This is a very interesting review of Super Mario Sunshine from
http://www.gamecritics.com :
Over the years, gaming has developed its fair share of icons—characters who’ve captured our collective imaginations and become more than a simple sprite or collection of polygons. However, one character in particular stands out above all others: Mario. The portly little plumber is so famous that he needs only a single name to identify him. He crosses cultural and demographic boundaries with the same ease with which he stomps on Koopas. He’s gaming’s ambassador—one of the only videogame characters that even non-gamers can recognize on sight. In short, Mario’s a celebrity.
One of the perks of being a celebrity is developing a die-hard fan following who’ll love whatever you do regardless of whether it’s actually good or not. There are mega Stephen King fans out there who think Insomnia is a brilliant novel, Lucio Fulci followers who love Demonia simply because the maestro directed it, and John Woo disciples who will swear that Broken Arrow is a wonderful action film just because Woo’s name is on it. Needless to say, there’s also a contingent of gamers out there who will champion Super Mario Sunshine as a classic platforming title simply because it features everyone’s favorite plumber, Mario. Unfortunately, though, once gamers get past the presence of Mario, they’re left with a rather underwhelming platform experience, and one that features little of the gameplay innovation that the Mario series is so famous for.
As gamers, we’re living in an unprecedented time. The industry continues to grow with each passing year and gamers are getting older. Many of us may have put down our toys, but we’ve held on to our controllers. Software has been forced to evolve to consider the tastes of the older gamer. In an age of Grand Theft Auto III, is there still a spot for a simple platformer where collecting coins and sprites is the name of the game? If sales are any indication, then yes, there is still a place for the Marios of the gaming world. However, is Super Mario Sunshine earning praise and rave reviews because it’s a great game, or simply because it’s Mario and feeds our sense of nostalgia? Personally, I tend to think it’s the latter.
I thought I was enjoying Super Mario Sunshine for the first hour or so that I played it, but then it hit me: I wasn’t enjoying the game at all—I was just happy to see Mario after a six-year hiatus. As I ventured further into the world of Delfino Island, I realized that Super Mario Sunshine was a rather average game with some serious issues in terms of control and the camera system. After more playing, I became disillusioned with the game entirely. Sure, it’s Mario, but Super Mario Sunshine is really just Mario 64 with some nicer graphics and a jet-pack. After six years, I expected more.
This expectation of more highlights one of the major flaws with the game—that feeling of ‘been there, done that’ that invariably creeps up on the player as he progresses through the game’s numerous episodes. Complaining about a platformer for having gameplay that forces you to collect coins or other items is sort of like complaining about role-playing games forcing you to go on fetch quests—it’s just part of the territory. However, Sunshine hasn’t really evolved in any meaningful way from Mario 64. The inclusion of Mario’s sidekick FLUDD (his water powered jet-pack) is a cosmetic addition at best. FLUDD doesn’t bring anything to the table in terms of being a sidekick (why they even allowed the character to talk is beyond me) and impacts the core Mario gameplay in a largely superficial way. Yes, you can use FLUDD to reach high areas and extend your jumps, but you could do similar things in the other Mario games without the FLUDD attachment. FLUDD often seems like a simple gimmick designed to cover up the fact that little has changed since Mario 64 while trying to convince gamers this is a whole new experience.
Of course, this begs the question, ‘is it fair to expect the game to revolutionize platformers in the same way that Mario 64 did?’ While it may not be fair to place that kind of pressure on each Mario title, it’s going to happen anyway. When you’ve reached the level of success that the Mario games have reached, it’s inevitable that people will continue to look for the games to push the envelope. I could live with the fact that SMS doesn’t push the envelope, if the game mechanics were better than what they are.
By far, my biggest complaint with Super Mario Sunshine revolves around the camera system. To say that the camera in this game is atrocious is like saying being kicked in the teeth kinda hurts—it gives the person an idea about how bad it is, but it doesn’t even begin to describe the agony in detail.
The camera in Sunshine is controlled with the right analog stick on the GameCube controller. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that until the player realizes that maneuvering the camera manually is something that must be done constantly throughout the game. Trying to time jumps off of dissolving sand blocks while trying to finagle the camera into position so the player can line up the next jump is an exercise in futility that will lead to frequent death. Don’t even get me started on when you get behind an object and can only see Mario’s silhouette—those moments are aggravating beyond description.
Part of the problem with the camera system is that it’s never where the player needs it to be. The other problem is that maneuvering it into position is often harder than it should be for several reasons. First and foremost, the camera has a tendency to get caught on the environments, leading players to struggle with the interface as they try to bring it into position all the while still trying to avoid falling to their death or being hit by enemies. In some instances, the camera will get caught behind walls, making it so the player can’t see much of anything at all. A few camera problems would be forgivable, but these are constants throughout Sunshine.
Manually moving the camera can be an adventure in its own right, as the mechanism has a tendency to swing about wildly thanks to some loose controls. The addition of the left shoulder button to center the camera behind Mario does help to alleviate this problem, but there are still those instances where the camera will have to be physically zoomed in or pulled back in order to keep it from getting hung up on the game’s environments.
The loose control issue extends beyond the camera system as well. While the controls in Super Mario Sunshine aren’t bad, they do take more than a bit of getting used to. One of the more noticeable problems is that the controls feel a little floaty in spots, particularly when precision is called for. FLUDD does help to remedy the problem, though, provided you can get the camera into position to take advantage of it.
The other control problem is a direct result of the game’s poor camera system. Trying to do wall jumps in order to reach high areas can be a nightmare thanks to the camera. In many instances, players will find themselves jumping both up and out from the wall, making it impossible to hit the next spot to advance. This is particularly irritating in those stages where the player has a set amount of time to complete a series of maneuvers.
Not everything’s bad in Super Mario Sunshine, though. The graphics, while not a huge improvement over Mario 64, are quite nice in their presentation. My only real beef here is that the game maintains its tropical theme throughout; I miss the old lava and ice worlds from earlier games in the series. The level layouts are also quite nice, particularly the ‘old school’ styled hidden stages which feature some great platforming elements and a really nifty a capella version of the old Super Mario Bros. theme.
Ultimately, though, Super Mario Sunshine is a bit of a disappointment. While Miyamoto may talk about the game being ‘evolutionary’ rather than ‘revolutionary’, the title isn’t really either. The evolution in the game is mostly cosmetic and doesn’t enhance the gameplay value much at all. Evolution would have had Mario and company growing a bit as characters (which they’re going to have to do in order to remain competitive in today’s market) and something new added to the core gameplay. Instead, Super Mario Sunshine is one step lateral and a half step back from Mario 64—which is certainly not a good thing when one considers that Mario 64 is six years old.
- Published September 18, 2002
