I've had this game since it was released. It is a REALLY fun game that reminds me of my middle school days of Super Mario Brothers. Once you get used to using the Wii controllers for this type of game, it's really easy for anyone to play. The graphics are incredible and the musical score is truly impressive. It still amazes me how much depth this game has. Even my husband and I will play this game together when we get to difficult rounds.

Beware that this is NOT a party game, just a really great Mario game.

Super Mario Galaxy is simply a re-imagining of Super Mario 64. The graphics are virtually the same (not that graphics are important on my list, but in a dozen years, I'd expect some improvement, especially with the media format shift), and Nintendo, whether because of format restrictions or cheapness, is still the only major video game company that can't provide a voice track. Before borrowing my roommates Wii to play this game I swear I hadn't heard chipper guttural noises in place of actual recorded voices in at least 5 years.

is the game fun? Well sort of. if you like Super Mario 64, then you might like this game. You can do basically all of the jumps from that game, but instead of the good ole punch you can now spin. The environment is even more 3D (Marion can walk upside down and on all walls!........) and yes, the option of changing camera angles is even more worthless than it was in the N64 game. In only about 8 hours of gameplay I've had to choose between ignoring a ledge I can barely see and leaping toward it and possibly dying because the camera pretty much refuses to actually ever move. Again, in a dozen years, you think that could be improved on.

The story is corny. Very corny. I would say at least it's a little more complex than previous Mario Games, but I'm not sure that the Mario creators should struggle with that. The 3-D environment just doesn't work for me. I can play a dozen different games on my XBOX 360 and experience none of the awkward perspective problems with Mario Galaxy. If I'm playing something like Halo 3, Gears of War or Oblivion on the 360, I never have to cross my fingers when I jump, because the system ACTUALLY HAS A PHYSICS ENGINE. It honestly seems like a crapshoot in Mario Galaxy when I make a jump.

And of course the game has to use the point ability of the wii-mote. The wii controller is pretty cool if you want to bowl or play tennis, but in M Galaxy it's just a hassle. So not only do I have to deal with horribly responsive controls, but I'm also supposed to be holding my right arm up the entire time I play and point and "star bits" nearly constantly?

Even the sound track of this game is unoriginal. In many ways, the producers have taken Mario 64 and combined it with elements from Super Mario 3. If you like Mario and already own a Wii, then I suppose you should get this game. But I don't understand how a glorified remake gets all of these game of the year honors.

This was one of the first additional games I purchased for my Wii and I couldn't be more pleased. I came at this game with a slightly different perspective than many other reviewers. I grew up with Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega, and Game Boy, but in recent years have not been so into video games. I've been known to play the occasional game of Rock Band at a party or to play The Sims 2 on my own, but overall have been out of the video gaming world for awhile. This was the perfect reinterduction. It's challenging enough that it holds my attention, but still intuitive and lighthearted enough that I find it fun and not stressful. This is a perfect game if you have avid gamers and newbies in the house because both will find something to enjoy. My boyfriend, who is a much more avid gamer than I am, appreciates the graphics and the challenges. While we do not find the co-op mode to be ideal, we have lots of fun switching off.
I also love how much variety there is among the planets. Each feels truly distinctive and challenging in its own way. I never get the sense that a planet feels like a repeat of a previous and am always amazed by the fun things the game allows you to do, such as flying around like a bee, surfing, etc. Additionally, I appreciate that often I am able to go back and forth between playing different planets rather than a more linear sequence of beating one level and then proceeding onto the next. This makes the game so much more fun for me because I know if I get stuck on a particular planet I do not have to beat it before I can try something new.
Overall I have been thrilled with this game and highly recommend it for someone who does not have a lot of video game experience, but wants a game that is both fun and challenging.

To paraphrase Alfred North Whitehead, all 3D platformers are but footnotes to Super Mario 64. With Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo tries to reinvent the genre it defined.

"Galaxy" looks great; fantastic graphics leave future developers no room to blame sloppy visuals on hardware limitations. The game's structure involves multiple hubs from which players go to different worlds ("galaxies") where they complete missions to earn stars. The missions are brief (rarely longer than 15 minutes or so), but this conciseness is achieved through a sharp focus on objectives. Many of the tasks play out in a linear fashion as the mission keeps Mario on a particular path from one planetoid to the next until he reaches his goal. This may feel constraining to those who wish they could explore a given galaxy at will.

