A real jolly good time, feels very much like a late 90s/early 2000s platformer made in 2024; unfortunately, I’m not sure how much of this is paying homage, and how much is just due to it being rough around the edges.
It’s a very standard 3D platformer with satisfying movement options. If you’re looking to scratch that Super Mario Odyssey itch, this might just be the game you’ve been longing for.
It’s very much themed around yo-yo tricks. Not necessarily ones that performers do in real life; it’s more far-fetched. Like riding the yo-yo like a little hoverboard kind of far-fetched. The best comparison I can make is that it’s similar to how Yoku’s Island Express uses pinball. It’s more enamored to the concept than it is to how it’s realistically utilized, which works in its favor.
There’s a fun little story being told, and the dialogue both in and out of cutscenes is hilarious and light in tone. However, there are weird gaps between cutscenes and gameplay sequences. For exemple, there’s an instance of a sailor that had its ship damaged talking normally to the protagonist before realizing who they were talking to; they start to get angry and then the game suddenly cuts to a gameplay sequence where you have to fix their ship while avoiding their attacks. It’s sudden, and while you can piece things together, it’s still an odd jump. Such moments are frequent and can make a very simple story seem messier than it is. Luckily it is, while good fun, not what we’re here for.
Each world is memorable and unique, thanks to a strong art direction that isn’t afraid to get trippy, and levels that follow the themes faithfully. That does work against it, though, as most worlds just present themselves through the first level and the rest of them don’t really build upon the concept; they’re just more of the same. The levels themselves are fine, they’re all over the place with multiple paths while being very intuitive in terms of progression.
While the movement itself is very fun, the game does suffer from depth problems. I’m not sure if it’s the pre-programed camera angles or if its the saturated art style, but there were a lot of times where I was way farther than I previously thought, or the opposite. The camera is specially weird, they settled for this angle that can only be micro adjusted using the d-pad (as the right stick is used for yo-yo tricks) and it works most of the time, but backtracking becomes nigh impossible, making going back for collectibles a risky choice at best.
The collectibles spread throughout, composing of three special coins and three little side quests (or as the game likes to call them, dilemmas) per level. The coins are pretty standard collectathon stuff, but the little quests are quite fun; they all follow the level’s path (so no backtracking) and are quite varied, between collecting a certain number of objects within a time limit to reaching a certain score in the yo-yo tricks point system. And yes, there is a scoring system similar to what you’d find in a hack and slash, but it involves doing the maximum amount of tricks without standing still on the ground. It’s pretty basic dopamine-farming stuff, and it sometimes can feel a little inconsistent, but it is quite rewarding to reach a high score while speeding through a level.
The difficulty balancing is fine. It’s not hard nor easy, it feels just right. Definitively on the jollier side, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
As stated before, the art direction is intriguing, but visually the game isn’t the most appealing. It is cute and bright, but the saturation makes colors clash in weird ways and the models aren’t the best looking. There’s a blur on faraway objects and sceneries that makes them look like watercolor painting, and it just looks weird on an HD screen.
This being a shadow drop, it makes me wonder if it should had spent a little more time in the oven. It’s not a buggy mess, but there were a bunch of moments when weird collisions, physics, or just plain bugs got in the way of the gameplay. There’s a little button-prompt minigame at the end of each level that isn’t the most polished, and it’s as precise as it looks. And it looks weird. Not as weird as the in-engine cinematics, though. Specially in boss fights; some of the animations look like those 2000s adult swim low-budget animations, like Xavier Renegade Angel.
Alright, that was a bit too harsh. But I do wish it looked a little more pleasant. It just made them feel anticlimactic, which is the opposite of what a boss fight should be. I’d be happier if it just settled for not doing it at all, instead of them looking and feeling like that.
Also, the menus look nice, but there’s some odd choices here and there. You can press the left and right bumpers to access the in-game shop and some challenge levels (that are short, fun and use the coin collectibles to unlock) respectively, but pressing the return button takes you back to the start screen instead of the level selection. I believe it’s meant to cycle between the three options, but it is an annoying and easy mistake to make. Or maybe I’m just stupid. Either way, I hope they patch that shit.
One thing I want to praise are the 2D art sequences they have going on. It looks beautiful and it fits with the regular 3D art-style nicely.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this one, but I wish it had a little more going for it. It’s an easy recommendation for fans of the genre, but I’m not sure if there’s enough bang for the buck. Might be worth it after a few price drops, or if you just want to support the Sonic Mania dev team.
