A bit surprised at how divisive the reception has been with this one. Despite the fair amount of jank and bugs I absolutely loved my time with Penny's Big Breakaway, and would consider it a strong contender got game of the year.
What makes the game so much fun is the absolutely phenomenal movement the game allows. While it may seem a bit hard to get used to in the beginning (and can be fairly unforgiving with mistakes) once you figure things out speeding through the levels and keeping the combo becomes second nature. The level design also helps with this, with tons of secondary paths that showcase just how much tech exists with the relatively simple controls. Music is also phenomenal throughout, with Tee Lopes creating banger after banger which match the aesthetics perfectly.
It's not all perfect sadly. The biggest issue being just how buggy the game could be, with plenty of instances of clipping through the world or some things just not working as intended (thankfully no crashes or frame drops). The ranking system could also be better, with some rather weak explanations for max scoring besides needing to full clear levels (which thankfully is never an issue). Bosses could also be a bit better, as they all just kinda exist and are over as quickly as they appear (besides the final boss which is pretty neat).
Besides those easily fixable issues I had a blast with Penny's Big Breakaway. Once they iron out the issues I'll gladly go back and 100 percent the game because its just so much fun. An easy recommendation for any platformer fan.
9.5/10
UPDATE 3/13
Game got its first big patch so went back and did all the steam achievements (not scrapbooking because the score requirements are insane). Bumping it up to a 9.5 since most of the small technical issues I had got ironed out.
What makes the game so much fun is the absolutely phenomenal movement the game allows. While it may seem a bit hard to get used to in the beginning (and can be fairly unforgiving with mistakes) once you figure things out speeding through the levels and keeping the combo becomes second nature. The level design also helps with this, with tons of secondary paths that showcase just how much tech exists with the relatively simple controls. Music is also phenomenal throughout, with Tee Lopes creating banger after banger which match the aesthetics perfectly.
It's not all perfect sadly. The biggest issue being just how buggy the game could be, with plenty of instances of clipping through the world or some things just not working as intended (thankfully no crashes or frame drops). The ranking system could also be better, with some rather weak explanations for max scoring besides needing to full clear levels (which thankfully is never an issue). Bosses could also be a bit better, as they all just kinda exist and are over as quickly as they appear (besides the final boss which is pretty neat).
Besides those easily fixable issues I had a blast with Penny's Big Breakaway. Once they iron out the issues I'll gladly go back and 100 percent the game because its just so much fun. An easy recommendation for any platformer fan.
9.5/10
UPDATE 3/13
Game got its first big patch so went back and did all the steam achievements (not scrapbooking because the score requirements are insane). Bumping it up to a 9.5 since most of the small technical issues I had got ironed out.
Arus
2 months ago