Besides the new gameplay, Mario now finds himself right-side up, upside-down, and sideways relative to your television screen. Though an interesting concept, sometimes-counterintuitive joystick controls make the experience more cumbersome than it should be. In addition, the computer-controlled camera restricts the field of view such that looking around an area for something particular (switches, coins, even oncoming enemies) can be next to impossible--perhaps the game's one genuine design flaw.

Super Mario Galaxy somewhat lacks the pick-up-and-play simplicity that characterized Mario 64, but there is still much to appeal to players who appreciate the gameplay style and are willing to master the niceties of controlling Mario in his new intergalactic environment. "Galaxy" is a deft demonstration of the Wii's potential and worth a look for system owners.

~

I haven't played it yet, but i watched my son.. it seems to be more difficult and i am not a fan of how its all done on circular planets.. makes for a harder view on things.. i prefer super mario 64..

It is no wonder that Super Mario Galaxy was the #1 game on Wii for some time! The game is great, with a new touch on an old classic.

The ultimate goal still hasn't changed: Mario has to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. But the similarity to other Mario games ends there. This time, Mario has to take to outer space, exploring dozens of galaxies in search of power stars. The power stars are used to power the Comet Observatory, a "space station" that Mario uses to get to other galaxies. After collecting enough power stars, Mario can go to the center of the universe to rescue Peach.

This game kept me coming back for more, and sometimes it was hard to put down. It is a must-have for Wii owners!

PS: One might see a similarity between Mario Galaxy and a previous Mario game on Gamecube: Super Mario Sunshine. If you disliked Sunshine (I have heard that many did), don't worry about Galaxy; Nintendo seems to have worked out the problems that were in Sunshine.

It is an excellent game. This is the first 3D Mario game I have played, and it is not bad. It is, however, different than the side scrolling games. There is something that is missing, maybe it's the tension of speed running and jumping on tiny platforms while avoiding fireballs. I prefer the old school games better, but this is still an excellent game. Just think of it as something different from the older Mario games.

I am an avid fan of the Mario series, and this game did not disappoint. Many challenging levels, age appropriate even for my younger nieces and nephews, and lots of fun!

This is the first mario game I have played since mario 3. I enjoy playing in the 3D world. My only problem with the game is that you cannot change the camera angle to pan the world.

Incredible, this is one of those Wii games I wanted to rub so badly in the face of my local "Xbox is the only system I'm gonna play" guys. Well that's all fine and good if your the jerk-ish type, but anyway. Super Mario Galaxy, for some extremely knock-me-out and slap butter on my face reason, was not the game I was looking forward to. Millions of gamers and non-gamers can testify, it should have been. Being the best Wii game to date, it's hard to write a review that will describe it's greatness....really..really hard.

Okay, let's try to take this at a slow pace. Super Mario Galaxy should be n every Wii owners library right now, sorry if that sounds thick, cruel, and tempting you to ask your mom (or grandma, hey ya never know!) for an extra 50$ of pay this week. But it holds true, with gameplay like this, it's a wonder nobody hasn't tried this mechanic before (unless you mention that dumb SA2 stage...blegh).

Okay this time I'm gonna speak your language. Flying, spinning, swimming, gravity changing, shark racing, ball balancing and even spitti'n fireballs like the NES days, this is the funnest Mario game since Super Mario 64. I'm not sure what makes it a "true" sequal to the mentioned game, and how it differs from Super Mario Sunshine, but it kicks serious koopa shell. You play as Mario (duh), who finds himself in space (we're getting there speedy) who eventually gets the ability to spin (why aren't you jumping for joy?). With only one main attack it sounds lame doesn't it? Nope. Your wrong. Stop. Creep. Spinning is everything in this game, and it holds water. Spinning can flip goombas on their heads, launch you off of launch stars, break crystals, smack anything that comes your way, and even unscrew....ummm screws.


