Description
In his latest outing, Mario visits a tropical island, where
his vacation in the sun comes to an abrupt end thanks to a case of mistaken
identity. An impostor has been vandalizing the isle, so Mario straps on a
water pump to clean up the mess and clear his name. With the help of Mario's
all-new hydro-powered water pump, players will hose down enemies, interact
with the locals and meet up with old friends (including Princess Peach, Toad
and Yoshi) in a new adventure that's sure to continue the high standard of
Mario video games.
Review
Six years. Six long years we’ve had to wait for a new Mario
game, and finally it’s here. And even considering the ridiculously unfair
expectations, Super Mario Sunshine is almost entirely as good as you’d hope
and expect.
The premise of the game is that Mario’s tropical holiday is
ruined when he’s stitched up by an evil look-alike for daubing graffiti all
over the island. Rather conveniently, there’s a water pump waiting for him
to use, which not only washes away the mess but also doubles as a handy jet
pack. The jet pack aspect means that whenever you fall off something you
have the chance to immediately recover. This built-in safety net means the
game can afford to be far more ambitious in its level design than ever
before, with massive levels filled with trampolines, tightropes,
water-powered windmills, huge coral reefs, and mountains and mountains of
platforms.
The whole thing looks amazing, too, with the most realistic
water ever seen in a video game, and a near-infinite draw distance. On top
of all this are rideable, fruit-juice-spewing Yoshis, extra water nozzles,
super-hardcore platform levels where Shadow Mario nicks your jet pack, and
goop-generating bosses who seem to live to make Princess Peach’s laundry a
nightmare.
After the sweet but rather short pleasures of Luigi’s
Mansion and Pikmin, you need have no fear that Mario Sunshine is of a
similarly brief nature. There are a total of 120 shines to collect--the same
number of stars as in Super Mario 64--and the game world is at least as
large and far more interactive. This is without question the best game on
the GameCube yet. That may be no more than you'd expect from a Mario game,
but it's certainly more than most of us mere mortals deserve.
