I understand why this game was met with dissapointment back in the day. People were used to these open ended levels in 3D Mario and the feeling of exploration was half the fun. Then this game comes along and dives in the opposite direction. It opts for linear levels where the objective is to just get to the end of the level. But just because something is different than what you expected doesn't mean it's bad. 3D world is traditional Mario feeling and but its structure allows for a barrage of interesting ideas stacked in level after level as the devs didn't have to worry about building cohesive worlds. I do feel like the green stars are unnecessary. Seems they were just the arbitrary collectible for this game. Some of the stars in the later worlds were a nightmare to get. This made me glad I went for all the stars I could get earlier in the game. The game looks wonderful if a little safe in its choice of art direction. The music though. Whoever decided to go the route of a Jazz band style deserves a promotion. The last boss battle with Bowser's was disappointing though. Overall, glad I played this one. Onto Galaxy.