Super mario galaxy 2.

[RaiDae]

Princess Peach invites Mario for some cake at her castle. But oh no… giant-monster-Bowser kidnaps her! …such an original plot. Who could’ve guessed that that would happen… again.
You play as Mario, journeying to rescue the damsel in distress. Yoshi, a herd of different coloured stars (lumas), a few toads, a faceship and a master luma living under your hat are there to help you on your way.

As in super Mario 64, this is a platforming game where you collect stars by completing missions or finding “hidden” stars. You need a certain amount to move onto a new galaxy and a “grand star” to move onto a new world. Yes… apparently there are 7 galaxies in every world… and each of these are within super Mario galaxy 2… obviously super Mario doesn’t conform to the laws of astrophysics. In fact… I don’t think the game pays any attention to the laws of physics – especially gravity. Each of the “galaxies” can contain several big or small planets. Some of the very small planets have a gravitational field strength large enough to let Mario run around it’s circumference, whereas some of the larger planets have a field so weak, that if Mario falls off he continues falling and dies. There’s also a surprising number of black holes and the fact that Mario can breathe in outer space. …but this is a kids game. I know it’s not meant to be realistic… but damn! It really gets to me. As well as collecting stars, you collect coins (get a coin, replenish your health) and “star bits”. 100 coins = 1 up (1 life). Star bits can be fired at things or fed to hungry lumas (fat, pink stars) who “TRANSFOOOOOORM” into a new galaxy. Go figure.

I almost forget, you travel around in space using a space ship… in the shape of Marios’ head. AKA a faceship. Hilarious… no?

So, onto the actual gameplay. I’ll start with single player without any powerups. The controls are easy to master, simple and straightforward (three ways of saying the same thing). The interesting bit I found, is that the wiimote can point at star bits and pick them up, even if you’re no way near them. You can also point and press b to fire these star bits. Fire one at an enemy and you hurt it. For some enemies all you have to do is jump on them to kill ‘em, for others you’ve got to spin. Killing bad guys will be rewarded with the spontaneous appearance of a coin or a couple of star bits. Nothing too strenuous there.
Along the way you’ll find power-ups or tools. Some turn you into a boulder that flattens everything in your path (especially fences. Which means if you go in that direction again you fall off and die… oh the joys), others will let you shoot fireballs, make clouds that are dense enough to support your weight or turn you into a bumblebee (which was lovely… considering as how I have a phobia of bees. But I struggled through).

Someone looks stoned

When you find yoshi he actually talks! I never knew he had the ability to say something other than his trademark sound, but there ya go. He tells you to team up with him and ride on his back. Using yoshi uses the same controls as normal, only you can now eat things and poo out star bits. You can also use his remarkable tongue to pull open giant shelves (with convenient handle) and to grab onto floating flowers to get to higher places. He can kinda sort of fly… but not too high or for too long. Yoshi also eats special berries or chillis. The berries can give him ultra gas (so he floats) or make him glow yellow and illuminate the way. The chilli makes him super speedy – for a short period of time.
And for all you popular people out there, this is a two player game. The second player gets to play as a yellowy-orange luma!!! Yaaay. They don’t control where the screen moves or what happens. And if Mario dies, they die. Player 2 is pretty much just an accessory. They can fire star bits, pick up coins n star bits and rush an enemy. Rushing an enemy will kill it, stun it or make it fall over and sing twinkle-twinkle little star. (I kid) It can be boring and frustrating to play as player 2 sometimes, other times it’s quite fun. But if p2 wandered away… well… it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

The levels are whacky. It’s nice to see some completely random and fun challenges. Each level can vary immensely on lay-out and style but after a while things start to get a bit… meh. Yeah, the level could be really interesting and new, but there’s not much of a challenge. You know how to complete each level using past experiences and it loses some of its appeal. It’s the sort of game I like to play with a friend, so you can laugh and joke about it. Otherwise, I find myself getting a bit bored. It’s much more suited for younger kids, able to entertain and challenge them more than it does for us old blighters.

It’s on the wii, so no. the graphics are not awesome. But, they’re pretty good for the wii. Because it’s in a cartoon style and the colours are vibrant and bright, the graphics are nice n shiny. Well, not shiny…but ya know what I mean; there’s not much too complain about.

Well, I’m not gonna miss this when I hand it back. Sure it was fun… for a time. But in no way did it live up to my expectations. Which was kinda upsetting. I much prefer super Mario brothers, which is really good as a party game.
Would I recommend it? If you loved super Mario n64, I would say yes. But super Mario galaxy 2 a lot easier than it.

Thanks for reading my first review. Please feel free to ask any questions on the game, give some constructive criticism or things of this general nature.  And if you feel I’ve made things to confusing or anything, I do apologise. I can edit to make it better… probably.
Cheers,
Rai.