WUAAAAHOOOO!
Certainly such unlimited creativity was the result of some substance intake, no? Super Mario Galaxy 2's brimming delight earnestly shows the player dozens of solid stages each designed with a unique, fully formed gameplay mechanic that exceeds the amount of fun that entire game consoles go without. There is seriously no way that this was in any way done by guys that weren't out of their minds.
Galaxy 2 is the first game where I feel like revealing gameplay mechanics would be like spoiling the plot of a good movie. What replaces cinematics and character development in Galaxy 2 is, in its most pure form, fun, engaging, and addicting gameplay that takes dazzling risks at every turn of the Wiimote. Mario hops about his 3D worlds filled with abstract geometry, looking as great as ever and finding some worlds that are so inventive and wonderful they put that same lust and love that filled my eyes when I first played Super Mario 64 in 1997. To reveal anything that isn't already in the trailers for this wonderfully mad and gleefully enjoyable game feels like a disservice to my reader.
The first Galaxy game was certainly lovely and enjoyable, filled with new inventions and ideas of its own. Galaxy 2 takes everything the first game did (as well as more than a few tricks of its own) and builds it up to its logical conclusion. For example: remember those levels where Mario was balancing on the top of a large marble ball, and you had to hold the Wiimote vertical? Those stages make a return in Galaxy 2, but they don't feel like a retread. They feel like the level that the marble levels should have been in the first place; the level that Nintendo would have made had Galaxy not been as easy as it was. It's a line of dominoes: the difficulty has raised, which allows Nintendo to demand more of the player, who can demand more of its level design. This leads to a game that as it progresses becomes more and more creative, and dare I say it, insane. But in a humorously evil scientist way, with beakers and test tubes and the like.
My younger brother plowed through the game along side me and we would watch each other as a teaser for what was to come. I watched him jump through a level filled with Boos and disappearing platforms. Monsters were eating pieces of the level, and once he found Yoshi, he had to use a light bulb fruit to reveal the hidden stage. I immediately became entranced and watched as my brother dodged dozens of enemies and reveal the way through the maze. I just wanted try what I was seeing because it was such a neat idea; so simple and novel and brilliant. I paid him back for accidentally ruining the Boo level for me by revealing the amazing boss battle that was about to come for him soon enough, which I am not cruel enough to discuss in this review.
There's no gimmicks here, no throwaway levels or useless parts. The hub level has been redesigned and the progression proceeds on an over world, much like Super Mario Bros. 3 or New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Nintendo compressed the story into minimal chunks and it has next to nothing to do with the first game. There are no pointless pieces of exposition or unskippable cutscenes, both of which plagued the first game. Additionally, none of the aforementioned inventions of any of the levels are in anyway stupid, retreads, or failures. At first glance, many of them are gimmicks - some returning from past Mario games, some not. But then Nintendo reveals the next level, and you just start grinning ear to ear. They did it again. They took an idea, taught the player how to use that idea, and then took that idea to its logical conclusion.
This does often make the game difficult. Around the 30 star mark the game spikes in difficulty, though it was not without warning or ramp up. Lives are doled out like candy, and on later stages they disappear as quickly as they arrive. But unlike many games, which are hard for the sake of being hard, nothing in Galaxy 2 feels needlessly difficult. Again, this is just Nintendo playing out an idea as long as it needs to be, and then finishing the level before moving on to the next innovation. Galaxy 2 leaves no idea unanswered, and it makes the game incredibly powerful. The difficulty just comes along for the ride.
Besides, the game makes the Wii seem about three times as powerful as it truly is. As nice as the Xbox 360's HD graphics are, few games have such a gleeful art design as this. Boss battles feel so epic and world shattering that Kratos better watch his back. The more whimsical stages feel light and fun, while the serious and hard stages manage to add sense of gravity thanks to an excellent orchestrated score. Mario bounces around so fluidly that he becomes a CGI character ripped from a Pixar movie. Barring minor camera issues, this game is the poster child for games as a purely visual art. I can attest that Galaxy 2 is fun to watch; not quite as fun as it is to play, but pretty close.
Nintendo, your selfishness disgusts me. Share your substances with the rest of the class. Goodness, if the entire gaming industry could smoke their way into creativity like this game! That's just a felony we'll have to risk. Perfection like this is far too much for only one game to keep for itself.