Pros: Beautiful levels
Cons: Replayability
The bottom line: Must have game but may not replay again and again.
It's hard to believe that 20 years have gone by since I first played Super Mario brothers and here I am playing yet another installment of the franchise. What's even harder to believe is that I am left wondering was the original this awesome back then? When I first considered buying Super Mario Galaxy for Nintendo Wii I was a little apprehensive of whether I could handle the disorienting gameplay that I kept reading about. I had never played Super Mario 64 so all I could compare it to was the original 2-D games and I just wasn't sure I would enjoy it. It took less than one level though for me to realize that all my worries had been for nothing. The gameplay can be disorienting but it only makes the game that much more of a challenge. The levels are works of art and the controls are intuitive. Just like the originals the game starts out relatively easy and gradually progresses to the point where each new level is a fun challenge, some harder and some easier than others. I found myself not wanting to walk away until I had beaten the game. Even after beating it I enjoyed watching my wife play and had a hard time controlling myself from snatching the controls from her to beat levels again. By the way, the fact that my wife played and enjoyed the game is a huge testament to the fun factor since she is not much of a gamer. All in all I think everyone should give it a try. I will say though that after beating it I haven't had much of an interest in picking it up again and as others have mentioned the fact that it is only a single player is a minor negative. But while I was playing it, it was all I could think of. Made me feel like I was a kid again playing the original.