It’s a very standard 3D platformer with satisfying movement options. If you’re looking to scratch that Super Mario Odyssey itch, this might just be the game you’ve been longing for.
It’s very much themed around yo-yo tricks. Not necessarily ones that performers do in real life; it’s more far-fetched. Like riding the yo-yo like a little hoverboard kind of far-fetched. The best comparison I can make is that it’s similar to how Yoku’s Island Express uses pinball. It’s more enamored to the concept than it is to how it’s realistically utilized, which works in its favor.
There’s a fun little story being told, and the dialogue both in and out of cutscenes is hilarious and light in tone. However, there are weird gaps between cutscenes and gameplay sequences. For exemple, there’s an instance of a sailor that had its ship damaged talking normally to the protagonist before realizing who they were talking to; they start to get angry and then the game suddenly cuts to a gameplay sequence where you have to fix their ship while avoiding their attacks. It’s sudden, and while you can piece things together, it’s still an odd jump. Such moments are frequent and can make a very simple story seem messier than it is. Luckily it is, while good fun, not what we’re here for.
Each world is memorable and unique, thanks to a strong art direction that isn’t afraid to get trippy, and levels that follow the themes faithfully. That does work against it, though, as most worlds just present themselves through the first level and the rest of them don’t really build upon the concept; they’re just more of the same. The levels themselves are fine, they’re all over the place with multiple paths while being very intuitive in terms of progression.
While the movement itself is very fun, the game does suffer from depth problems. I’m not sure if it’s the pre-programed camera angles or if its the saturated art style, but there were a lot of times where I was way farther than I previously thought, or the opposite. The camera is specially weird, they settled for this angle that can only be micro adjusted using the d-pad (as the right stick is used for yo-yo tricks) and it works most of the time, but backtracking becomes nigh impossible, making going back for collectibles a risky choice at best.
The collectibles spread throughout, composing of three special coins and three little side quests (or as the game likes to call them, dilemmas) per level. The coins are pretty standard collectathon stuff, but the little quests are quite fun; they all follow the level’s path (so no backtracking) and are quite varied, between collecting a certain number of objects within a time limit to reaching a certain score in the yo-yo tricks point system. And yes, there is a scoring system similar to what you’d find in a hack and slash, but it involves doing the maximum amount of tricks without standing still on the ground. It’s pretty basic dopamine-farming stuff, and it sometimes can feel a little inconsistent, but it is quite rewarding to reach a high score while speeding through a level.
The difficulty balancing is fine. It’s not hard nor easy, it feels just right. Definitively on the jollier side, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
As stated before, the art direction is intriguing, but visually the game isn’t the most appealing. It is cute and bright, but the saturation makes colors clash in weird ways and the models aren’t the best looking. There’s a blur on faraway objects and sceneries that makes them look like watercolor painting, and it just looks weird on an HD screen.
This being a shadow drop, it makes me wonder if it should had spent a little more time in the oven. It’s not a buggy mess, but there were a bunch of moments when weird collisions, physics, or just plain bugs got in the way of the gameplay. There’s a little button-prompt minigame at the end of each level that isn’t the most polished, and it’s as precise as it looks. And it looks weird. Not as weird as the in-engine cinematics, though. Specially in boss fights; some of the animations look like those 2000s adult swim low-budget animations, like Xavier Renegade Angel.
Alright, that was a bit too harsh. But I do wish it looked a little more pleasant. It just made them feel anticlimactic, which is the opposite of what a boss fight should be. I’d be happier if it just settled for not doing it at all, instead of them looking and feeling like that.
Also, the menus look nice, but there’s some odd choices here and there. You can press the left and right bumpers to access the in-game shop and some challenge levels (that are short, fun and use the coin collectibles to unlock) respectively, but pressing the return button takes you back to the start screen instead of the level selection. I believe it’s meant to cycle between the three options, but it is an annoying and easy mistake to make. Or maybe I’m just stupid. Either way, I hope they patch that shit.
One thing I want to praise are the 2D art sequences they have going on. It looks beautiful and it fits with the regular 3D art-style nicely.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this one, but I wish it had a little more going for it. It’s an easy recommendation for fans of the genre, but I’m not sure if there’s enough bang for the buck. Might be worth it after a few price drops, or if you just want to support the Sonic Mania dev team.