Tl;Dr: I do not recommend replaying this if it was 5 stars for you in your childhood. 3/5 for that. but it's epic if it's one of your first mario games. 5/5 in that case. recommended then.
By no means it is a bad game, and I enjoyed most of my time replaying it, but small little details add up to create a frustrating experience, particularly at the end. The way the game locks and limits the camera for sometimes seemingly no reason, depth perception (or lack there of), the way Mario has to sometimes turn around in a complete circle to turn around instead of just turning around, how freaking slow Bee Mario flies - all of these things seem like nitpicks but do get genuinely maddening during some of the game's hardest levels.
While I love Rosalina and her storybook, it's one of the only standout moments of the game in terms of charm and soul. Most of the game feels just too restricted to feel truly 'heartfelt' outside of that moment, but it is definitely more a fun themepark vibe in thatcase. The graphics still look good today, and I found myself loving many of the backdrops and stopping to note the details. But you rarely get to interact with these cool environments for very long - overall I feel that some of my experience was so lackluster because of the inevitable comparison to Odyssey. Odyssey almost seems to have made this game obsolete in a way, because it adds in everything that I feel is missing in Mario Galaxy.
I got all 120 stars but unlike my first time playing as a child, I do not feel excited or enthralled enough to go through all of that again as Luigi. Mario Galaxy is amazing, but it's been outdone by Nintendo by the sequels time and time again. I still encourage those who haven't experienced it to give it a go and I bet you will have fun, but I do not recommend revisiting it if you have already played through it completely.
By no means it is a bad game, and I enjoyed most of my time replaying it, but small little details add up to create a frustrating experience, particularly at the end. The way the game locks and limits the camera for sometimes seemingly no reason, depth perception (or lack there of), the way Mario has to sometimes turn around in a complete circle to turn around instead of just turning around, how freaking slow Bee Mario flies - all of these things seem like nitpicks but do get genuinely maddening during some of the game's hardest levels.
While I love Rosalina and her storybook, it's one of the only standout moments of the game in terms of charm and soul. Most of the game feels just too restricted to feel truly 'heartfelt' outside of that moment, but it is definitely more a fun themepark vibe in thatcase. The graphics still look good today, and I found myself loving many of the backdrops and stopping to note the details. But you rarely get to interact with these cool environments for very long - overall I feel that some of my experience was so lackluster because of the inevitable comparison to Odyssey. Odyssey almost seems to have made this game obsolete in a way, because it adds in everything that I feel is missing in Mario Galaxy.
I got all 120 stars but unlike my first time playing as a child, I do not feel excited or enthralled enough to go through all of that again as Luigi. Mario Galaxy is amazing, but it's been outdone by Nintendo by the sequels time and time again. I still encourage those who haven't experienced it to give it a go and I bet you will have fun, but I do not recommend revisiting it if you have already played through it completely.