Man....I don't know entirely how to feel about this one, other than to say: regardless of the quality, this is an entirely unique game and experience, so if that's all you need as a recommendation seek this out.
I guess right off the bat, I love pretty much everything about the presentation, design, and artwork of this. Kind of resting in that Jet Set Radio/Wario/Twinbee/(probably some others) area of an aggressively energetic, sugary style. With no area not being smeared with bright neon candy colors and a constant (somewhat grating) bouncy soundtrack it's kind of an assault. Add in the main element that people will talk about with this, the unexplained full English translation/dub included in a Japan-only game that still feels like a weird rushed dubbing session (the duck stick in your ass talks exactly like Eric Cartman, all the residents of each area have a specific cadence and sometimes rush through their lines and that one gang dog/mouse boy is a guy just holding his nose) and the whole thing ties together that "too weird to take outside of Japan" vibe.
Where things get less cohesive and the cracks in the game start to show is in the actual gameplay, however. Simultaneously, this feels like a baby game meant to just let you experience the world and an obtuse struggle against logic. While I'd say as a whole the game is dirt-easy and seems to be meant for little kids, there are segments that take forever to get through with Poinie's slow speed and solutions to areas that I had to look up videos to figure out (Nightmare World and Bomb Bomb Kitchen being the main ones). The Poin concept of counterbalancing emotions or revealing puzzles is a neat one, and I think with the super short game time they addressed pretty much every variation they could with the mechanics.
So, even though this is both a super short and kind of slog of a game to get through, the amazing visuals (I NEED a full asset rip of this game) and one-of-a-kind nature of this lets me forgive pretty much all the issues (mostly).
I guess right off the bat, I love pretty much everything about the presentation, design, and artwork of this. Kind of resting in that Jet Set Radio/Wario/Twinbee/(probably some others) area of an aggressively energetic, sugary style. With no area not being smeared with bright neon candy colors and a constant (somewhat grating) bouncy soundtrack it's kind of an assault. Add in the main element that people will talk about with this, the unexplained full English translation/dub included in a Japan-only game that still feels like a weird rushed dubbing session (the duck stick in your ass talks exactly like Eric Cartman, all the residents of each area have a specific cadence and sometimes rush through their lines and that one gang dog/mouse boy is a guy just holding his nose) and the whole thing ties together that "too weird to take outside of Japan" vibe.
Where things get less cohesive and the cracks in the game start to show is in the actual gameplay, however. Simultaneously, this feels like a baby game meant to just let you experience the world and an obtuse struggle against logic. While I'd say as a whole the game is dirt-easy and seems to be meant for little kids, there are segments that take forever to get through with Poinie's slow speed and solutions to areas that I had to look up videos to figure out (Nightmare World and Bomb Bomb Kitchen being the main ones). The Poin concept of counterbalancing emotions or revealing puzzles is a neat one, and I think with the super short game time they addressed pretty much every variation they could with the mechanics.
So, even though this is both a super short and kind of slog of a game to get through, the amazing visuals (I NEED a full asset rip of this game) and one-of-a-kind nature of this lets me forgive pretty much all the issues (mostly).