Sights & Sounds
- I really liked the detailed 16-bit-ish pixel art styling of the characters and backgrounds. The set dressing really is top-notch, full of vibrant colors and small touches to make the environments feel distinct and varied. Same goes for the characters; I liked how well the features of the character portraits were captured by the sprites
- Speaking of the sprites, I suspect the uneconomical use of anime cleavage explains the popularity of the franchise at least in part. I usually roll my eyes when a game tries to pander to my Y chromosome that hard, but hey, there's no accounting for taste
- One part of the presentation that I was especially impressed by was the music. I don't really know how to describe it other than "90's video game-y". Different pieces here and there reminded me of the music in Super Mario RPG and Tomba
Story & Vibes
- You play as Shantae, the tit-ular half-genie protagonist and protector of Scuttle Town. Things are going well until the pirate Risky Boots swoops in to kidnap your uncle after he gathers the town to show off an artifact from one of his recent expeditions. Shantae has to travel in search of three seals needed to unlock the hidden power of the artifact before Risky Boots can carry out her nefarious plan
- It's a fairly generic video game plotline; just a mish-mash of "collect the macguffins to save the world" and "save the princess" tropes. Clearly, people aren't playing it for the plot
- Vibe-wise, it's playful and fairly silly. Even the dramatic beats come off more as a Sunday morning cartoon than anything actually serious
Playability & Replayability
- But brushing the presentation and and plot a-sideboob, how is the platforming? Fine and mostly competent. I didn't feel like the actual platforming bits offered much challenge
- I did kind of like the depth-flipping mechanic to add another dimension to the world, but it could have been utilized better for puzzle purposes
- The "metroidvania" tag sometimes gets applied to this game, but its not very generous or creative with those elements. During the course of her adventure, Shantae unlocks three animal transformation spells that are necessary for progression. Unfortunately, these don't see much creative use in platforming (just accessing places you couldn't otherwise) and have only limited utility in combat
- Speaking of combat, it's not very exciting. Most enemies can be overcome by whipping them with your hair, so you'll barely notice the spells available in Scuttle Town's shop. The only one I used regularly in the course of the game was the fireball, and it was mostly for activating distant platforms
- There is some annoying enemy design. The section with the mermaid enemies is technically pretty easy; if you go slow, you probably won't ever get hit. But the number of enemies and the range of their attacks means it's way more efficient to just use your i-frames and chug a potion when you reach the end of the screen
- In spite of that litany of complaints, I did enjoy the boss fights. They were a little on the easy side, but I liked the variation of the challenges offered, and the one reused boss fight didn't feel cheap and made sense in context
- I don't think I'll play this one again or retread it for achievements. I hear the gameplay gets better in the sequels, so I'll probably just move on to those
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I never played the GBA prequel to this game, but I don't think this one has really enticed me to see what an even more feature-barren Shantae game would play like
- It ran fine on the Steam Deck, but the text boxes are huge and the font is ugly. Not sure if it would look more proportional on a better resolution
Final Verdict
- 5.5/10. There are more efficient ways to see cleavage on your computer
- I really liked the detailed 16-bit-ish pixel art styling of the characters and backgrounds. The set dressing really is top-notch, full of vibrant colors and small touches to make the environments feel distinct and varied. Same goes for the characters; I liked how well the features of the character portraits were captured by the sprites
- Speaking of the sprites, I suspect the uneconomical use of anime cleavage explains the popularity of the franchise at least in part. I usually roll my eyes when a game tries to pander to my Y chromosome that hard, but hey, there's no accounting for taste
- One part of the presentation that I was especially impressed by was the music. I don't really know how to describe it other than "90's video game-y". Different pieces here and there reminded me of the music in Super Mario RPG and Tomba
Story & Vibes
- You play as Shantae, the tit-ular half-genie protagonist and protector of Scuttle Town. Things are going well until the pirate Risky Boots swoops in to kidnap your uncle after he gathers the town to show off an artifact from one of his recent expeditions. Shantae has to travel in search of three seals needed to unlock the hidden power of the artifact before Risky Boots can carry out her nefarious plan
- It's a fairly generic video game plotline; just a mish-mash of "collect the macguffins to save the world" and "save the princess" tropes. Clearly, people aren't playing it for the plot
- Vibe-wise, it's playful and fairly silly. Even the dramatic beats come off more as a Sunday morning cartoon than anything actually serious
Playability & Replayability
- But brushing the presentation and and plot a-sideboob, how is the platforming? Fine and mostly competent. I didn't feel like the actual platforming bits offered much challenge
- I did kind of like the depth-flipping mechanic to add another dimension to the world, but it could have been utilized better for puzzle purposes
- The "metroidvania" tag sometimes gets applied to this game, but its not very generous or creative with those elements. During the course of her adventure, Shantae unlocks three animal transformation spells that are necessary for progression. Unfortunately, these don't see much creative use in platforming (just accessing places you couldn't otherwise) and have only limited utility in combat
- Speaking of combat, it's not very exciting. Most enemies can be overcome by whipping them with your hair, so you'll barely notice the spells available in Scuttle Town's shop. The only one I used regularly in the course of the game was the fireball, and it was mostly for activating distant platforms
- There is some annoying enemy design. The section with the mermaid enemies is technically pretty easy; if you go slow, you probably won't ever get hit. But the number of enemies and the range of their attacks means it's way more efficient to just use your i-frames and chug a potion when you reach the end of the screen
- In spite of that litany of complaints, I did enjoy the boss fights. They were a little on the easy side, but I liked the variation of the challenges offered, and the one reused boss fight didn't feel cheap and made sense in context
- I don't think I'll play this one again or retread it for achievements. I hear the gameplay gets better in the sequels, so I'll probably just move on to those
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I never played the GBA prequel to this game, but I don't think this one has really enticed me to see what an even more feature-barren Shantae game would play like
- It ran fine on the Steam Deck, but the text boxes are huge and the font is ugly. Not sure if it would look more proportional on a better resolution
Final Verdict
- 5.5/10. There are more efficient ways to see cleavage on your computer
Paboruu
2 months ago