This isn't going to be much of a comparison between them since both are fantastic enough games to warrant a purchase, but because at least one person here wanted a decent review of each of these games, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and review them both in the same topic.
Super Mario Galaxy; A Magical Adventure With Plenty of Uniqueness and Charm
Super Mario Galaxy is an amazing game. It's epic, it's over the top and it does so much right that you literally won't put the game down until its 100% complete. You can even say it's the video game equivalent of an 'epic movie', the Mario equal to classics like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments, the kind of 4 hour blockbuster that wows you in every aspect.
Graphically, Super Mario Galaxy looks great, to about the same level as its successor reviewed below. However, I'd say the game looks fantastic in a very different way, and the levels that look better in the first game are arguably the ones which really emphasise the whole 'space' theme. Like the Good Egg Galaxy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OViCCavPOkc
Or the Dreadnought Galaxy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyE9Tl4qTNE
Or best of all, the Melty Molten Galaxy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyLdGUWIwhg
Indeed, if I had to say just one thing Galaxy 1 did better, it was the epic space quest theme of the game, and the levels that emphasise the theme most look fantastic. None the less, all the game looks great, just as all th sequel does.
Music wise, Super Mario Galaxy 1 is about as good as the sequel. Really, it's so difficult to say one is objectively better than the other due to how top notch both their soundtracks are. In this game, some of the great songs include Gusty Garden Galaxy, Dreadnought/Battlerock Galaxy, Buoy Base and Bowser's Galaxy Reactor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEIWhy-urqM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhmHovdBxY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29bt-wjS88
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVZTMPLqNw
However, what I do love about the music in this one is how well it all fits the game's general tone/mood. Each and every track is meant to take your breath away and make the game feel like a real adventure. And as cool as Galaxy 2's music is, some of it kind of goes against that mood (like the awesome but still somewhat country style Puzzle Plank music)
I might as well add another criteria here actually, and that's atmosphere. Super Mario Galaxy absolutely nails this element hands down. Everything in this game just fits togethr so nicely and makes the experience feel so magical that really, it brings you back to the days when you first bought Mario 64 and were blown away by the huge worlds and new experience of it all. Is there really anyone on the planet who, the very minute they stepped out into the Good Egg Galaxy, didn't just go 'wow' at how the game felt? I know I pretty much fell in love with the game the minute I first played it.
And while I'm not a fan of Rosalina's storybook or her as a character, I do definitely feel like things like the Comet Observatory really improved the feel of the game. Or that seeing stuff like this (the scene prior to Bowser's Galaxy Reactor) just made the game feel so special for the first time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCbdbV7rgWA
Gameplay wise, Super Mario Galaxy is brilliant. The game mechanics and whole gravity theme work near perfectly and do exactly what you'd expect them to. The levels are all fun to play, the power ups generally work really well (my favourites in this one include Ice Mario and the unfortunately scrapped from the second game flying Mario) and the boss battles, while not as good as the original, work great.
There are also a lot of clever ideas here. Like the Freezeflame Galaxy and how it merges both ice and fire themes into just one level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWAgSQ478pE
That's some right creativity there Nintendo!
Others I recall being awesome are all the space station levels, the Space Junk Galaxy's auto bridge building sections and the Toy Time Galaxy, which I don't think really had a successor in Galaxy 2. Shame, the 'Mario exploring a world themed on toys' thing is awesome in any game it appears in.
Length wise it's much the same as any other 3D Mario game. Still, it did have a 'finale' level of sorts, and was the first 3D game to have Luigi as a second playable character.
However, the game isn't perfect. For one thing, it's definitely a game which 'gets better' as it goes along, and I have to admit some of the earliest levels are quite as good as the later ones. Fact is, Melty Molten, Dreadnought and Toy Time Galaxies are some of the last you ever explore, which is kind of disappointing. Similarly, I'd say quality is kind of patchy throughout, there seems to be a 50/50 split between great galaxies and kind of disappointing ones. See, the Beach Bowl and Sea Slide Galaxy, or the Gold Leaf Galaxy.
