That was... compact. Not precisely light on content, but short and consistently engaging. Full disclosure: I never actually played the original Shantae, and it really seems like the game's plot loves its callbacks; sure there's plenty of contextual information to figure out when and what's going on, but it still feels like opening a book halfway.
In a vacuum, though, Shantae is a crunchy little exploration platformer ("metroidvania" to those who like buzzwords, though sooner or later I'll use the longer, less buzzy term often enough I won't keep having to explain it) starring the bounciest pair of pixel boobs outside of a King of Fighters game. I Dream Of Jeannie aesthetic aside, it's simple enough to explain: you're a half-genie with magic hair and magic dances. Well, sort of. You get the magic dances later, they're your progression mechanic. Do the right dance (once you've earned it, of course) and you turn into a monkey that can climb walls, an elephant that can smash blocks, or a mermaid who can do exactly what you'd expect a mermaid to do.
And all of it's adorable. The spritework here is top notch. (If I could only say the same about the dialogue boxes, which look like they got cribbed straight from a mobile game, sans serif and all, or the dialogue portraits, which err a little close to the likes of Dust on the 'wonky anatomy' scale). It's easy to get a sense of what's going on where, and things are generally intuitive. If it looks like a platform, it probably is. Bottomless pits constantly radiate a fog of skull-and-crossbones to warn you that they're bad news. And so on, and so forth.
If I had any complaints, my biggest would be that the bosses (all...five? Six? of them) felt a bit... grindy. Most of them are damage sponges, and maybe there's some megaman-like system going on with the magic spells but I never found it. Instead, you just have to whip them with your hair approximately twenty bajillion times. Also, the map in-game is utter trash - a purchasable item that shows you a vague suggestion of the game's overworld and is of absolutely no help in dungeons or with item finding. You know, the things you would want a map in this sort of game for. Give me the Super Metroid/Fusion/Zero Mission map any day of the week, please.
All in all, a good game! Maybe not the best out there, but that whole pesky "continuity" thing makes me afraid of playing its sequel before I cleared it, and equally afraid of approaching Half-Genie Hero before playing that.
In a vacuum, though, Shantae is a crunchy little exploration platformer ("metroidvania" to those who like buzzwords, though sooner or later I'll use the longer, less buzzy term often enough I won't keep having to explain it) starring the bounciest pair of pixel boobs outside of a King of Fighters game. I Dream Of Jeannie aesthetic aside, it's simple enough to explain: you're a half-genie with magic hair and magic dances. Well, sort of. You get the magic dances later, they're your progression mechanic. Do the right dance (once you've earned it, of course) and you turn into a monkey that can climb walls, an elephant that can smash blocks, or a mermaid who can do exactly what you'd expect a mermaid to do.
And all of it's adorable. The spritework here is top notch. (If I could only say the same about the dialogue boxes, which look like they got cribbed straight from a mobile game, sans serif and all, or the dialogue portraits, which err a little close to the likes of Dust on the 'wonky anatomy' scale). It's easy to get a sense of what's going on where, and things are generally intuitive. If it looks like a platform, it probably is. Bottomless pits constantly radiate a fog of skull-and-crossbones to warn you that they're bad news. And so on, and so forth.
If I had any complaints, my biggest would be that the bosses (all...five? Six? of them) felt a bit... grindy. Most of them are damage sponges, and maybe there's some megaman-like system going on with the magic spells but I never found it. Instead, you just have to whip them with your hair approximately twenty bajillion times. Also, the map in-game is utter trash - a purchasable item that shows you a vague suggestion of the game's overworld and is of absolutely no help in dungeons or with item finding. You know, the things you would want a map in this sort of game for. Give me the Super Metroid/Fusion/Zero Mission map any day of the week, please.
All in all, a good game! Maybe not the best out there, but that whole pesky "continuity" thing makes me afraid of playing its sequel before I cleared it, and equally afraid of approaching Half-Genie Hero before playing that.
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