The perfect Galaxy...

Around two years ago I had the pleasure of playing a platform game that most probably had the greatest level designs ever seen in a 3D platformer. Miyamoto-san and his cohorts at Nintendo had brought their A game the party and delivered an incredible experience on the Wii with Super Mario Galaxy. Almost every level had amazing creativity, full of little touches which made me stop and be mesmerised and thought to myself that the level designs of Super Mario Galaxy cannot to be beat.



Lo and Behold in 2010 Miyamoto-san has pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and brought us Super Mario Galaxy 2 and incredibly has level design which trumps the original. I shake my head in disbelieve as I write this statement: that the amount of creativity oozing from this game is staggering and miraculously the game manages to drawfs its predecessor. In the game industry its a common sight to see sequels of games upping the ante, but how do you react when a perfect game gets perfected in its sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2 is that awesome!!!

I once wrote a review for original game where I mentioned that I never liked any of the 2D Mario games, but the Galaxy series has made me a fan of Mario (albeit not of the tradition 2D ones). The polish in every department of the game, the challenge of each and every level, some totally amazing set pieces of platforming and creative bosses makes everything about game sparkle. I will even go on and say that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the greatest 3D platformer even made. Don't worry I have played many awesome 3D platformers in my time; games like the Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank games, but this game kinda beats them by a country mile!

I heard a rumour some where that many of the levels present in the game were actual rejects from the previous game. If this is true then one can only wonder what sort of talent presides in the development arm of Nintendo. Take the following as an example; by just adding the cute dinosaur Yoshi, the game design opened up in awesome new ways which makes his levels quite a treat. Another addition was the streamline nature of Mario progress. Gone are the hub world of previous 3D Mario games, and replaced by the typical level selection menu: old school style. Sure many of the basic themes of levels have made it on the to Galaxy 2 from the original, but some how they have been made more intricate and complex, yet still retaining the typical Nintendo charm. Its stuff like that which made me take notice of the game and also made me think about the awesome development which made this game. Kudos to them!

Last week was a Mario rush for me as Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the only game I was playing, so much so that I even had dreams of the game for crying out loud!. The sad part is playing the game made me think of how less attention the 3D platformer genre gets nowadays as Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the very rare platform game in the HD generation

The only complaint that I have against Galaxy 2 is the abject storyline, to be precise the typical cannon fodder that has been seen time and again in previous Mario games. To many gamers this isn't much of a complaint as this is what we expect from a Mario game, but if you take a look at the Mario RPG games then you being to wonder why don't the main Mario games have such charming story lines. Take any iterations of the Paper Mario series of the Mario and Luigi series. These games have funny and genuinely charming storyline and also dispel the the notion that Mario games cannot have a proper plot. If only the plots of next Galaxy games are given attention then you will have the most perfect platform game.



So Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best Wii game to date. There are no if and buts from me as the amount of fun I had playing this game was immense. I now eagerly anticipate the next inevitable Mario game and can't wait for what Shigeru Miyamoto has in store for us.