Additionally, not all the gimmicks work. Manta Ray Surfing, Ball Rolling and Bubble blowing are interesting ideas, but the controls just don't seem to do what you want a lot of the time and it seems everyone will at least hate one of them. The fact you're practically forced to beat at least one level involving them to progress doesn't help either...
And some of the side galaxies were rather underwhelming simply because they only got given one fairly short/easy to get star each. As a result, it felt a lot of neat ideas were a bit wasted, stuff like the Drip Drop, Snowcap and Bigmouth Galaxies could have been expanded and made into interesting levels, but since they were just side areas, they ended up being empty, somewhat dull areas without anything clever about them. Still, Kingfin was a good bonus boss, even if he really did end up having very little in the way of a reason to be there.
Oh, and the Grand Finale Galaxy kind of sucks.
Never the less, Super Mario Galaxy is a great game. Its consistute parts are arguably worse than the stuff found in Mario Galaxy 2, but the overall experience of this game is much better, and it's still one of the best Mario games ever made. If you don't own it for whatever stupid reason, you should definitely go out and buy it this very minute.
Super Mario Galaxy 2: Functionally Superior, Lacks Something
As far as gameplay and mechanics go, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is an even better sequel to the original. The graphics and music are better, the level design is often better, the boss battles are much better and everything is just miles ahead... on a purely functional level. Unfortunately, something seems to have gone amiss in the development of this game, almost as if the charm and atmosphere has been completely discarded to make the thing stick extremely close to Miyamoto's 'gameplay first, everything else is meaningless' philosophy.
Problem is, gameplay alone wasn't the sole reason everyone liked the original Super Mario Galaxy, they also sort of liked the attempts at story, the way the game tried to keep a more serious/epic tone and the space feel, and that seems to have been lost in comparison to its predecessor. Gone is the mystical void of space, in its place a vibrant blue sky in every single level (this was supposedly because Miyamoto and co thought the blue sky in the original Super Mario Bros was one of the key things that made the game so interesting, and thought the original Galaxy didn't sell as well as Mario 64 did due the space feel). Gone is Rosalina and the storybook, replaced by... well, Lubba. And the story has been toned back down to the way its presented in the likes of New Super Mario Bros; Bowser kidnaps Peach, wants to rule everything, likes cake.
Graphics wise the game looks excellent as always, and technically even better than the original game. Some key examples of how great the thing looks are the amazing sunset at the end of the Slimy Spring Galaxy, the calm and soothing Cosmic Cove Galaxy and the brilliantly put together final level of Bowser's Galaxy Generator.
However, there does seem to be something missing in this one, and that's the well, 'galaxy' feel of the thing. In the first game, it seemed like most of the levels were set in galaxies/solar systems with different planets to jump between, a starry sky permanently overhead/around you and a generally adventurous feel. See, the Good Egg Galaxy from the original:
In this game though, most of the levels seem to be... well, happy go lucky Mario style obstacles courses in the Super Mario 3D Land sense. That's not bad by any means, but you have to admit there's slightly less of a sense of wonder when you first step out into the Sky Station or Yoshi Star Galaxy compared to what it was like when you first flew through the Good Egg Galaxy.
Music wise, the game is excellent and at least as good as the first game. I'll say it once and only once, you have no soul at all if you don't think the final boss music is fantastic:
Same with the Bowser's Road remix, which is arguably the best remix of the theme in history:
No seriously, OC Remix, eat your heart out! I've always long preferred the official one from Galaxy 2 to the quite uninspired fan made remix 'alternate route'. Feels just more epic and less like some of kind of hipster friendly techno theme.
But don't be fooled into thinking this is the extent of the great music found in Galaxy 2. Many unfairly seem to ignore some of the music outside the Bowser level themes/boss themes, but there are some excellent other pieces to hear in the rest of the game. For example, the music for 'time attacks' is just so perfect for the times you hear it, and really gets you feeling the intensity of the situation:
Another is the theme for the Space Storm and Boo Moon Galaxies, which sounds like something you'd hear in a sci fi movie, and all the better for it.
