I've been meaning to play Sunshine for maybe like the last decade or something, and here I am, finally having done it. I am whelmed.
All in all, I definitely liked it. The defining mechanic here is FLUDD, which is really fun to use in all its forms. And I'd say the movement in this game is very smooth. Isle Delfino is also a really beautiful setting that I greatly enjoyed exploring. Mario has never really had a miss with 3D platformers, and I'd definitely extend that to Sunshine, but I dunno. It didn't blow me away or anything.
Unfortunately I have a lot of complaints, lol. First of which being that a lot of missions felt very long, particularly in the early game. Certain shines felt like they took 20 minutes each to get, which would be fine in more moderation, but like damn, there were a ton and they felt SLOW. And there's definitely a fair share of insanely annoying levels (sand bird, pachinko, lily pads, chucksters, melon festival, all of Corona Mountain) to deal with as well. Most games just have one or two really infamous areas, but somehow Sunshine manages six, which is just obscene. Corona Mountain in particular was a pretty disappointing final level. The majority of it is just navigating with the boat that controls like piss, followed by a really anticlimactic final boss. Also why does Bowser sound like that.
Blue Coins are a huge aspect as well, and I largely didn't mind them. They were pretty fun to collect during an initial run through a world, less so when I had to go back and get all the ones I missed. Some of these were hidden in honestly ridiculous spots that I would've never found on my own, like how was I ever supposed to think "oh yeah let me just shoot water at the moon in the sky in Pianta Village"??? They are optional at the end of the day so you can just ignore them if they're not your thing, but I'm bad at leaving games unfinished for the most part, so I suffered through.
Sunshine frankly has a lot of really glaring issues, but not so much that I think it's a bad game. I love the aesthetic, the soundtrack is incredibly good, and outside of the sections that everyone knows are terrible, it's very consistently fun. Plus, in the instances where it gives an actually fair challenge, like a lot of the secret levels, I'm super down with it. I had a great time, but I can definitely understand now why it's a bit of a black sheep among the other 3D Marios.
All in all, I definitely liked it. The defining mechanic here is FLUDD, which is really fun to use in all its forms. And I'd say the movement in this game is very smooth. Isle Delfino is also a really beautiful setting that I greatly enjoyed exploring. Mario has never really had a miss with 3D platformers, and I'd definitely extend that to Sunshine, but I dunno. It didn't blow me away or anything.
Unfortunately I have a lot of complaints, lol. First of which being that a lot of missions felt very long, particularly in the early game. Certain shines felt like they took 20 minutes each to get, which would be fine in more moderation, but like damn, there were a ton and they felt SLOW. And there's definitely a fair share of insanely annoying levels (sand bird, pachinko, lily pads, chucksters, melon festival, all of Corona Mountain) to deal with as well. Most games just have one or two really infamous areas, but somehow Sunshine manages six, which is just obscene. Corona Mountain in particular was a pretty disappointing final level. The majority of it is just navigating with the boat that controls like piss, followed by a really anticlimactic final boss. Also why does Bowser sound like that.
Blue Coins are a huge aspect as well, and I largely didn't mind them. They were pretty fun to collect during an initial run through a world, less so when I had to go back and get all the ones I missed. Some of these were hidden in honestly ridiculous spots that I would've never found on my own, like how was I ever supposed to think "oh yeah let me just shoot water at the moon in the sky in Pianta Village"??? They are optional at the end of the day so you can just ignore them if they're not your thing, but I'm bad at leaving games unfinished for the most part, so I suffered through.
Sunshine frankly has a lot of really glaring issues, but not so much that I think it's a bad game. I love the aesthetic, the soundtrack is incredibly good, and outside of the sections that everyone knows are terrible, it's very consistently fun. Plus, in the instances where it gives an actually fair challenge, like a lot of the secret levels, I'm super down with it. I had a great time, but I can definitely understand now why it's a bit of a black sheep among the other 3D Marios.