Graphics: The graphics are Wii's best so far, now that's probably going to be bashed up by new games, but the game looks amazing, I recommend getting an awesome TV just for this game. From Mario's overalls to the tiniest flower, Nintendo did an incredible job bringing the galaxy to life. Detail is everywhere, looking down at earth from another planet and seeing the sun on the horizon made my day. *10/10*

Gameplay: Something you can say about only a handful of games in this world, is that Mario Galaxy always introduces something new, it never shows you something you have seen already. For example, after just playing a level of hopping from tiny planetoidal spheres, you find yourself in a different galaxy, your launched to a round planet with a button on top. Your thinking "Oh geez I know what this is gonna do. I'll press the button and it will open up all hollow inside." Nope, sorry skipper, this game is better than that, pressing that extremely obvious button will open up the sphere containing a small water orb, holding it's own gravity, with which it is capable of being swam into. *10/10*

Sound: "It's a Mario game, so it's gonna sound all kiddish." By now you should've ditched that attitude on the highway leading to the city of "Nauto clash of ninja revolution mastery 228: the return of that guy that you know from the anime episode 78, movie 1, game this one!" Yeah, sorry just had to let that out. All of the music is completely orchestrated by the official Super Mario Galaxy Orchestra. You'll find yourself liking most of the songs, and humming them regularly as you go back for more. I'm currently wanting the soundtrack, it's so special it shouldn't go unnoticed. None of it is not enjoyable, trust me. *10/10*

Lasting appeal: There's a ton of stuff to do after beating the storyline, getting all 120 stars is a feat, then playing through the game a 2nd time (spoiler free). Plus, it's always fun to go back and play just for the sake of playing. I assure you, your gonna love this game. *10/10*

Well, I hope you didn't fall asleep during my long and painful review of my experience with the game. Being a 15 year I know what kind a game's are out there: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!!!!11111
But I'm smarter than most people take me for, this game kicks Halo's tushie. I said it, yup, said it. Sorry guys, make room for the original jumper who revolutionized games, go get'em Mario.

Mario Galaxy is an instant classic. There has been enough reviews of this game so I'll just say, that this is one of the best games I have ever played. Extremely fun!

They sure do keep us waiting a long time for these 3D Mario games. The wait period between Mario Sunshine and this game was five whole years!!! To think, we wait and wait that long, we should get something spectacular right? However, it was not meant to be.

The big irony about this game is, in truth, that despite all its nice features--the intricate controls, the idea of Mario flyin' 'round throo space, and the psuedo-cosmic graphics--the game is actually quite shallow, or in other words monotonous. Meaning simply that it just tends to repeat itself too much with little variety from one level to the next. The game has little story and features no real interludes between the begining of the game to the end, save maybe for the library scenes, which are optional, and serve no real function in the game.

Speaking of no (or little) function, what is the purpose of the coins in this game? Aside from replenishing what little health this game gives you the coins serve NO FUNCTION whatsoever! Then there's the Star Bits. It's plenty rediculous how this game overwhelms us with Star Bits. It gives FAR TO MANY star bits to the point where eventually you end up getting 9,999 of them, {the game's maximum} and they sit there serving no function in the game anymore. The "hungry lumas" are all gone and there are none to feed and WHAT AM I KEEPING ALL THESE STAR BITS FOR!!?

Among this game's many dissapiontments, the one I'm most enraged about is the fact that out of 120 Power Stars in the whole game, you only need 60 to fight the final Bowser! I mean, only sixty?! Once you get those sixty and finally fight the final Bowser, your appetite to continue playing the game dwindles. While I admit that many of these 3D games tend to do things like this, I would have expected more from Mario Galaxy--a game which promised much more than it delivered. At least it should, by now, require us to get ninety stars before fighting the final Bowser, how 'bout it?

Still this game isn't all bad. It's best attribute probably is the Wii remote controller feature which the previous Mario Games did not have. It gives the 3D video adventure game an interesting feel. Unfortunetely, it would seem that this game was mostly made to do nothing much more than give us some innovative and fancy way to make use of the Wii Remote and display some cute and fancy graphics. Beyond that point this game stops short. It has no real storyline and at some point just repeats things over and over with little variation from one level to the next--in a nutshell, Same challenge, different enemies. The levels themselves are mostly almost all alike, with variations only in climate, vegetation, and topography. The play control is at times not as good as can be--Mario can tend to lean against things a lot and will sometimes do a whole other movement from the one intended--and the camera angles stink, which ain't good for a 3D game.

Overall, I do not say that I don't recommend this game, because it still can be enjoyable and can create some satisfaction in completing certain challenges, some of which are quite good. The spin movement is a whole new twist to the Mario franchise; and the pull-stars are one good example of how the Wii Remote can enable us to do things an ordinary controller can't. I would only recommend that, in the future, if they think to make a new 3D Mario adventure game, could they possibly make it a bit harder to get to the final Bowser, and perhaps, yes, add some RPG features to the thing aswell?

