new gameplay mechanic, and most of them offer even more than that as each galaxy's individual star missions are unique levels. Take the brilliant Tall Trunk Galaxy, for example. The first star is a Yoshi level where you use the Bulb Berry to get Mario and his mate to the top of a giant tree. The second, however, is a huge slide down one of the tree's branches, inspired by the Princess' Secret Slide level from Super Mario 64 (complete with the same music). It may fall under one galaxy, but the two levels couldn't be more different.
Speaking of the music, some of the better themes from the first Super Mario Galaxy are back (with new arrangements for the most part), alongside a huge collection of brand new music. These include new orchestral versions of old Mario songs and some fantastic all-new themes. The music in the Fluffy Bluff Galaxy in World 1 will work your way into your brain in the same way Gusty Garden Galaxy's music did in the first game.
Mixing It Up
The three big gameplay additions are, of course, Yoshi, Rock Mario and Cloud Mario. Yoshi is once again limited to a certain number of set levels but he appears an awful lot more than he did in the New Super Mario Bros Wii, getting a slice of the action at least a few times in each World. He's armed with his own set of timed power-ups, each of which help to make his levels feel unique. Controlling him is an absolute joy.
Also surprisingly fun is the Rock Mushroom power-up, which enables Mario to plough through enemies and breakable objects. Then there's Cloud Mario, who has the ability to make up to three huge cloud platforms appear underneath him when you flick the Remote in mid-air. This is by far our favourite power-up because not only does it work perfectly, but the faces on the clouds are just too cute to hate.
The game constantly chucks new additions and improvements at you. Luigi nonchalantly turns up about 20 stars in and offers his services at random points throughout the game while a cheeky new monkey simply called The Chimp regularly challenges you to points-based mini-games, where you have to jump on enemies' heads or play whack-a-mole style skating levels. There's just so much going on that not once does the game ever feel repetitive.
Then there's the new emphasis on 2D. There are loads of levels where the action switches to a fixed 2D plane. It's Galaxy's take on New Super Mario Bros. and we love it, especially on the levels that mess around with the gravity and have you running up walls.
Also greatly improved is the game's two-player co-op mode which lets the second player tell a Luma where to go. This allows for a lot more interaction, as your partner can make the Luma attack enemies, collect items and even fetch air bubbles for Mario underwater.
Then there's the Cosmic Guide, the new version of New Super Mario Bros' Super Guide feature. If you die multiple times on a level or spend some time thinking, a shadowy figure who looks like Rosalina appears and asks if you need a hand. If you agree she possesses Mario and directs him to the star. There's a catch, naturally, in that if you get the star like this it'll only be a bronze one instead of the usual gold one, a reminder that you needed help to finish the game.
A Star Is Born
Super Mario Galaxy's only real downfall is that, since its basic idea is so similar to its predecessor, it doesn't hit you with that same initial impact. You were already wowed with orchestral music, gravity-bending gameplay and perfectly immersive pointer controls when you played the original game the last time around so the surprise isn't so great here when you're once again introduced to the same concepts.
This is minor nitpicking, though. Our main criticism in our verdict box when we reviewed the original game was that it "had to end eventually". This sequel goes some way to making up for that by essentially giving you an all-new game just as big - if not bigger - than the original with even more to see and do.
Is Super Mario Galaxy 2 even better than its predecessor, though? Technically, yes. The levels have been designed better, the game's structure is more solid and less confusing, and the addition of a few new abilities and loads of new characters means more variety.
What's more, the increased difficulty and wider variety of galaxies should see you taking longer than before to get every star this time, and in the process you'll fall in love with Mario all over again, to the extent that it doesn't really matter that it's essentially the same shell with brand new levels. As long as you finished the original and can cope with the higher difficulty, this is undoubtedly the new best game on the Wii. 9.8/10
