User Rating: 8.9 | Super Mario Sunshine GC
"It's a me, Mario!". Everyone recognizes these words. Super Mario, the little plumber who captured the world. From the early days in the arcades fighting Donkey Kong, to the NES in his own games, up to the present and beyond, Mario has been in the mainstream of gaming, every release selling in huge numbers. Super Mario Sunshine is no different, finally being released on The Gamecube as its main flagship title, Mario has outsold everyone in Japan, and is on the same path here in America. This game continues the grand tradition of Mario games, keeping the player addicted to it's gameplay and story, while offering truly breathtaking visuals. Everyone of the main cast of characters return for this latest installment, including everyone's favorite little green, or other color, eating machine, Yoshi. The game takes place sometime after Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, and I'm assuming for Luigi's Mansion as well. Mario and company are on their way to an island resort for a little vacation when upon landing, find the island has been over-run with monsters, and lots of grafiti. What's worse, the one behind it all is Mario, or someone who looks a lot like him. Looks like the vacation has been put on hold. Now Mario has to go, clear his name, take care of the beasties overtaking the island, and clean up the mess left in their wake. Grafiti, sludge, mud, oil, ink, all covering the nice little beaches, hotels, and even the guests who reside there. To make matters worse, the same antagonist has taken all the islands' Shines and either covered them with muck, or hid them. The Shines are basically the Stars from Mario 64, however here they give the Island the sunlight it needs to flourish, making it the paradise this island is. There are 120 of them in the game, and Mario has to either clean, or find them, and return them to their rightful spot. This is one big job for Mario, who won't be able to tackle this all by himself. That's where FLUDD comes in. FLUDD is a water cannon with it's own AI, (it speaks to you) that helps you on this quest. Comes with two standard nozzles, the first nozzle which lets you use it like a firehose to help wash away the garbage, and the other mode, which is a Hover Mode. This lets you lift off of the ground and hover for a few seconds. This is the main attraction of the game. At first glance, it seems to be just a gimick to help the game along, or to make people more interested in trying the game out, however, after playing the first few minutes, you'll begin to understand just how important this feature really is. It's not there to help the game along, it IS the game. You'll use this FLUDD to wash goop off of the ground, uncovering hidden secrets, defeating monsters, or just clearing up grafiti. Later on in the game, you'll find 2 more nozzles to use, where you can switch back and forth by finding certain boxes along the way. They are, the Rocket Nozzle, which lets you burst into the air to reach higher levels you can't normally get to. Also the Hyper Nozzle, which lets you run at super speed. I find that, while these two other nozzles are nice features added, you'll only really use them at certain points in the game. The other 90% of the time, I stuck with either the Hover Mode, or the standard Hose Mode. The FLUDD can only hold so much water, but refilling it is easy. Find any body of water, and hold the X Button. You'll be refilled in no time flat. Also grabbing one of the nozzles out of the boxes that you find, will also refill you. This never really becomes a problem, but does take some strategy, as you don't want to go into a certain area where you know you'll need water, and are almost empty. In the game, you'll start off in the main town. Basically like the Castle of Mario 64. Here you'll find portals to the other numerous worlds, where the baddies await you. The Worlds are as big, if not bigger than Mario 64, with enough eye candy to boot. The main idea of this game, is exploration. In each world, you'll be given a clue as how to complete said task. However, in each world, including the main town, there are hidden Shines laying around. These you have to find on your own. Some are straight forward, others require you to think it out, "I can see the Shine, but how do I get it?!" You'll be saying this a few times. It will all come to you in due time. Returning in the game, are some old friends and obstacles. The Red Coins make an appearence. Going on a scavenger hunt, you must collect 8 of them in certain levels to obtain a Shine. Also, new to the game, are Blue Coins. you will collect these throughout the entire game. Every ten you collect, can be turned in for a Shine in the shop at the main town. Yes, gold coins return as well. The little green mushrooms are hidden throughout the game, as well as Yoshi himself. You won't get him right away. When he does show up, he'll be in a little green egg. He won't come out unless you bring fruit to him. He'll have a little icon hanging over his head, asking for a certain type of fruit, which you can find scattered around the worlds. After you bring him said fruit, he'll come out of the shell and you can now ride him. However, you can't use your water pack in this mode. But that's ok, Yoshi also spits out water, as well as still eat enemies. New to Yoshi is his Juice Meter. When he begins to run low, you have to feed him fruit, or he'll go away. He doesn't like water either, so don't fall in, or he'll run away on you. Another thing about Yoshi, depending on the fruit he eats, he has different ablilities. One type will let him turn an enemy into a platform for you to jump on, another will turn the enemy into a platform that moves vertical and so on. Yes, you guessed it, you'll be using this feature, so take note on which fruit does what. I said earlier, the game has breathtaking visuals. The game itself is basically a tweaked version of Mario 64, with new effects added, more detail and clearification. The visuals aren't ground breaking, they are simply up to par with the rest of the Next Generation games. However. Here's where the "breathtaking" comes in. The Water. Must be seen to be believed. So realistic, it makes you want to run to the beach and go swimming. You can see the actual froth on top of the water, it has a certain radomness to it, making it look real. Thankfully water is in great supply for this game, it's everywhere, and no matter how long you have played, you will still stop, and occasionally stare at the water, impressed by it's nature. There are other parts of the game that feature graphics or effects this intense, but it's the water everyone remembers. You'll be swimming in it, a lot. The sound for the game, is also good, not great, but good. Encoded with Dolby Pro Logic 2, you'll have nice surround sound effects, which comes in real handy in a 3-d world. You'll see what I mean. Everything sounds as it should, clear, nice lows and great highs. Just imagine what this game could have been like if Nintendo started the engine from the ground up, as opposed to using a 6 year old engine! Not everything is great in paradise. There are two problems with the game, any problems in a Mario game are rare, if ever any. This one has two. The first, which is really a nitpick that some people have. Every Mario game was groundbreaking in terms of gameplay and style. From Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo, to Super Mario World for SNES. Each game pushed the envelope in terms of what a game could do. Mario 64 was perhaps the greatest achievement. Starting a revolution in 3-d gaming, Mario 64 was the first of it's kind, to be used as a reference for later platform 3-d games, like Jak and Daxter to name one. Mario Sunshine is the first in the series, to break this tradition. Not ground breaking in really anyway. Unless you count the water. Otherwise, it's just another 3-d world game. Of course, it is Mario, so it makes it better than the rest. The other real problem of the game, is the camera. The camera is your worst enemy in the game. I have died countless times, and have been fustrated here and there, because of said camera. Others won't find it as much a problem, others will have a harder time. At the least, you'll find yourself controlling the camera more than controlling Mario himself. You'd think Nintendo and company could have come up with a better scheme than the one used here. Some of the levels are somewhat fustrating as well, most times, instead of feeling rewarded upon completion of a task, you'll just be thankfull that part of the game is over, and that you won't have to do it again. But no matter how annoyed you'll ever be in this game, remember, it's Mario. You'll still be going right back to it, over and over, because it is addicting. With enough practice, and it doesn't take a lot, you'll be pulling off moves and menuvers that you thought would be impossible. Seeing a cliff way up in the sky, and wondering just how you'll get there, within a few minutes, you'll find yourself doing acrobatics that the Olympians would be proud of. All in all, Mario Sunshine is a great game, not the best game, that most thought it would be. But a great game. It's addictive gameplay, from the massive worlds, to the eye candy, even to the story itself, this game will keep any gamer going into the lonely hours of the night. You'll find it hard to put down, even after swearing vengence at the camera. I give this game: 8.9
