TwiddleGeek

Lately I’ve been on a kick where I’ve been playing every game I start to completion (or at least the end credits) before moving onto the next. With Metal Gear Solid however, I’m done. Frankly, I’m just not having that much fun. The graphics looked far better on the box and screens then they actually do in the game, the gameplay is still mid-90’s bad, cutscenes are endless, and I just keep dying repeatedly. It’s not even a very long game, so I wanted to finish it… but there are better things to do, especially considering I already beat it for the PS1.

The last straw for me was right after fighting Psycho Mantis, where the dogs in the caves repeatedly attack. I’ve got 2 handguns, an automatic, several grenades, and decent hand-to-hand combat skills… and yet I still can’t fight off a pack of dogs. Shooting an enemy just to stun it, then having to wait before you can shoot the enemy again is just ridiculous. The controls are still PS1 era in their clunkiness, as in “the concept of analog sticks is still new to us” level of controls.

Maybe some day I’ll still try MGS2, but considering the bad reviews I’ve heard of the second half… it hardly seems worth it. MGS3 never struck me as that appealing, so I guess the stealth-action genre just isn’t my bag. I could never really get into Splinter Cell either for that matter, and Sam Fisher makes Solid Snake look like a joke so far as stealth goes. I still kind of want to try MGS4 some day, they’ve had a lot of time to learn from their mistakes and improve upon things, but it’s not going to sell me a PS3. — So yeah, I’m one of those who still has their fingers crossed for a 360 version some day.

With the inclusion of Snake in Smash Bros. Brawl and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4, I thought I’d go back and play MGS1 again. I played it back in the day for the PS1 and quite enjoyed it, but not to the level of many of the fans. In fact, I’ve never even played Sons of Liberty or Snake Eater. The Gamecube remake interested me however, so I picked it up used one day and thought now would be a good time to play it.

Frankly, I suck at this game. I mean, I’m awful at it. I’m constantly trying to kill guards I’m apparently suppose to be sneaking past, constantly getting spotted, and never able to escape once I am. So I die, restart, die, restart… to the point where I get tired of playing. I’ve almost just said “screw it” once already, but I’m still playing. It’s a fairly short game, around 12 hours if you go slow and watch all the cutscenes. And boy are there a lot of cutscenes… sadly, they’re almost more interesting than the gameplay.

I guess I’ve just never been a fan of stealth action simply because it never works like I expect it to work. I think I’ve made a nice, silent kill… the game disagrees. What’s really frustrating is when something like a radio check gets you spotted that you really couldn’t have predicted beforehand. That said, there’s still something terribly cool about hiding under a box only to spring out and snap the neck an unsuspecting guard.

Rating:

Super Mario Sunshine is a fairly competent platformer, but one of my main beefs with it is simply that it lacks the ‘Mario’ feel. The game forces it’s tropical setting on you, replacing Mario’s standard moves with the FLUDD system and changing the entire gameplay mechanic in the process. While the FLUDD system controls fairly well and the concept is neat, the game barely relates to the Mario world any more than the other major Gamecube disappointment: Luigi’s Manson.

My other big gripes are the shine system and the camera. Collecting stars and completing challenges worked great in Mario 64, but the shines in Mario Sunshine tend to be very specific, short tasks with a minimal amount of exploration. Some of the challenges are over in well under a minute and seem tacked on just to fill out the 7-star per level requirement. Each level is quite like the last, and none of them are as interesting as the worlds in Mario 64. As for the camera, you’ll unfortunately spend much of the game fighting with it just to see where you’re going.

Despite it’s issues, Mario Sunshine has excellent controls and is generally easy to pick up and play. Though it’s frustrating at times and stretches the definition of ‘fun’, it has its fair share of good along with the bad. The obstacle course levels are especially challenging and fun. I say that it’s well worth doing the 7-star run through the game’s 7 short stages, but just don’t expect the AAA quality of a title like Mario 64. Sunshine nearly earns a 3/5 from me, but I just can’t say I enjoyed it or the story as much as I could have, and it gave me a good deal of frustration.

Hallelujah. Finally finished up the standard 7-star per level run of Mario Sunshine. Honestly, there’s no way I’m going back for every star. It wasn’t a bad game, and it had good moments, but it certainly strained the definition of “fun” sometimes. Sunshine is too much of a one trick pony, every single level is just tropics, tropics… and oh yes, more tropics. Maybe it’s not exactly the browns and greens of the FPS genre, but sameness is sameness none the less.

What I really would like to have seen more of are the ’secret’ stages, the obstacle courses. Sure, they’re frustrating, but I would play an entire Mario game based on nothing but those stages back to back. Pure platforming action. Throw in a level editor and you’ve got yourself another hit… not that slapping Mario on the cover doesn’t pretty much guarantee that anyway. From what I’ve seen of Galaxy, it appears to get back to the roots that Sunshine forgot. No talking squirt guns, better platforming, and plenty of classic Mario characters and locations.