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Super Mario Galaxy has a cumulative score of 97 per cent on review aggregator site Metacritic.com. That makes it the best reviewed Wii game ever. However, after spending more than an hour behind closed doors Monday playing a handful of levels in Super Mario Galaxy 2, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo's newest blockbuster makes a run for its predecessor's coveted title.
There are some obvious differences between the first and second games in what has become one of the Wii's signature series.
For example, many of the levels in the sequel are set on planets within a blue, lightly cloudy atmosphere rather than the cold depths of space that dominated the original. It gives the game a warmer feel that draws to mind classic Super Mario Bros. games. Plus, we can now navigate from galaxy to galaxy via a traditional Super Mario Bros. world map as opposed to a hub world, which allows players to quickly and easily choose the levels they want to play. And, of course, there are plenty of fresh Mario suits and abilities that lead to new platforming, puzzle, and combat challenges.
But the general idea is the same. Players still run, jump, roll, spin, float, skate, and swim across the surfaces of themed planets in a manner that's slightly dizzying (a side effect of running from north poles to south in a matter of seconds) but still terrifically engaging while collecting bits of celestial matter and hunting down Power Stars that unlock access to new planets.
The first level I tried was from early in the game and had a wooden block theme. Giant saws cut away chunks of the world which fell even as my Mario jogged across them. I spent plenty of time doing traditional ground pounds here, first to push giant pillars through a planet to its southern side so I could reach a star gate floating in the air that sent me to another world, and later to slide giant chunks of a square planet that functioned as a sort of giant sliding tile puzzle. I had to use the pounds once more at the end of a level to jump on a boss' back and defeat it.
Next up was a rocky world that serves as Mario's introduction to one of the game's new powers: A rock hat. When Mario dons his stony lid a quick shake of the remote turns him into a big boulder that can smash through stone pillars, overpower enemies, and crack crystals. I needed to be careful not to zoom off the edges of flat planets, but on spherical worlds I was able to steamroll all over the place. The level ended with Mario spinning around the surface of a giant cage trying to defeat a rolling armadillo-like boss whose only weakness was his fleshy blue posterior, which became visible for brief moments between his tumbling attacks.
The last level I worked through was one in which Mario gets to ride his green-skinned pal Yoshi, who was absent from the first game. It didn't feel like it was set on a planet, but instead inside a haunted house. The catch was that the haunted house was invisible. At the start, the environment is simply the yawning void of space. To see the floors and walls, Yoshi needed to eat bulb berries, which lit up the floors and walls around him for a few seconds and made them corporeal, so he could walk safely. At least until the light shrank away, at which point I needed to find another bulb berry tout de suite or risk getting spaced. It was easily the most difficult-and perhaps the most satisfying-of the levels I tried; I didn't succeed until I was on my final life.
I could go on about the polished graphics, pleasantly familiar music, intuitive mechanics, and more, but perhaps the best way to summarize my preview experience is like this: After the Nintendo rep I was with spent a few minutes telling me about the game and put the controllers in my hands it was like he had just set my favourite pizza on a table in front of me; I felt compelled to dive in.
I'm pretty sure Nintendo's got another winner here.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 arrives on May 23rd. I'll have a full review then.
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