New Super Mario Bros U is a great game and has many traits just like it's predecessors; gameplay, lasting appeal, game quality, sound... I'm not sure on how to fault this game and since you have stated that it seems unpolished, unfinished and unimaginative can you clarify this further?
Maybe I am being unfair as we have not played much of the game at all but my initial impression was that it was lazy - let me explain.
Mario Bros 3 blew me away
Super Mario World blew me away
Mario 64 blew me away
Mario Galaxy blew me away
So what I am saying is that every Nintendo console had a Mario game that changed the way we see this type of game (apart from Mario sunshine and the gamecube)
To me this is Super Mario Bros Wii in HD and that's it and I was expecting so much more.
By the way I have got my son to try some more Nintendo Land games and he has found 3 he likes; Zelda, Metroid and Pikmin. Zelda in particular had a great graphic style and we had great fun playing this together. To me these 3 seem head and shoulders over the other games and my attitude to the title has softened somewhat!
Edited by albatross, 02 January 2013 - 01:11 PM.