Super Mario Galaxy 2 Review

July 1, 2022

Super Mario Galaxy 2, yet another Wii-exclusive by Nintendo, expands the trend set by its predecessor, Super Mario Galaxy, which was received with great praise from the gaming community when it came out several years ago. Back then, Nintendo stated that SMG is more or less a “test bed” for this type of gameplay, and if the responses the title received are to be of any indication, we'd say the experiment was very successful.

Gameplay

A large portion of the gameplay from the previous title remains, while you'll also find plenty of additions to keep your interest high at all times. You'll once again find yourself exploring planets in a completely 3D environment, though this time they've been noticeably reduced in size – which allows you to traverse between separate planets more frequently. Some parts of the game will return you to the style of the classic Super Mario titles, shifting the game to a 2D perspective for a brief period of time while you get to the end of the level.

Yoshi, your trusted dinosaur companion, returns as well, and he's packed with some new and fresh abilities, such as using his tongue as a swinging rope, inflating himself, as well as some skills returning from previous games like the ability to swallow your enemies. On a larger scale, you'll use a map system for moving around the game's world, and those of you who've played the more recent Super Mario titles will probably find it familiar to the ones used in, for example, Super Mario Bros Wii. Much like in SMBW too, you can make use of a “helper” feature which shows you the way for completing a level if you find yourself stuck on it for too long.

Graphics and System Requirements

Even though the Wii is widely known for its limited hardware capabilities, this sure didn't stop the developers of SMG2 from creating intricate and appealing worlds, with lots of colorful elements and nicely-blending environments. Each planet will offer you a unique visual experience, and you'll be able to easily recognize where you're currently located in the game's world by using your environment as a navigation. Of course, some of the Wii's limitations still manage to come through despite all the developers' efforts, as for example the game is quite lacking in its lighting effects in some areas.

Being a Wii-exclusive title, you should expect top notch performance from SMG2 – and anyway, even if it wasn't developed for the Wii only, it's still not a game you'd expect to drag your machine down, looking at its visuals.

Other

Special attention has been paid to the game's music, which is a very well-written and performed orchestral score, which captivates the feeling of all the levels perfectly. We were especially impressed by the actual variety of the tracks, as the game offers a huge amount of music to play as you're going through its levels.

Conclusion

Even if you haven't played a Super Mario game before (which would be quite odd, really), you should still find yourself immediately interested in SMG2 as soon as you've seen just a little of its gameplay – because this game is obviously made with quality in mind.