The game is incredible. I can't stop playing it. It's not quite as flashy as Galaxy (was at the time) and the music isn't quite as good, but for me it's probably the best Mario since SMB3. And it gets better and better as it goes along (I'm on world 6 and I keep going back to re-play levels, which I never have done in Mario before).
If you are someone who likes Mario, I think your dislike is mostly because of your wife. I used to date - for a long time - a girl who had a decent interest in video games. We loved playing FFX together, and it really added to the experience for me. We would get off work, cook up some mac and cheese and journey through Spira and have sex. It was beautiful. When FFXII came out she tried it but the characters didn't inspire her and she was hooked on Everquest at the time so it became a solo experience for me. It was OK but the feeling wasn't the same.
I think your wife will have a hard time with any 3D Mario. Many women have a difficult time with 3D perception, it makes them frustrated and dizzy. That's why Nintendo has tried to make 3D world a little more "locked" in camera angles and controls, to make the control more precise and less dissorienting to people who find 3D unsettling. It sounds like it didn't help your wife, which is unfortunate.
But the game itself is beautiful and well-crafted. There are precision issues with any 3D platformer, but they are actually better in 3DW than M64 or Galaxy by nature of the more grid-like world and controls. I suspect that your woman didn't get into Galaxy either. This is gonna have to be one Mario adventure that you'll have to learn to appreciate solo. She's probably be more likely to put up with playing DKCTP with you since she can navigate the 2D plane.