Gameplay is great, although still a bit of a mixed bag. The levels are a lot more linear this time around and hence each area has a lot less stars to find in them. On the bright side, this usually means the good levels have about three times the amount of interesting content/innovations found in a standard Mario 64/Sunshine/Galaxy level. The best of the game's levels, like the Haunty Halls first level:
Or the Puzzle Plank Galaxy's first level:
are amazing.
Indeed, that's the greatest benefit of this game's long, somewhat linear levels, they end up being a lot more interesting to repeatedly play through than the short missions of Super Mario 64 or Sunshine. Unfortunately, there some problems with mission design.
The first one is more a matter of tastes/personal preferences, the older people in the Mario fanbase (and the Nintendo 64/Gamecube generations) might end up missing the open plan level designs of Super Mario 64 and Sunshine. I mean, for all the criticisms that 'collectathons' get, they're still fun to play for the joy of running around and exploring the world, and there are quite a few people who arguably prefer this kind of gameplay to the more linear style. Remember, many of us grew up with Mario and Banjo, not Sonic and Crash Bandicoot.
The other problem and the more important one is that there's often a lack of content in general. For each galaxy, it seems you'll get one absolutely amazing first mission that introduces a ton of clever ideas, but then two or three which seems like they were just thrown together in a few minutes. This isn't exclusive to Galaxy 2 (we all know Mario 64 and Sunshine had problems with poorly designed extra levels, like the former's 'Secret Aquarium'), but in this game it feels disappointingly like Nintendo got lazy or run of content halfway through.
But there is a lot of good stuff in this game to be fair. There are a ton of power ups to use, all of which are used well and improve the levels they're used in (even the Spring form is slightly more tolerable this time around, perhaps because it's a bit rarer). The rock, drill and cloud Mario forms are best though, they're just used so well and feel fun to use. Oh, and you get some pretty neat boss battles using them too, like the mini Megaleg like robot in the Spin Dig Galaxy:
Pity the person playing is terrible at it...
It's also nice how this game adds in all the level ideas and archtypes missing from the original. There's actually a well designed ice/snow level in the game this time around (not like the crappy 'Snow Cap Galaxy' level from the original game), and there's also an excellent level where you have to dodge giant enemies in a manner similar to world 4 of Super Mario Bros 3 and Tiny Huge Island from Super Mario Galaxy.
Also, the bosses are excellent. Gobblegut, Megahammer, Giant Bowser and the Boomsday Machine are fantastic boss battles, and by far improve on most of the mediocre ones from the first game (really, only Megaleg really competes with the Bowser level bosses from Galaxy 2). Look at them:
The bosses really do feel like quite a step up from those in the original. Indeed, to some almost funny degree, it almost seems like the Galaxy games have probably included more difficult 'bosses' than quite a few recent Zelda games...
Length and replay value wise, the game is excellent as well. The first game has 121 stars, and you have to beat the same missions twice to reach the finale. Boring. This game has 242 stars... and they're mostly different from one another. This means this game will keep you playing for a long, long time if you plan to beat it 100%... Oh and the Grandmaster Galaxy is actually a difficult, entertaining level, unlike the Grand Finale Galaxy from the original.
However, there's still a few problems. The Green Stars for example may have been better than making you play the whole game twice, but they still felt boring compared to the normal missions. Indeed, about half of them seem to literally have been thrown into whatever random places the designers saw on their trips through the levels, and as a result are often either right next to the actual star or in plain sight and really easy to get. Those that aren't are just poorly designed/placed, like this infamous example:
The game also feels like generally the soul of the game just isn't often there any more. Each individual element may be great, but it seems like they're not being tied together in an interesting way. And to go back to a basic Mario story after the last two games does feel a bit of a step back. Hard to explain, but it feels like the core 'space adventure' theme isn't as strong in this one.
