Super Mario 3D All-Stars: Sunshine

 

I never had a GameCube and thus never played Super Mario Sunshine. When 3D All-Stars was announced and this game was included, I was excited to play through Sunshine for the first time.  Unfortunately, I found the gameplay to be a bit cumbersome and decided to move on to the next game in 3D All-Stars, Galaxy.

Full disclosure: I only played about an hour of this game. 

I found the beach environment to be fun, and in typical Mario fashion, the music was fantastic.  The world was much more interactive and felt more alive compared to many of the stages in Super Mario 64, which I thought were sterile at times. That's where my likes end, however.  

The camera is still a problem in this game in my opinion.  While improved over Mario 64's camera, it is still challenging to see what you need to see.  For instance, in the first stage Bianco Hills, there's a group of towers with tightropes between them that you have to reach.  The camera can pan out to expand your view, but focuses on Mario, making it difficult to see where you need to go to reach the tower tops. This leaves you to wonder around until you figure out where you need to go.  I find this quite frustrating. It would be much easier to look forward in first-person mode, something that Mario 64 can do.  Maybe I'm missing something with the views?

The camera is a minor issue. The major issue is the gameplay.  I applaud the game makers for adding a new aspect to Mario gameplay with the water canon.  However, I found using the canon somewhat cumbersome and quite frankly not fun.  I would be willing to put up with it had the canon been just a part of the gameplay, but since it was the main focus of play I wasn't willing to continue with the game. 

Between the camera views and not knowing how to effectively use the water canon, I found myself flipping between YouTube to watch a video to figure out what to do and the game, making the whole experience more like a chore than fun.  I might circle back to the game. In the meantime, onward to Super Mario Galaxy.  I'm really looking forward to playing this game again because I remember it being fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing if the re-play is as good as I remember the game being.