Quick impressions (minimal spoilers), I've only got 11 stars because I annoyingly had to work until 10pm yesterday (grr!) but so far it's wonderful. First of all, the whole thing looks great. The intro is very reminiscent of Yoshi?s island story book opening/music, which is definitely a good thing considering it?s the best 2D platformer ever created 
Graphically, it?s gorgeous, easily the best looking game on the Wii (although with only Metroid providing any real competition that?s not exactly hard). It doesn?t have quite the same crispness as some of the screenshots indicate, but then no non-HD game could I don?t think.
The controls are superb, as you would expect. Mario runs about using the analog stick, A on the remote makes him jump and combinations of jump and Z on nunchuck perform long jumps, back flips and butt stomps. Flicking either remote or nunchuck makes Mario do a spinning punch, while aiming the remote at the screen and pressing B allows you to shoot stars that you find. I?ve not quite worked out the importance of these stars yet, so far their only use has been to shoot to stun enemies, collecting 50 earns a 1up and there was like a toll payment halfway through one of the levels that I need to have a certain amount to proceed.
So far, the planets have been a real varied bunch. From what I can gather, there are 8 (I think) observatories around the main hub area. From these you can access galaxies, each with about 5-6 of their own planets. These planets can be more traditional ?flat? planets like the one shown in the ?honey bee? level if you?ve seen the videos, a collection of tiny planets that you fly between, each with their own puzzle/objective to overcome, or there are singular planets that are totally different. For example, in the first galaxy there?s figure-8 shaped water slide planet that?s suspended in space. Populated by penguins, in a nod to Mario 64?s ice slide no doubt, you have to race and beat a time by surfing around the water track on a stingray (the remote tilting controls are used here). On another of these singular planets the whole game turns into some kind of NES Mario Bros retro world where the goal here is to turn all the red blocks blue by stepping on them (of course, stepping on them twice turns them red again so you have to plan your route so this doesn?t happen).
I?ve also fought a couple of ?boss? characters. One was a giant octopus in lava that spits melons at you, while the other resembled something out of Shadow of the Colossus where you have to climb up its arms to reach its head, the attract its own bullet bills to destroy the cage protecting the star. Again, for those who saw the videos around E3 will know what to expect. Actually, the most encouraging thing is if you think of all the screenshots and videos we've seen so far - that pretty much covers EVERYTHING of what i've done in just 90mins, so I can't wait to see what's to come as I've barely scratched the surface despite seeing so much already?.
Graphically, it?s gorgeous, easily the best looking game on the Wii (although with only Metroid providing any real competition that?s not exactly hard). It doesn?t have quite the same crispness as some of the screenshots indicate, but then no non-HD game could I don?t think. The controls are superb, as you would expect. Mario runs about using the analog stick, A on the remote makes him jump and combinations of jump and Z on nunchuck perform long jumps, back flips and butt stomps. Flicking either remote or nunchuck makes Mario do a spinning punch, while aiming the remote at the screen and pressing B allows you to shoot stars that you find. I?ve not quite worked out the importance of these stars yet, so far their only use has been to shoot to stun enemies, collecting 50 earns a 1up and there was like a toll payment halfway through one of the levels that I need to have a certain amount to proceed.
So far, the planets have been a real varied bunch. From what I can gather, there are 8 (I think) observatories around the main hub area. From these you can access galaxies, each with about 5-6 of their own planets. These planets can be more traditional ?flat? planets like the one shown in the ?honey bee? level if you?ve seen the videos, a collection of tiny planets that you fly between, each with their own puzzle/objective to overcome, or there are singular planets that are totally different. For example, in the first galaxy there?s figure-8 shaped water slide planet that?s suspended in space. Populated by penguins, in a nod to Mario 64?s ice slide no doubt, you have to race and beat a time by surfing around the water track on a stingray (the remote tilting controls are used here). On another of these singular planets the whole game turns into some kind of NES Mario Bros retro world where the goal here is to turn all the red blocks blue by stepping on them (of course, stepping on them twice turns them red again so you have to plan your route so this doesn?t happen).
I?ve also fought a couple of ?boss? characters. One was a giant octopus in lava that spits melons at you, while the other resembled something out of Shadow of the Colossus where you have to climb up its arms to reach its head, the attract its own bullet bills to destroy the cage protecting the star. Again, for those who saw the videos around E3 will know what to expect. Actually, the most encouraging thing is if you think of all the screenshots and videos we've seen so far - that pretty much covers EVERYTHING of what i've done in just 90mins, so I can't wait to see what's to come as I've barely scratched the surface despite seeing so much already?.
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