Still, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a fantastic game, and is definitely worth buying if you don't have it already (if you don't, what the hell is wrong with you?)
Super Mario Galaxy; A Magical Adventure With Plenty of Uniqueness and Charm
Super Mario Galaxy is an amazing game. It's epic, it's over the top and it does so much right that you literally won't put the game down until its 100% complete. You can even say it's the video game equivalent of an 'epic movie', the Mario equal to classics like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments, the kind of 4 hour blockbuster that wows you in every aspect.
Graphically, Super Mario Galaxy looks great, to about the same level as its successor reviewed below. However, I'd say the game looks fantastic in a very different way, and the levels that look better in the first game are arguably the ones which really emphasise the whole 'space' theme. Like the Good Egg Galaxy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OViCCavPOkc
Or the Dreadnought Galaxy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyE9Tl4qTNE
Or best of all, the Melty Molten Galaxy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyLdGUWIwhg
Indeed, if I had to say just one thing Galaxy 1 did better, it was the epic space quest theme of the game, and the levels that emphasise the theme most look fantastic. None the less, all the game looks great, just as all th sequel does.
Music wise, Super Mario Galaxy 1 is about as good as the sequel. Really, it's so difficult to say one is objectively better than the other due to how top notch both their soundtracks are. In this game, some of the great songs include Gusty Garden Galaxy, Dreadnought/Battlerock Galaxy, Buoy Base and Bowser's Galaxy Reactor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEIWhy-urqM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhmHovdBxY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29bt-wjS88
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVZTMPLqNw
However, what I do love about the music in this one is how well it all fits the game's general tone/mood. Each and every track is meant to take your breath away and make the game feel like a real adventure. And as cool as Galaxy 2's music is, some of it kind of goes against that mood (like the awesome but still somewhat country style Puzzle Plank music)
I might as well add another criteria here actually, and that's atmosphere. Super Mario Galaxy absolutely nails this element hands down. Everything in this game just fits togethr so nicely and makes the experience feel so magical that really, it brings you back to the days when you first bought Mario 64 and were blown away by the huge worlds and new experience of it all. Is there really anyone on the planet who, the very minute they stepped out into the Good Egg Galaxy, didn't just go 'wow' at how the game felt? I know I pretty much fell in love with the game the minute I first played it.
And while I'm not a fan of Rosalina's storybook or her as a character, I do definitely feel like things like the Comet Observatory really improved the feel of the game. Or that seeing stuff like this (the scene prior to Bowser's Galaxy Reactor) just made the game feel so special for the first time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCbdbV7rgWA
Gameplay wise, Super Mario Galaxy is brilliant. The game mechanics and whole gravity theme work near perfectly and do exactly what you'd expect them to. The levels are all fun to play, the power ups generally work really well (my favourites in this one include Ice Mario and the unfortunately scrapped from the second game flying Mario) and the boss battles, while not as good as the original, work great.
There are also a lot of clever ideas here. Like the Freezeflame Galaxy and how it merges both ice and fire themes into just one level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWAgSQ478pE
That's some right creativity there Nintendo!
Others I recall being awesome are all the space station levels, the Space Junk Galaxy's auto bridge building sections and the Toy Time Galaxy, which I don't think really had a successor in Galaxy 2. Shame, the 'Mario exploring a world themed on toys' thing is awesome in any game it appears in.
Length wise it's much the same as any other 3D Mario game. Still, it did have a 'finale' level of sorts, and was the first 3D game to have Luigi as a second playable character.
However, the game isn't perfect. For one thing, it's definitely a game which 'gets better' as it goes along, and I have to admit some of the earliest levels are quite as good as the later ones. Fact is, Melty Molten, Dreadnought and Toy Time Galaxies are some of the last you ever explore, which is kind of disappointing. Similarly, I'd say quality is kind of patchy throughout, there seems to be a 50/50 split between great galaxies and kind of disappointing ones. See, the Beach Bowl and Sea Slide Galaxy, or the Gold Leaf Galaxy.
