Ending B

Welcome to another installment of "So I've Been Playing" (or SIBP for short). Today, we're going to be looking at Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Nintendo Wii.

I wonder if Mario will ever learn to speak like a human being?

So, did I like it? Love it? Hate it? Well... to be honest...

... I'm having some mixed feelings. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a solid game with interesting gameplay, soundtrack, controls, and challenges. So what's the problem? So did Super Mario Galaxy. I don't know, but sometimes SMG2 feels like more of an expansion pack than an actual sequel. Most of the games mechanics seem identical.

I'd prefer to travel on the Enterprise as opposed to the Starship Mario, but that might just be me.

The story itself is really unremarkable. Mario goes to see Princess Peach, she's abducted by Bowser, Mario goes to save her, blah blah blah we've heard this before. The strange thing is that the events from the first game seem to be almost forgotten. That, or they never happened. I love playing a sequel game to only find out that everything that I did in the first game was pointless [/sarcasm].

A Yoshi that glows... okay, that's new.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 has two saving graces, and believe me, they are big ones. First, Yoshi is now obtainable as a companion in several levels. Even better, if Yoshi eats special fruits, he gains many different abilities and colors. Eating a pepper will turn Yoshi red allow his to run fast, a blue fruit turns Yoshi sky blue and allows him to float, and the golden fruit turns Yoshi yellow and he glows to reveal hidden floors and walls. All affects are temporary, but fun. Yoshi's controls are also solid.

The second grace is the ability to randomly play the real game from time to time. For those who don't understand what that means, it's an inside joke in my circle of friends that means "playing as Luigi in a Mario game." SMG2 gives the player the opportunity to play as Luigi in random levels (Luigi is at the level's start. Talk to him to play as him). It's just a fun little option.

So what does this mean? Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a great game that is technically sound, but the overall product almost seems (I really hate to use this word) lazy. I love Mario games, but they can only give me the same game so many times before I start to write them off. Say what you want about Super Mario Sunshine, but it did try to do something different than its predecessors (Princess Peach doesn't get kidnapped until later in the game).

Despite the overall tone I may've given, I really do recommend anyone with a Wii to pick up this game. The concerns that it gives me are more so for the future of the series than the game itself.