While generally fun the game lacks a certain cohesion in its design. Despite levels being largely linear stages, the game presents itself as being a sandbox game like 64 or Sunshine. As for the levels themselves, they're often too short to develop any idea. This wouldn't be a problem, but each galaxy doesn't develop ideas much either. Mechanics and thrown around with not much thought. Mario's movement itself also levels a bit to be desired. The spin is great for making tricky jumps, but feels sluggish on the ground. The lack of a dive means its hard to get quick forward momentum, not that the levels would lend themselves to having such a move. The small planetoids the majority of the game takes place on are a neat gimmick and have been implemented incredibly well. However, bigger planets are often confusing to navigate and the player is constantly waiting for the camera to spin to an appropriate angle so they can see what's ahead of them. The game visually also held up less well than sunshine. Something about the lighting or color palette makes everything feel dark and muddied. There's still plenty of fun and wonder to be had with Mario Galaxy, but its not a true sandbox Mario experience and there are better Mario games with linear levels.