Additionally, not all the gimmicks work. Manta Ray Surfing, Ball Rolling and Bubble blowing are interesting ideas, but the controls just don't seem to do what you want a lot of the time and it seems everyone will at least hate one of them. The fact you're practically forced to beat at least one level involving them to progress doesn't help either...
And some of the side galaxies were rather underwhelming simply because they only got given one fairly short/easy to get star each. As a result, it felt a lot of neat ideas were a bit wasted, stuff like the Drip Drop, Snowcap and Bigmouth Galaxies could have been expanded and made into interesting levels, but since they were just side areas, they ended up being empty, somewhat dull areas without anything clever about them. Still, Kingfin was a good bonus boss, even if he really did end up having very little in the way of a reason to be there.
Oh, and the Grand Finale Galaxy kind of sucks.
Never the less, Super Mario Galaxy is a great game. Its consistute parts are arguably worse than the stuff found in Mario Galaxy 2, but the overall experience of this game is much better, and it's still one of the best Mario games ever made. If you don't own it for whatever stupid reason, you should definitely go out and buy it this very minute.
Super Mario Galaxy 2: Functionally Superior, Lacks Something
As far as gameplay and mechanics go, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is an even better sequel to the original. The graphics and music are better, the level design is often better, the boss battles are much better and everything is just miles ahead... on a purely functional level. Unfortunately, something seems to have gone amiss in the development of this game, almost as if the charm and atmosphere has been completely discarded to make the thing stick extremely close to Miyamoto's 'gameplay first, everything else is meaningless' philosophy.
Problem is, gameplay alone wasn't the sole reason everyone liked the original Super Mario Galaxy, they also sort of liked the attempts at story, the way the game tried to keep a more serious/epic tone and the space feel, and that seems to have been lost in comparison to its predecessor. Gone is the mystical void of space, in its place a vibrant blue sky in every single level (this was supposedly because Miyamoto and co thought the blue sky in the original Super Mario Bros was one of the key things that made the game so interesting, and thought the original Galaxy didn't sell as well as Mario 64 did due the space feel). Gone is Rosalina and the storybook, replaced by... well, Lubba. And the story has been toned back down to the way its presented in the likes of New Super Mario Bros; Bowser kidnaps Peach, wants to rule everything, likes cake.
Graphics wise the game looks excellent as always, and technically even better than the original game. Some key examples of how great the thing looks are the amazing sunset at the end of the Slimy Spring Galaxy, the calm and soothing Cosmic Cove Galaxy and the brilliantly put together final level of Bowser's Galaxy Generator.
However, there does seem to be something missing in this one, and that's the well, 'galaxy' feel of the thing. In the first game, it seemed like most of the levels were set in galaxies/solar systems with different planets to jump between, a starry sky permanently overhead/around you and a generally adventurous feel. See, the Good Egg Galaxy from the original:
In this game though, most of the levels seem to be... well, happy go lucky Mario style obstacles courses in the Super Mario 3D Land sense. That's not bad by any means, but you have to admit there's slightly less of a sense of wonder when you first step out into the Sky Station or Yoshi Star Galaxy compared to what it was like when you first flew through the Good Egg Galaxy.
Music wise, the game is excellent and at least as good as the first game. I'll say it once and only once, you have no soul at all if you don't think the final boss music is fantastic:
Same with the Bowser's Road remix, which is arguably the best remix of the theme in history:
No seriously, OC Remix, eat your heart out! I've always long preferred the official one from Galaxy 2 to the quite uninspired fan made remix 'alternate route'. Feels just more epic and less like some of kind of hipster friendly techno theme.
But don't be fooled into thinking this is the extent of the great music found in Galaxy 2. Many unfairly seem to ignore some of the music outside the Bowser level themes/boss themes, but there are some excellent other pieces to hear in the rest of the game. For example, the music for 'time attacks' is just so perfect for the times you hear it, and really gets you feeling the intensity of the situation:
Another is the theme for the Space Storm and Boo Moon Galaxies, which sounds like something you'd hear in a sci fi movie, and all the better for it.
