How much is enough?
I love 3D platformers, specially movement based ones like Super Mario 64. The freedom of using the level design to your advantage is always awesome if done right. Much like 64 and Sunshine this game is a collectathon, were the main objective is to get to the end while trying to collect various items along the way. It's not Donkey Kong 64 or Banjo Kazooie levels of insane collection were there are trillions of different objects to grab, instead most of what we collect is optional. Batteries are like the Stars or Jiggies in this game, end a level and you get one automatically. The candies are the equivalent to your coins, rings, music notes you name it. Can be traded to skip levels on a certain shop in the hub area. Then you have the cakes which can be your Red Coins or Jinjos. The cakes as well as the candies are optional and don't grant you a Battery.
As I said before this game is focused on movement, trying to not play by the rules and getting your own path is really rewarding. Level design is made with this in mind and wants you to use the most out of your moveset. One thing I can say though is that most levels, specially in the "Return Levels" felt more like simple obstacle courses and weren't as imaginative as I wanted them to be. Return Levels are like more difficult versions of past stages, every main level has one of those. They aren't required to beat the game but as the normal stages, it rewards you with a Battery by the end of the level.
It's somewhat difficult to put into words how varied the movement is in this game. Go check out Nitro Rad's video, he gets more in depth about it. I can only say it's simple and really intuitive.
There is combat in this game as well, and unfortunately it is the weakest part of it. You don't directly damage the enemies, you push them to something that can damage them instead. It can be a spike or directly shove them to the void. That very same aspect gets tiring after a while, enemies get tougher to push thus requiring you to get close to assert a more precise punch. You'll need to dodge what enemies are throwing to you as well so more often than not it gets frustrating.
One thing that this game made me fall in love with it's the checkpoint system. It is not marked on the map in a sort of safe zone. Instead, you put your own. Up to 3 flags you can just put at any point of a level and that's it. It entices you to get risky and try the level as much as you want from a point you decide is the most suitable. The levels ain't really that long to begin with, so it comes more as a plus rather than a ncessity you need to rely on all the time.
Few bad things I can say about this game. The music is well, there. It's mostly background music and doesn't do much beyond that. Shame because the fast movement and the dynanism of the level design can be open up to some fire tracks that can go alongside the stages. Talking about levels, the variety isn't as original as I hoped it to be, why? They are thematic stages. You have you snowy world, your lava world, beach world and so on. It feels specially worse in the "Return Levels" that don't try to spin the wheel that much. Thus resulting in a very repetitive and same-y feeling.
The last thing I want to talk about are the different abilities you can obtain after defeating the bosses. They are great, but I wished we could change them on the fly. Using the D-Pad for instant changes would have been the perfect outcome.
So in short. A cool indie platformer with great ideas with an execution that could've been a bit better.
I love 3D platformers, specially movement based ones like Super Mario 64. The freedom of using the level design to your advantage is always awesome if done right. Much like 64 and Sunshine this game is a collectathon, were the main objective is to get to the end while trying to collect various items along the way. It's not Donkey Kong 64 or Banjo Kazooie levels of insane collection were there are trillions of different objects to grab, instead most of what we collect is optional. Batteries are like the Stars or Jiggies in this game, end a level and you get one automatically. The candies are the equivalent to your coins, rings, music notes you name it. Can be traded to skip levels on a certain shop in the hub area. Then you have the cakes which can be your Red Coins or Jinjos. The cakes as well as the candies are optional and don't grant you a Battery.
As I said before this game is focused on movement, trying to not play by the rules and getting your own path is really rewarding. Level design is made with this in mind and wants you to use the most out of your moveset. One thing I can say though is that most levels, specially in the "Return Levels" felt more like simple obstacle courses and weren't as imaginative as I wanted them to be. Return Levels are like more difficult versions of past stages, every main level has one of those. They aren't required to beat the game but as the normal stages, it rewards you with a Battery by the end of the level.
It's somewhat difficult to put into words how varied the movement is in this game. Go check out Nitro Rad's video, he gets more in depth about it. I can only say it's simple and really intuitive.
There is combat in this game as well, and unfortunately it is the weakest part of it. You don't directly damage the enemies, you push them to something that can damage them instead. It can be a spike or directly shove them to the void. That very same aspect gets tiring after a while, enemies get tougher to push thus requiring you to get close to assert a more precise punch. You'll need to dodge what enemies are throwing to you as well so more often than not it gets frustrating.
One thing that this game made me fall in love with it's the checkpoint system. It is not marked on the map in a sort of safe zone. Instead, you put your own. Up to 3 flags you can just put at any point of a level and that's it. It entices you to get risky and try the level as much as you want from a point you decide is the most suitable. The levels ain't really that long to begin with, so it comes more as a plus rather than a ncessity you need to rely on all the time.
Few bad things I can say about this game. The music is well, there. It's mostly background music and doesn't do much beyond that. Shame because the fast movement and the dynanism of the level design can be open up to some fire tracks that can go alongside the stages. Talking about levels, the variety isn't as original as I hoped it to be, why? They are thematic stages. You have you snowy world, your lava world, beach world and so on. It feels specially worse in the "Return Levels" that don't try to spin the wheel that much. Thus resulting in a very repetitive and same-y feeling.
The last thing I want to talk about are the different abilities you can obtain after defeating the bosses. They are great, but I wished we could change them on the fly. Using the D-Pad for instant changes would have been the perfect outcome.
So in short. A cool indie platformer with great ideas with an execution that could've been a bit better.