Name: Super Mario Sunshine
Platform: Nintendo Gamecube

Introduction

It seems as if Bowser will never leave poor Mario alone, even when he attempts to go on a vacation. When Mario shows up on the air strip, he is taken to Court for literally painting the town red..... (bad pun intended) Of course, you're job at first is to mainly clean up the island and find the "real" criminal behind the mess, only problem is while poor Mario is doing this... Peach gets kidnapped again. But hey, that's Mario for you, jumping, swimming and saving princesses. Of course this time he ain't doing it alone, he has a super soaker (known as Fludd) who is gonna help him clean up what this unknown criminal has left for him.

Gameplay

Well think Mario 64 only with some slight tweaking. Mario can jump, dive, run and do that whole Mario thing we have come to love over the years. Mario does have some new moves up his sleeve, thanks to his new super soaker. Fludd, a "Flash Liquid Ultra Dousing Device" (which I remembered completely from memory) gives Mario the ability to spray water all over the place to clean up this graffiti saturated island known as Delfino Plaza when ever the player consciously decides to hit the R Button. But Fludd doesn't just clean stuff, when the Y button is pressed, his nozzle doubles into 2 and gives Mario the ability to hover in the air for a limited duration of time! This ability is "required" for use in many areas of the game, getting used to the timing of which the hover shuts off automatically is also key to getting across gaps in time. But really, this isn't all that great! Obviously this game was built for use with Mario's new control set up, but I must admit I had more fun beating Mario 64. I guess you could say... Mario Sunshine wasn't 100% Mario!

Graphics

For a launch title on the Cube, Super Mario Sunshine really did help show case the GC's power capabilities. The character models look mostly smooth and textured, some areas of the game do look of pretty bad quality such as some walls and ground textures. But where the game really shines in terms of graphics would have to be the water. This game is devoted to making sludge and all the other liquids in the game look pretty. the water glistening off of the surface of them really is a nice visual treat.

Sound

Many Mario tracks are back in this game in a remixed form along with plenty of new ones. As per usual, Nintendo manage to keep all their tracks relative to there point of use and very enjoyable to listen to. Sound effects are nice as well, Mario's trade mark "Yahoo's" and "Yippee" catchphrases are here and in all their glory. Sometimes its a bit repetitive but Mario has always been like that!

Overall
To conclude on this review I would like to say that Mario has seen better days! his game is not a bad game in any sense, I dare say I enjoyed playing it, however it's defiantly not as "Mario" as Super Mario 64! Hopes are that Super Mario Galaxy will indeed bring us back to the little Italians prime gameplay.

Gameplay 4/5- Mario plus a super soaker, not a particularly good mix but not a bad one either.
Graphics 5/5- Some nice visuals for the Gamecube, some texture issues but nothing worth complaining about.
Sound 4/5- Many catchy and fun tunes, some of which are remixed classic Mario tunes!

Overall: 13/15