Gameplay is great, although still a bit of a mixed bag. The levels are a lot more linear this time around and hence each area has a lot less stars to find in them. On the bright side, this usually means the good levels have about three times the amount of interesting content/innovations found in a standard Mario 64/Sunshine/Galaxy level. The best of the game's levels, like the Haunty Halls first level:
Or the Puzzle Plank Galaxy's first level:
are amazing.
Indeed, that's the greatest benefit of this game's long, somewhat linear levels, they end up being a lot more interesting to repeatedly play through than the short missions of Super Mario 64 or Sunshine. Unfortunately, there some problems with mission design.
The first one is more a matter of tastes/personal preferences, the older people in the Mario fanbase (and the Nintendo 64/Gamecube generations) might end up missing the open plan level designs of Super Mario 64 and Sunshine. I mean, for all the criticisms that 'collectathons' get, they're still fun to play for the joy of running around and exploring the world, and there are quite a few people who arguably prefer this kind of gameplay to the more linear style. Remember, many of us grew up with Mario and Banjo, not Sonic and Crash Bandicoot.
The other problem and the more important one is that there's often a lack of content in general. For each galaxy, it seems you'll get one absolutely amazing first mission that introduces a ton of clever ideas, but then two or three which seems like they were just thrown together in a few minutes. This isn't exclusive to Galaxy 2 (we all know Mario 64 and Sunshine had problems with poorly designed extra levels, like the former's 'Secret Aquarium'), but in this game it feels disappointingly like Nintendo got lazy or run of content halfway through.
But there is a lot of good stuff in this game to be fair. There are a ton of power ups to use, all of which are used well and improve the levels they're used in (even the Spring form is slightly more tolerable this time around, perhaps because it's a bit rarer). The rock, drill and cloud Mario forms are best though, they're just used so well and feel fun to use. Oh, and you get some pretty neat boss battles using them too, like the mini Megaleg like robot in the Spin Dig Galaxy:
Pity the person playing is terrible at it...
It's also nice how this game adds in all the level ideas and archtypes missing from the original. There's actually a well designed ice/snow level in the game this time around (not like the crappy 'Snow Cap Galaxy' level from the original game), and there's also an excellent level where you have to dodge giant enemies in a manner similar to world 4 of Super Mario Bros 3 and Tiny Huge Island from Super Mario Galaxy.
Also, the bosses are excellent. Gobblegut, Megahammer, Giant Bowser and the Boomsday Machine are fantastic boss battles, and by far improve on most of the mediocre ones from the first game (really, only Megaleg really competes with the Bowser level bosses from Galaxy 2). Look at them:
The bosses really do feel like quite a step up from those in the original. Indeed, to some almost funny degree, it almost seems like the Galaxy games have probably included more difficult 'bosses' than quite a few recent Zelda games...
Length and replay value wise, the game is excellent as well. The first game has 121 stars, and you have to beat the same missions twice to reach the finale. Boring. This game has 242 stars... and they're mostly different from one another. This means this game will keep you playing for a long, long time if you plan to beat it 100%... Oh and the Grandmaster Galaxy is actually a difficult, entertaining level, unlike the Grand Finale Galaxy from the original.
However, there's still a few problems. The Green Stars for example may have been better than making you play the whole game twice, but they still felt boring compared to the normal missions. Indeed, about half of them seem to literally have been thrown into whatever random places the designers saw on their trips through the levels, and as a result are often either right next to the actual star or in plain sight and really easy to get. Those that aren't are just poorly designed/placed, like this infamous example:
The game also feels like generally the soul of the game just isn't often there any more. Each individual element may be great, but it seems like they're not being tied together in an interesting way. And to go back to a basic Mario story after the last two games does feel a bit of a step back. Hard to explain, but it feels like the core 'space adventure' theme isn't as strong in this one.
Still, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a fantastic game, and is definitely worth buying if you don't have it already (if you don't, what the hell is wrong with you?)