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Super Mario Sunshine opens with Mario and
his buddies escaping from the daily chores of Mushroom Kingdom,
their destination is the paradise island of Isle Delfino for
a holiday. Mario's holiday doesn't last long as it seems that
an impersonator of Mario has covered the island in graffiti
and pollution. In the case of a mistaken identity Mario is
sentenced to clean up the island with the help of his water
cannon, Fludd. During Mario's adventures the princess is kidnapped,
the graffiti will be washed away and there will be a large
amount of shines to collect, the games equivalent of coins
or stars.
Super Mario Sunshine has a lot to live up
to with Super Mario 64 being an incredible game that defined
the 3D platform genre and all other previous Mario's have
also been outstanding. Immediately you can see that Nintendo
has decided to play safe and not stray too far from the winning
formula. The town square plays the same part in Super Mario
Sunshine that the castle did to Super Mario 64, it's nicely
detailed with various different entry points which will save
you the hardship of walking great distances from one place
to another. Sunshine also has a load of secrets to uncover
during your adventures. In total there are seven levels to
get your teeth into, with each level containing several objectives
which does mean you will have to enter each level several
times before you're finished. After completing each sub level
(episode) you will acquire a shine.
There are a total of 120 "shines"
but it is possible to finish the game with less than half
this number. Level goals generally consist of solving problems
which can be solved by shooting water in virtually every instance.
Each episode starts with a quick debriefing on the level and
its objectives. Some objectives are as simple as getting to
an area and fighting a boss in order to win a prize. Making
a return from Mario 64 are the red coin challenges. You will
simply have to go and search for a certain number of these
red coins. You will always have to find one red coin but some
goals may have you looking round for coins within a time limit.
Each level will have a goal which involves chasing around
after the Mario impersonator while spraying him with the water
cannon until he gives up and gives you a shine. There are
a lot of goals that lead you into enclosed areas, this will
trigger a short video clip of the impersonator stealing Mario's
water cannon and making away with it. After this you will
be faced with a kind of obstacle course that features floating
and moving pieces of wood. Each one of these levels becomes
more difficult as you progress through the game. These levels
can be frustrating at times due to the nature of these levels
and you will find that you will fall through solid objects
and occasionally get stuck in walls. These technical problems
are by far the most frustrating of the lot because you can
be doing everything perfect until one of these bugs kicks
in. Many of the goals are enjoyable but the hunting for red
coin sections are just tedious and boring. You will also have
to do a lot of back tracking through levels in order to complete
them; you could have to backtrack up to seven times in some
levels.
Thankfully the controls are very easy so you won't have any
problems controlling Mario. Some of the moves seen in Mario
64 have been retained such as the triple jump. Mario's normal
attacks have been replaced by the water cannon which has two
nozzles. You can use the R trigger to spay the water a short
distance and by pushing the trigger in only half way will
let you spay while moving. The second nozzle lets you take
off and hover in the air.
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way of getting across gaps and making Mario jump higher. The
water tank has a water pressure meter which will decrease while
you are hovering, so you can't just hover until your water tank
is empty.
As you progress through the game you will
find other nozzles that can take the place of your hover nozzle.
The rocket nozzle will blast you high into the air, but you
can't hover. The propeller nozzle lets you launch yourself
horizontally along the ground or water. Unfortunately this
nozzle doesn't come into use much. You can also jump on Yoshi's
back, although he is only useful for his ability to spit fruit
juice all over the place. Yoshi is only required for one puzzle
in the game but you can use him in some optional puzzles.
Apart from controlling Mario, you will have
lots of work to do when it comes to controlling the camera.
Many of Mario's simple tasks are made much more difficult
as you have to keep track of the camera. The game is slow
when it comes to auto correcting the camera angle when you
change direction, as a result you will have to keep on top
of the "C" stick in order to make sure you can see
what you need to see. The camera does not like tight spots,
so if you are controlling the camera in one of the games tight
areas you will have to keep your finger on the "C"
stick or the camera will rotate right back to the default
position which can be very frustrating and inconvenient.
Graphically Super Mario Sunshine is excellent.
The whole game has a great stylized look and it is sometimes
technically good looking too. The game runs at a solid and
smooth frame rate, the characters are very nicely modelled
and coloured with some great animation. Generally the textures
look good, but don't get too close as they will become blocky.
Some sections of the game look very bland due to a bright
sunshine effect which doesn't work very well. You will also
find some sections of the island are noticeably less colourful
and well created than others. One thing that does look good
is the water effects seen in the surrounding sea and areas
of water that you will come across, even the puddles left
from the water cannon will create nice reflections.
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Super Mario Sunshine features some voice
over work that isn't terribly good. The characters as a whole
have pretty mismatched voices, the princess sounds like some
thick blond dizzy bimbo, Mario grunts a lot and the bad guys
are all disappointing. The audio is better though Mario's
shoes make some great noises as he walks and jumps through
the game on different surfaces. Musically there is a reworked
version of the classic Mario theme which plays during the
obstacle levels, unfortunately none of the music really has
anything to offer that makes it really stand out.
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Whether they have been your bag or not Mario
games have always been innovative and nothing short of a breath
of fresh air. Unfortunately Super Mario Sunshine is having
problems living up to such a great name, rather than being
a pioneer Super Mario Sunshine is a follower deciding to take
the safe route making sure not to upset anyone along the way.
With taking this safe route that game does have some short
comings and some of the levels can be quite frustrating even
though they are quite easy and short. Some gamers will love
the fact that Super Mario Sunshine hasn't deviated much from
the older Super Mario 64, others might feel a bit disappointed
that Nintendo haven't come up with something new and innovative
like they have in the past. All this said there is no reason
why you shouldn't go out and buy Super Mario Sunshine as it
is a great game in its own right, just don't expect anything
revolutionary.
8.0 out of
10
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