Super Mario Galaxy 2

SCORE: 86

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is one of the biggest releases for the video game industry. Families that enjoyed Super Mario Galaxy will naturally take an interest in Super Mario Galaxy 2. Let me start off by telling all ya’ll that this sequel is more difficult than the first. Nintendo put a lot more Mario content into this game, and much of it is harder than the original. Yoshi headlines the additions to this Wii game. There are some different new power ups. These include Cloud Mario, where you are light enough to stand on clouds, and create three clouds. Rock Mario allows players to roll into a rock ball and smash things. Rock Mario is as lame as it sounds, and reminds me of a certain Goron mask in some Zelda games. Hammer Brothers and Boomerang Brothers will bring some variety to the enemies. Enemies like the Pumpkin Goombas are as lame as they sound.

There are a lot of universal colors used in Super Mario Galaxy 2. The whole space theme continues. Various levels have differing themes. I was a little disappointed to see each world did not have one theme. The levels are all over the place in terms of themes. Some form of grouping would have been better in my opinion. The camera is not always your friend in Super Mario Galaxy 2. On numerous occasions we died or wound up confused because of the camera. This happens most often when going from one side of a planet to the other. There are less planets that you can do this on, which led to even more deaths.

The music is classic Mario with some new flavors. The lack of voice acting is starting to show in this series. Mario needs more of a voice, as does other characters in this franchise. There are rare instances of some voices and those are done very well. Expect to hear the death cry as Mario bites it in this game many times. Bowser has a good voice, although I was never sure what his master plan actually was.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 excels in unlockable content. Hardcore gamers will be all over finding every single star. There is an assistant in case you can not get through a level and die so many times in a row. This helps more family members see additional content in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

The level design in Super Mario Galaxy 2 is phenomenal. I marveled at many of the levels. With that said some levels were insanely long and others were really short. Some levels (editor: like the prank comets) are insanely difficult. I had some fun with Super Mario Galaxy 2, but not nearly as much as I thought I would.

Players get to turn into ghost Mario in certain levels, as well as go through haunted levels. Mario is out there trying to save the galaxy from Bowser. I would like sequels to Super Mario Galaxy 2, especially if the difficulty level is not tweaked up again.
- Paul

Graphics: 80%
Sound: 88%
Replay/Extras: 94%
Gameplay: 87%
Family Friendly Factor: 81%
System: Wii
Publisher: Nintendo
Rating: 'E' for Everyone
{Mild Cartoon Violence}

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