Super Mario Galaxy 2

At least so far, I'm getting a very Super Mario Sunshine vibe from Mario's intergalactic romp part deux. If you think that's a bad thing, you're a terrible person; what I mean is, while Galaxy 2 doesn't revolutionize 3D Mario games - just as Sunshine didn't - it greatly refines them. It lacks the "Holy shit Mario's in space!" effect that the first game had, but the rate at which it introduces new mechanics, and ramps up its difficulty, is (no pun intended) stellar.

Galaxy 2 doesn't have a hub world - it has a world map, ala Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, New Super Mario Bros. et al. As I completed the first World* I instantly thought, "Man, I miss the hub." But no sooner did I get my first star in World 2, that the game showed me a zoomed-out map to easily navigate between the Worlds. It doesn't have the same sense of wonder that Peach's Castle or the Comet Observatory did, but it does streamline the action, which, given the quality of Galaxy 2's action, is just as good.

* The "world" metaphor doesn't really work very well when each "world" is made up of several galaxies, does it?

Progress: 22 stars