Much like the first game, this game also rocks your socks off.
VISUALS 10/10
-Well these visuals are pretty much the same as the first. But is that really a bad thing? It's colorful, it animates brilliantly, and the art design is just as gorgeous as ever. It likes a like friggin rainbow in this game. Seriously, it well never get dull
SOUND 9/10
-The soundtrack is lovely. It knows where to play and is always on par with the events going on. Granted, some of remixes aren't as good as their original themes, but it is still very nice to hear old Mario themes. They have brought back some of Yoshi's old themes along with some themes from Mario's 8 bit days. and all of the music itself sounds great. The sound and voice effects are just what you would expect from a Mario game.
-STORY 10/10
It's not really necessary to rate the story in a Mario game since it's always the same thing. Bowser kidnaps the princess and you are to go after her. They stuck to the story formula and that is how it should be.
GAMEPLAY 9/10
-Completely awesome. The new power ups are pretty cool. My personal favorite is the drill and cloud Mario. But of course you've gotta love having Yoshi. Granted, the controls on Yoshi seem a little weighted at times. But it is a very minor issue as the controls still work great, but they aren't perfect. The level design is just spectacular and so creative. It looks like it would be awkward to control but isn't. Seriously, these new galaxies will blow your head out of the water. I just love that flip switch galaxy. Play and you will have a blast with that level. No, screw that. You'll have a blast with this game period. Go play it.