I might be putting myself out for a beating on this one, but I’m going to have to go on record and admit that I wasn’t entirely too excited about Super Mario Galaxy. Curious sure, but not excited. Considering the similar amount of hype that surrounded the dismal Mario Sunshine, could Galaxy possibly live up to the build up?

The short answer is yes with a capital YES. Hit the jump if you want the long answer.

I’ve spent 3 or 4 hours with the space-hopping plumber, and I couldn’t be having more fun. The core of the gameplay has a lot in common with Mario 64, but don’t let that fool you — Galaxy is a whole nother kind of beast. The biggest and most noticeable change is the gravity bending nature of the worlds Mario traverses. Mario is traveling through space, and thanks to the low gravity nature of the planets he’s visiting he can walk clear from one side of a planetoid to another, often revealing a second (and often essential) play area for the level.

The other obvious change worth noting is in the controls. Wii controls have been a hit or miss disaster since the system launched, and thankfully, as expected, Miyamoto & Co have taken the time to set a new standard. The controls themselves are insanely simple. Mario’s movement is controlled with the nunchuk C-Stick, butt bounces with Z, jumps with A, and attacks with a shake of the Wiimote. The second part of the controls (which can be handled by two players with seperate wiimotes in the co-op mode) uses the wiimote as a pointer to collect and shoot star bits, which can stun enemies, reveal health power ups, and feed hungry stars.

Now that the essentials are out of the way, what exactly did I like about it? In a word — everything. The level design is spot on, offering challenging puzzles and drastically varied gameplay. Before rewarding you with the star you’ve been searching for, most levels offer a solid boss fight that is completely distinct to the level in question. Example — one level has a bee planet overrun with snapping beetles. The end of the level, rather than featuring any generic boss fight, has you taking on the queen beetle. It may not sound like a big deal, but Mario games aren’t notorious for storylines (no matter how basic), so to see them incorporated this time around is a pleasant surprise.

I can’t say enough good things about the level design, but I’ll try to sum up how solid they are in one sentence: each level in a galaxy has you playing the exact same map, but no two levels play exactly the same. Different paths and different goals ensure a fresh experience every time. It’s fantastic.

In addition to the solid level design (and visuals that don’t look like they fell off the back of a Sony truck circa 2001 — thank you Nintendo!! Finally!) the one thing that has really been knocking my socks off is the use of sound. The score is beyond awesome as can expected from most first party Nintendo games, but the thing that has really left me in awe is the use of the Wiimote microphone. Sound is rolling is rolling out of that thing on such a regular basis that I’d be tempted to call my audio setup 5.2 nowadays.

There’s just too much to write about after only four hours of play. I could probably go on for another hour, but suffice it to say, I’m quite pleased with the game. I’m only going to touch on two more things, and I’m going to do so rather quickly.

First is the bee suit — it’s the only power up I’ve come across so far (the rainbow mushroom doesn’t count — it’s just a replacement for the invincibility star) and I’m finding it a little awkward to control. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that it could be better. Flying doesn’t last very long and you need to hope like hell there’s ground under you to land on in some levels.

The last thing I wanted to mention was the references to old school Mario that are sprinkled liberally throughout. So far I’ve come across a galaxy whose entire backdrop was World 1-1 which then changed to World 1-2 once I flipped all the switches, and a fantastic little underground minigame that had me gobbling up musical notes that played World 1-2 music. All in all, some very cool homage going on.

So yes, I like the game. I really really like the game. And no, I really thought I wouldn’t. If you’re a Wii owner, this is the title you’ve been waiting for. That 97 on metacritic doesn’t lie.