This won't exactly be a review - I loved this game, but what I thought would be interesting to do would be to compare it to another game I love, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. Through the comparison, I can look at the game's strengths and weaknesses. Let's see which is better!
Pro Pirate's Curse:
PC's dungeons were excellent cappers to the levels. HGH has more variety in its level structure, but I loved the big finales that the labyrinthian, challenging, puzzling dungeons offered to each island, testing your skills and offering new abilities.
Progression in PC is a lot more streamlined. HGH sometimes feels in over its head with the backtracking, requiring too many visits with too many abilities that are hard to keep track of. PC proves less is more, as I was actually capable of keeping mental notice of different secrets I couldn't access yet, which proved unfeasible in HGH.
PC's writing is a lot better. While HGH has its moments, PC manages to be consistently hilarious and endlessly charming. I loved most characters and jokes a lot.
Pro Half-Genie Hero:
The visuals in HGH are far more appealing. Don't get me wrong, the pixel art in PC is great, but the backgrounds are all clearly high-def images that were auto-downscaled and look very rough, the particle effects use bad-looking scaling effects, and the UI, especially with the fonts, can often look cheap and unprofessional. HGH fixes all of these, with its beautiful and expressive character sprites, detailed 3D environments, sleek UI and a greater level of polish.
The OST is somehow even better. PC's soundtrack was already phenomenal, yet Kauffman has outdone himself here, delivering absolute nonstop bangers no matter what, using the higher fidelity sound the new style afforded him to great effect.
As I said before, HGH has more variety in its levels, and even though it lacks dungeons, this can be a strength too. It particularly shines with its setpieces, which are grander than any seen in the series before. It is immensely creative.
HGH is just more consistent to me. PC had some very high highs but it hit some lows on quite a few occasions which held it back. HGH is almost always a banger, as Way Forward really perfected the craft.
So, what's my conclusion? Well... I liked HGH a bit more! I feel most of the points for it, the latter 2 in particular, were a real deciding factor for me. The game managed to just be brilliant basically all the time. But I still love both.
Pro Pirate's Curse:
PC's dungeons were excellent cappers to the levels. HGH has more variety in its level structure, but I loved the big finales that the labyrinthian, challenging, puzzling dungeons offered to each island, testing your skills and offering new abilities.
Progression in PC is a lot more streamlined. HGH sometimes feels in over its head with the backtracking, requiring too many visits with too many abilities that are hard to keep track of. PC proves less is more, as I was actually capable of keeping mental notice of different secrets I couldn't access yet, which proved unfeasible in HGH.
PC's writing is a lot better. While HGH has its moments, PC manages to be consistently hilarious and endlessly charming. I loved most characters and jokes a lot.
Pro Half-Genie Hero:
The visuals in HGH are far more appealing. Don't get me wrong, the pixel art in PC is great, but the backgrounds are all clearly high-def images that were auto-downscaled and look very rough, the particle effects use bad-looking scaling effects, and the UI, especially with the fonts, can often look cheap and unprofessional. HGH fixes all of these, with its beautiful and expressive character sprites, detailed 3D environments, sleek UI and a greater level of polish.
The OST is somehow even better. PC's soundtrack was already phenomenal, yet Kauffman has outdone himself here, delivering absolute nonstop bangers no matter what, using the higher fidelity sound the new style afforded him to great effect.
As I said before, HGH has more variety in its levels, and even though it lacks dungeons, this can be a strength too. It particularly shines with its setpieces, which are grander than any seen in the series before. It is immensely creative.
HGH is just more consistent to me. PC had some very high highs but it hit some lows on quite a few occasions which held it back. HGH is almost always a banger, as Way Forward really perfected the craft.
So, what's my conclusion? Well... I liked HGH a bit more! I feel most of the points for it, the latter 2 in particular, were a real deciding factor for me. The game managed to just be brilliant basically all the time. But I still love both.