This is the worst Nintendo game I've ever played.
Graphics:
Good. Great, even. But graphics can only do so much. I mean, does it really matter how clear I look falling into a black hole over and over? And how detailed can black be? That's most of the background anyway, which gets really depressing and ominous, which makes this game not as fun as it could have been. It could have had PS3 graphics but it still would have sucked. So yeah, graphics don't help this game.
Sound:
Meh. There have only been a few games that have impressed me w/their sound (FFX, Pokemon Di/Pe/Pl, etc.), and this one isn't one of them. If I'd liked it more to get to a point where I would just play hours on end I probably would have just muted it and played a CD, so yeah, the sound isn't amazing or anything.
Gameplay:
Finally, the root of the many, many problems with this game. Hmm, where to start... I think I'll begin w/the most obvious problem: the lack of control in this game. It took me the entire game to get "good" at maneuvering Mario. So yeah, this game has a HUGE learning curve. One example is that Mario has to do a slow jog before he starts running, so you have to have head starts a lot if you plan to get any distance w/jumps, or want to run away from enemies in time.
Another problem is the fact that the game is merciless. If only 3 health points isn't proof enough then I don't know what is. I mean, I guess it doesn't matter as much because a lot of the time you don't even have enough time to lose those 3 health points before getting bumped off the edge into a black hole.
And then there are the "comet" stars. Whoever came up with this is obviously a heartless douchebag because they are SO annoying and NOT worth the effort you have to put into them. They come in three (four if you count the purple coin comets that come after you get a certain amount of stars) kinds; cosmic, speedy, and daredevil. Cosmic isn't that big of a deal -- all you have to do is race shadow Mario. Speedy and daredevil are the tough ones. Speedy comets time you to do a certain world, and you have NO extra time at all. Daredevil is by far the worst; you have ONE health point the entire time, and you can't get more. One hit and you're dead. And with some of the complexity of the worlds it can get pretty insane because it's just SO horribly frustrating. It took me AT LEAST 10 tries to get some daredevil stars, but it's not like it got any easier. The purple coin comets are the new "100-coin stars." They make you have to collect a certain amount of purple coins to get the star, and in some worlds it's timed. I actually got all the coins once, but it still timed me to get the star -- I had 8 seconds left and it appeared WAY away from me. I hate this game.
Another annoying thing is the lack of variety, yet the lack of continuity. Remember the large, vivid, expansive worlds of 64 and Sunshine? Well, those have been replaced with "generally themed" areas that have a central area, but then you just get thrust off to different "planets" to get different stars. It's really stupid because you can't really experience a world you liked more than once. But it wouldn't matter because there's pretty much nothing distinguishing about the worlds accept the atmosphere, which doesn't really matter. Pretty much every puzzle just uses gravity tricks, which are really predictable and boring. Sometimes you might turn into a Bee, a Boo, or Fire or Ice Mario, but only in worlds in which they would make sense. And it's pretty obvious what you have to do once you get them, which makes them pretty forgettable. It's not like in 64 where each different hat would be in all the worlds and you would have to use them differently or together to get different stars; it's just really linear, and if it weren't for the horrible controls and unforgiving nature it would be way too easy.
One last thing that annoys me to no end is how you're upside-down and on walls and crap all the time. The controls are already hard enough -- I don't want to control Mario AND make him walk forward when forward is backward and backward is forward because I'm upside down and the camera won't let me see what I'm doing. It's pretty gimmicky, really. It's pretty much the only thing that makes it unique, but uniqueness doesn't make it good. At all.
Replay:
The only way I would replay this game is w/P2; a second person can play and help you collect star bits and freeze enemies, which can really come in handy, but it wouldn't really matter in the harder worlds because enemies are the least of your problems, and you'll have enough star bits to last a life time. Otherwise I would never replay this game again in my life.
Tilt:
I hate this game. I can't see why people like it. It's unforgiving and frustrating and just maddening to play. Maybe I can sell it...
Conclusion:
Don't buy this game. Don't rent this game. Don't play it at a friend's house; if they're really your friend they won't let you. This game gets less fun as you play it, so don't be deceived by the easiness at first because it gets hard REALLY fast! I was already frustrated on the first world...