This was the first Wii game since the ones given Wii sports and Wii Play and an excellent choice it was, this is one for every mario fan

Great game over all this is one of the best mario games i have played yet. It has great controls. It even uses the motion sensor somewhat on certain levels making them really hard to beat. It also has great music and great graphics and the levels are intense. Espically when he flies to them and circles around. I have completed this game all the way through its great its a must buy for the nintendo wii really shows off the graphics power of it. Not sure if i mention this earlier but the camera angles are great to they catch up really fast if they get thrown off mario gamers will know what im talking about.

Everybody in my family love this game. There are tons of galaxies to go and activities to do. You can't go wrong buying this game.

Hands down the funnest game I have ever played. 38y/o female. My 4 year old son loves this game. He can play some of the easier levels. He will get me on the harder ones. So many worlds to go to. I can't say enough good things about this game.

I'll be honest...I confess that playing the game for the first time was a bit of an anticlimax after being hyped up on so many of the good reviews and pictures of the amazing graphics. My shorthand take on it is that it's awesome and engaging, but at the end of the day, when you turn it off, you know it's a game. In my opinion, that's bad, because a very good game is supposed to keep your beliefs suspended and let you entirely into its world. A good game lets you take its reality and make it yours.

Sadly, the absence of that means that I think my first play-through of the game is going to be my last, at least for a very long time. Not because I don't WANT to ever play it again, but because I'm just not... interested enough in it. How could a game this amazingly made have such little replay value (for me, anyway)? I'm still trying to figure that out.
But for now, I'm just going to forget about that and look forward to playing as Luigi. That should be cool.

Anyway, the pros and cons.

Pros:
MAGIKOOPAS!
Very relaxing soundtrack. The Kamella battle music is particularly neat.
Sweet graphics.
The gravitational effects are fun to play around with.

Cons:
The characters' dialogues are rather boring.
The constant sensation that I'm playing a slightly easier but never-ending Super Mario Sunshine "Secret" level.
Rosalina and the Lumas annoy me for some reason.
A peculiar lack of a desire to replay anything after I've completed it... ever. o_O

Well, that's that.

Amazing game, one of the best for wii console and best games of all time.
Highly recommended

I will be the first to admit that I'm not really a "video game person," but Super Mario Galaxy is fun! It did take a while to get used to the controls and which buttons to push to get Mario to do different things, but overall learning the game is not difficult. The game is very upbeat (no blood and guts) and feels like an adventure, and the colors and graphics are quite attractive. Overall very enjoyable and appropriate for all kinds of video game players.

I had a great time playing this game. I highly recommend it to any Wii owner, young or old. You won't be dissapointed.

lots of action combinations. You should not miss one the best Mario game on Wii.

I really like this game (much more than i liked paper mario). the only complaint i have is the lack of saving opportunities. As far as i have been able to tell you can only save after completing the entire level, i love playing the game but i can only play when i have plenty of time so that i know i will be able to save and not have to restart the level the next time i play. All in All however this game is very fun its gratifying how quickly you accumulate lives. i'm not even close to being a hardcore gamer so i'm really slow and i die a lot so i hope that it doesn't become so challenging that i get too frustrated to keep playing because it really is entertaining.

My husband begged and begged for this game and I finally got it for him and he really enjoyed it!

The game starts slowly and with some of the initial 3-Dimensionality being a little overwhelming. But after a couple quick stars, the game picks up and becomes pretty fun. I'd recommend it. The only other games I've bought are mariokart (best game ever) and zelda, which I haven't gotten started on yet.

This game is fun for kids. As an adult with less gaming ability, it is taking some time to learn the process of getting thru each stage. Kids with Mario experience find the game stimulating and challenging.

The only reason I gave this four stars is because parts of it can be extremely difficult for those of us who are video-game challenged. So many times I've had to go online for help to get out of a particular spot or have my son help me. My 12-year old daughter really likes this game also. This is definitely a must get game for the Wii.

This is my favorie game for Wii. It's just so awesome in every way. I wished the game would never end. Very fun, you have to get it.

the 1rst gift my kid was expecting for xmas...when it arrived he almost went nuts.....

