Not necessarily more open world, but that level of change would be a breath of fresh air for this series. (nintendolife.com)
It's not quite the breath of fresh air for the series like Breath of the Wild was to Zelda, but it's a great game and definitely recommended for Switch owners, especially if you've skipped the last couple of Nintendo consoles and this is your first Mario title in a while. (gonintendo.com)
The new sprites were a breath of fresh air for series stalwarts, although in no time flat those sprites were exported to various other games including the highly acclaimed Vs. series. (snackbar-games.com)