Easily the best 3D Mario game yet.
First of all, on this game, it's easier to unlock more stages, unlike before. That's one thing the makes it better. That's because you won't need to go through the same stage like 5 or 6 times in a row. And not even all stages have those many stars either, so that's good. Speaking of stars, this game introduces something called star bites, which can be used for feeding different Luma creatures which turn into a planet or a galaxy.
Mario can't punch in this game, but instead, he has his spin attack, which is useful for different things, like using it to attack enemies if you need more star bites or if you need to go transfer to a different planet by a big star.
Much like Super Mario 64, you don't need every single star to beat Bowser at the very end. You only need like 60 of them. But if you manage to get every star, go to fight Bowser again. After doing that, you will be able to use Luigi! Luigi tends to be absent in quite a few main Mario games and I'm glad to see him in this. They left out Yoshi though. I would have liked being able to ride him or even play as him alone.
So, overall, this is the best Mario game in a long time and easily his best 3D game yet. Another reason that I like this better than his other 3D games is because you don't get stuck as easily on this game. I still haven't beaten Super Mario Sunshine because I keep getting stuck. So, I basically gave up on that game. My real score for this game would probably be a 9.3.