After thoroughly enjoying Mario Kart Wii, I decided to give Super Mario Galaxy a try. I started playing the Mario games with the first one, and have played most of the main titles, including Mario 64. I'm not an expert on gaming, but even I could tell that this game was lacking. Here are my top complaints:

This game seems to be made for young children. The plot is weak, the characters are cartoonish, and the levels are not mentally challenging. Puzzles are something I have come to expect after playing Mario 64, yet there are no puzzles in this game. The most taxing part of playing it is simply in mastering the new controllers, which happens in the first few levels.

The wacky camera angles drove me crazy in Mario 64, and they are back in full force. Mario jumps off ledges and runs into foes because you can't see in front of him, and sometimes you can't see Mario at all (when he gets stuck behind something all you can see is his shadow).

Nintendo should also have made it possible to skip the dialogue sections. These are a constant source of annoyance, as most of what is said is not helpful for gameplay and you have to repeat the same segments over and over and over again every time you die.

The throw-backs to the old games are fun at times, but I was very ready for some new scenes. Just like in Mario 64, this had the water world, the ghost world, etc., but nothing really changed. I expected more characters, different and interesting worlds, new moves and activities, or just some general changes. Unfortunately, these were the same old things we've done before. What kept me going was the hope that there would be something better to come, and I was disappointed.

Those of you out there who enjoy games but have to scrimp and save to buy them will understand my final complaint. This game costs $[...], but does not deliver $[...] worth of game!!! I want secret levels! I want more games-within-the-game!! Give me more to do!

All in all, I expected more bang for my buck. Although this was fun, it just doesn't live up to the hype. Alas, another disappointing Wii game.

This game is fun but don't be fooled into thinking it is a 2 player game. The 2nd players role is insignificant. It is fun for one person though and the graphics are great!

One of my all time favorite games was Mario 64. This takes similar gameplay mechanics and level design and brings the game into the "next-generation".

THIS GAME SHINES WITH GREAT LEVEL DESIGN AND INGENUITY.

The play difficulty has a good range, so that I think someone without much experience can get into it... though I suggest they start at the beginning to learn the moves. My first time playing was in a game store and I had a hard time, because I didn't know the new moves Mario had. Keep that in mind if you play it in a store. Otherwise, I think that this can appeal to both younger audience (as it is playable for them) and hard-core gamers as there is sufficient difficulty.

An inclusion of multi-player cooperative is fun, but I don't think it's meant for two hard-core gamers. The second player can be played quite well by small kids, which has been great with my nephews and niece. They simply point and collect the star bits, and have great fun with it.

I have been gaming for a long time and nintendo is the most memorable part of my early childhood. I have played many games through all of my gaming years and I have to say that this is arguably not only the best 3D mario game to date, as well as the best game this generation, but quite simply one of the greatest games Ever created. If I could describe it in one word, that word would be masterpeice. It is truly a work of art that comes along ever so rarley. I will go into the specifics.

Gameplay: This is truly platforming at its best. It controls pretty much the same as mario 64 did. but better. You press A to jump, press A three times to triple jump, press Z and then A to td a back flip, and move mario with the analog stick. Of course there are also some wii specific controls like shaking the remote to make mario spin which works flawlessly and feels fantastic, aiming at the screen to pick up star shards, there are also levils where you will ride on a glass ball or steer a manta ray and that also feels great. What realy sets this game apart is its new gravity affects. It is a joy to just stand on one planetoid, press A, and float to another. Things will go upside down, rightside up, and all over the place, it is truly a workm of genious. This game probably has the best levil desighn of any 3D game period, I have never seen levils desighned the way they are in this game, there is just so much care, thaught, variety, and imagination in all of these different galaxys. The boss battles are truly epic, esspecially the ones with bowser, and each require uniqe ways to beat them. The galaxys are all seamlessly connected through the huge spaceship called the comet observatory, which is a very well desighned hub. I could go on and on about how amazing it is but simply put, this is gameplay at its best.

Graphics: These are easily the best graphics on the wii. It proves that wii is more powerfull than consoles prior to it. It has crisp textures, great lighting effects, huge draw distances, advanced partical effects, heat distortion, transparencies, specularity, and bump mapping. The explosions are spectacular, the charecters look great and animate flawllessly, especially bowser whos hair moves in the wind, lava looks just like the real thing and will almost make you feel the heat from looking at it. Galaxy proves though, that graphics are much more than just polygons. It as a Beutifall colorfull art style that is varied and spread throughout all of the galaxys with different looking enemies and planets, and galaxys alltogether, it portays the final fronteir in such a beutifall way that its just breathtaking. One of the best artistic acheivments in a game ever. This is a beutifall game.

