I'm fond of Giana Sisters entirely for this Port Sherry comic. It is perhaps entirely missing the point of the comic to go from it to a more modern revival, but what can I say?Anyway, I'd clocked this game years ago, only loosely aware of The Great Giana Sisters, and thought it looked pretty decent, so this was a long overdue visit even outside the comic.
Twisted Dreams is a standard 2D platformer ¡with a twist! The player controls Giana, who is able to switch back and forth between her "cute" and "punk" forms at will. Cute Giana can float to the ground by spinning, Dixie Kong style. Punk Giana gets a fiery midair dash, though if she hits a wall, she'll bounce off at a 60° angle. This can be chained, resulting in sequences where Punk Giana bounces all the hell over the place. Also, it's a homing attack.
As you might guess, Punk Giana is way more fun to play as. I mean, the instrumentation changes whenever she appears to covers by Machinae Supremacy! It's not even fair. But luckily for Cute Giana, this game is less Donkey Kong Country and more Ikaruga - you're changing characters to navigate unique obstacles and collect uniquely-colored collectables. Both forms get their time in the spotlight.
Twisted Dreams is a case where the core gameplay is surprisingly tight, but the level design doesn't make the best use of it. Giana is actually quite fun to control as the player grows more confident with her momentum and the ability to switch forms midair, learning how to extend jumps. There's the makings of an excellent momentum-based platformer here.
If only the level design really teased out that potential! The levels that exist are generally fine, but they feel like they were designed without Giana's full suite of abilities in mind. Like, yes, switching forms comes up a lot, between the red/green platforms and gems that only exist for one version, but I never fully feel like the levels here are getting the most out of how quickly Punk Giana can move, or how long Cute Giana can drift. By way of example, there are so many stretches where Giana's just walking from one cluster of obstacles to another cluster of obstacles, like each set represents a different suite of ideas or something. I think, whenever the player finds themselves using the dash move to get to the next set of stuff rather than as part of navigating obstacles, that's a sign that the level design there has fallen off.
I... also don't love the art style? I think the visual direction is quite strong, how the game world switches between dark and light in contrast to Giana's Cute/Punk forms. But I don't really like any of these character designs, admittedly. Something about how stringy the hair looks, or how much it's trying to do stylized character models in a realistic aesthetic, or maybe the lighting...? I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's one of those where I like the animations and motion, but not these characters themselves.
Having said all of that, I still think this game is very much worth playing. The core is rock-solid, just in need of being teased out. But there is a DLC pack...
Twisted Dreams is a standard 2D platformer ¡with a twist! The player controls Giana, who is able to switch back and forth between her "cute" and "punk" forms at will. Cute Giana can float to the ground by spinning, Dixie Kong style. Punk Giana gets a fiery midair dash, though if she hits a wall, she'll bounce off at a 60° angle. This can be chained, resulting in sequences where Punk Giana bounces all the hell over the place. Also, it's a homing attack.
As you might guess, Punk Giana is way more fun to play as. I mean, the instrumentation changes whenever she appears to covers by Machinae Supremacy! It's not even fair. But luckily for Cute Giana, this game is less Donkey Kong Country and more Ikaruga - you're changing characters to navigate unique obstacles and collect uniquely-colored collectables. Both forms get their time in the spotlight.
Twisted Dreams is a case where the core gameplay is surprisingly tight, but the level design doesn't make the best use of it. Giana is actually quite fun to control as the player grows more confident with her momentum and the ability to switch forms midair, learning how to extend jumps. There's the makings of an excellent momentum-based platformer here.
If only the level design really teased out that potential! The levels that exist are generally fine, but they feel like they were designed without Giana's full suite of abilities in mind. Like, yes, switching forms comes up a lot, between the red/green platforms and gems that only exist for one version, but I never fully feel like the levels here are getting the most out of how quickly Punk Giana can move, or how long Cute Giana can drift. By way of example, there are so many stretches where Giana's just walking from one cluster of obstacles to another cluster of obstacles, like each set represents a different suite of ideas or something. I think, whenever the player finds themselves using the dash move to get to the next set of stuff rather than as part of navigating obstacles, that's a sign that the level design there has fallen off.
I... also don't love the art style? I think the visual direction is quite strong, how the game world switches between dark and light in contrast to Giana's Cute/Punk forms. But I don't really like any of these character designs, admittedly. Something about how stringy the hair looks, or how much it's trying to do stylized character models in a realistic aesthetic, or maybe the lighting...? I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's one of those where I like the animations and motion, but not these characters themselves.
Having said all of that, I still think this game is very much worth playing. The core is rock-solid, just in need of being teased out. But there is a DLC pack...