Super Mario Galaxy Son!:
Story -
Sadly being a Mario game, there isn't much to be said here. The tiny Italian plumber Mario is invited to a Star Festivle by the princess, and when he makes it all hell breaks loose and Peach is kidnapped.
Something I noticed that is a flaw in the opening cutscene alone, however, was that the aliens that kidnap Peach, not once do you fight them! They shop up in the begining and I suspect that a couple times throughout the story they serve as a backdrop but that's about it.
I didn't play the game for the storyline and let's be serious here no one ever does. Mario games were never good for storyline. If the original Mario storyline from the first game has taught us anything, there was never anything surprisingly unique in storyline, the games made up for it.
I personally find Mario a perfect example of "story doens't make a game". The Mario storylines are about as original as the sun rising up, and they always will be. Regardless of spinoffs and the such the official Mario games have really been a waste to put in a storyline. Superstar saga and SPM (two of my favorite games) have some pretty good storylines in my opinion, however they are spinoffs.
Now, in my previous review I complained about the game storyline being crap and over used, but this is a different subject here. Saint's Row attempts to physically make a storyline and takes the storyline seriously. Mario on the other hand, well let's just say if you can look me in the eye, tell me Mario is trying to be serious, and MEAN it, then you need help. The game itself barely has more then two official cinematics (official as in cgi pre rendered graphics), and even beyond those the ingame is very small only showing off a level, if that.
Characterization-
Again, apples to apples. Mario can't make more then a few cute sounds, and Peach can say the word "Mario". Trying to make more characterization with those characters, just by itself, feels forced.
There isn't much to say on this part, which I fear will make a lot of people discouraged. But Mario as a character isn't fairly deep, however very loved. Mario is one of the most well known characters in the world, any country on earth. And that is very good characterization.
Gameplay-
Classic Mario here. Very good jumping, rather decent/good camera in a whole. The levels left a bit to be dersired though. The toy level went from fun and original to frustrating when trying to unlock Luigi, as an example.
Another example will be when I was playing some of the first levels. There is no way ahead of time to find out there is a hungry luma on the level itself (unless you are willing to sit through a cutscene to the level EVERY time), and even if you know its so bloody hard to get enough star bits before that 1 bloody luma it sucks!
Its incredibly frustrating at some parts, incredibly terrible camera at some parts.
Finishing Thoughts-
Maybe I'm judging Mario by different standards because I respect it, or that I enjoy it, or that it's not the same game type. I played Mario for about a week and can still go back to it and have it challenging. And with no storyline there are no real points that bore me effectively during story scenes.
I am judging this differently, I admit that, and maybe it's a bad thing. Maybe I should look at this through the same eyes, but just as someone evaluates Math differently then English, I can't look at this through different eyes. This game is going purely for gameplay, and not trying for much else. It can be proven by inconsistency in the story, and even inconsistency in the level design themselves, which is a major thing stopping this score from getting very high.
And one thing I want to say off topic for a moment, why does SMG have the best graphics for the wii, but Miamoto is the one who fights that the wii can't compare graphically, though he himself has proven it can?
Final score: 8