Sound: the Orchestrated soundtrack is absolutley Amazing, you will find yourself singing and humming them through all of your day to day activities. It has classic mario themes as well as new ones like bowser epic boss battle music, space junk galaxy, gusty garden galaxy, melty molten galaxy, and many many more. It arguably is home to some of Nintendos finest soundtrack in history.

Replay value: You will never tire of this masterpeice, you will go back and replay it over and over and over, people will still be playing this game fot generations to come.

Super Mario Galaxy is a truly Groundbreaking acheivment. It is a game that comes along way to rarely and I cannot stress enouph how amazing it is. This game will be looked back on as a classic and I cannot think of any game this generation that I would rather play on any console. This game is Absolutely a must buy if you own a wii and if you do not own one, it alone justifies the purches for one. This is truly one of the greatest games of all time.

It would not be fair for me to write a review based on my opinion. What I can tell you is that this is in the top 25% (out of 12 Wii games) of the games we have that my 8 year old and 10 year old girl like.

Introduction
I love Mario games. Mario is probably my all time favorite hero, next to Ryo from Shenmue. I've played and finished probably all mainstream Mario titles. Frankly, I'm always a bit ticked off that Nintendo focuses more on Zelda than Mario. It always seems like they barely get one Mario title out the door with each console. The new releases of Mario, New Super Mario Bros. & Super Mario Galaxy, were disappointing in the level of challenge they presented compared to previous games.
I've finished the game with 96 stars. What's left are some of the purple comet levels, some hidden stars, including a green one. I was borrowing the Wii from my brother and I had to return it and I have more games to play that need to finish during my vacation. I feel like I have finished that game though and what's left is extras that, if I wanted to play, would have fun doing so.

Story
While the Mushroom kingdom is in celebration, Bowser shows up in Airships, taken from Super Mario Bros. 3, and starts bombing the ground. Then a flying saucer lifts the castle into space with Mario still on it. When they get into space, a Magikoopa knocks Mario off and he falls on a small planet orbiting outside of Earth, or whichever planet the Mushroom Kingdom belongs to. It is there that you are given the power to spin by Rosalina, which is your main attack and will allow you to travel through space via Launch Stars. Wind them up and they boost you to a predestined location. When you find your first Grand Star, it takes you to a space station called the Comet Observatory and you speak again with Rosalina, the keeper of the observatory.
The story's main focus is on Rosalina, the newborn stars that populate her observatory called Lumas, and how her Comet Observatory came to be. It is told to you in chapters when Rosalina reads the story to the Lumas in the library room. New chapters become available after a certain amount of stars are collected. The usual Mario story still applies, but there is significantly more focus on explaining who all these new characters are.
Mario Galaxy is different from other Mario games in that it seems to be more mature. The soundtrack sounds less goofy. There is a story attached to it that tries to provoke emotion. Even the ending seems to give some deep insight. Also, when you die, it's kind of graphic: Mario looks like he's reaching for the win with his last bit of energy. This feels almost too different at times, but it does give a new dimension to Mario games and makes me wonder how far they'll take it in the next Mario.
Sometimes, it's just way overdramatic. When Mario gets a grand star, he does all these special flips in the air and flies around with the star as if he's in flirting with it. It looks stupid and stands out from the rest of the image the game presents. Speaking of things that are overdone, Mario Galaxy also has too many menus when you want to enter a galaxy. You have to be pulled by a Pull Star, then you have to choose a galaxy, then you start flying to it, then you choose a star, then the star spins, and finally you fly to the galaxy. Why can't I just enter the room, select a galaxy and a star in the same screen, and then fly to the galaxy? At least there are no loading times.

Gameplay
Mario Galaxy is played using the Wiimote. Flicking your wrist makes Mario spin. The other major use the Wiimote provides is as a pointer to collect Star Bits and to make Mario navigate through Pull Stars, which you can use to pull Mario across space. The Wiimote doesn't contribute anything exceptional to Mario Galaxy.
It looks like they were trying to experiment with new ways to play with the Wiimote as well. You'll see this in very rare occasions. Nintendo forces us to use the Wiimote in a non-intuitive way. And it's frustrating when I kept dying, because I knew I could do it with the analog stick, which is generally used to move Mario, but it just sits there doing nothing.
Controlling the camera is very limited, which I guess isn't too bad because I have to readjust my hand to reach the camera controls anyway. But it sometimes makes controlling Mario difficult. I think a lot of the difficulty of the game stems from the weird camera angles that make it difficult to judge exactly how you're supposed to move.
Just like every new Mario game, there are new power-ups. This time there is: Bee Mario, which allows you to fly like a Bee for limited amount of time; Rainbow Mario, a limited time power-up that functions like the star in other Mario games; Boo Mario, which turns him into a ghost allowing him to go through certain walls; Ice Mario, which lets Mario turn any water he touches into a platform of ice; Fire Mario, which allows Mario to throw fireballs (a little awkward with the Wiimote); Spring Mario, which allows him to jump really high, and it looks cute. And there is also a secret power-up that isn't mentioned in the book. But I think you can only use it in two areas of the game, which is a shame.
Instead of a castle as in Mario 64, Galaxy takes place in the Comet Observatory, which is made up of a number of small observatories, each with a theme. Each observatory has five galaxies associated with it, each with a sub-theme. Each galaxy has a certain number of planets in it depending on its design. Basically, each Galaxy is a level. Inside each galaxy there could be a bunch of small planets or there could be one big planet and it may have a few small planets around it. Most galaxies start out with three stars to collect, although the count will increase later as you complete it.
While some people think that these sphere levels are revolutionary, I don't. It's been done before, creates camera and control issues, and makes it difficult to see where you've been and where you're going because you can only see a portion of the level at a time.
Galaxy never got boring from beginning to end as there were always new things to see and do. But it did start out slow for me and I wasn't impressed. It was too easy and jumping from tiny planet to tiny planet was just unfulfilling. It was very linear and hardly required any exploring. After about 20 stars or so the game introduced much more challenging level deigns and more exploring was needed and it became more fun, but never surpassed the fun in Mario 64.

Other Thoughts
The in-game graphics, generally, met my expectations and sometimes surpassed them with how much attention to detail was. For instance, when Mario is underwater, he looks like he's holding his breath. I don't remember more examples, but did notice more of these that made Galaxy seem more like a living breathing universe.
The only way they could improve the in-game graphics is to have higher resolution rendering, implement some much needed Anti-aliasing to smooth out those edges everywhere, and clear up some color banding that appears in some levels. They could also improve the (Full Motion Videos) FMVs. They try to look like in-game cut-scenes, but seem foggy, looking almost as bad as the FMVs in Super Mario Sunshine. And the beach levels have too much bloom, giving them an unnatural look.

Conclusion
Super Mario Galaxy is the successor to Super Mario Sunshine, but touted as the true successor of Super Mario 64. While it did return to the formula of Mario 64, I must say that I enjoyed Super Mario Sunshine more. And I don't mean that in the capacity that Mario Sunshine didn't score very high, so Galaxy must be a bad game. My personal taste was that Mario Sunshine was a good game and so is Super Mario Galaxy. It just feels like there something missing from Galaxy, yet I don't know what it is. What I do know is that I'm not fully satisfied with Galaxy as a Mario game. But Galaxy is still a good game that can last you for hours of fun.

Okay, maybe I'm not even qualified to write a review for this game, because I'm probably not the intended audience. I've never spent more than a few hours on a Mario game.

I play games like The Sims and Civilization on my Mac, and my favorite Wii games have been those like Endless Ocean: Dive, Discover, Dream, Wii Sports, Rayman Raving Rabbids -- games where I'm not constantly dying. But I also really enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, at least for the weekend it was in my possession, so I thought maybe this one would be up my alley as well.

I was wrong. Perhaps it's because I don't have any nostalgic attachment to Mario, but I found the game and plot less-than-compelling. Collect stars and save the princess from the bad guy, blah blah blah. By the third galaxy or so, I was dying so frequently that playing itself wasn't fun, and with no plot to keep me interested, I gave up on it after just a couple of hours of play.

I'm okay with constant dying and restarts in games like Zack & Wiki, when it's the result of not having solved the puzzle yet; I lose enthusiasm quickly when it's entirely related to my control over my left thumb. I don't, by the way, think I have unusually bad fine motor skills, though I'll admit my twitch-skills aren't those of a long-time console gamer.

All in all, I'm sure that for those devoted to the franchise, this is a fun new twist. The game doesn't seem, though, to use the Wii controllers in any novel ways (at least not in the beginning stages). If you weren't into previous Mario games, I can't imagine this would hold much appeal either.