Dissapointment: Yooka-Laylee

 

Platform: PC, Wii U, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Release date: 2015
Type of Platformer: 3D platformer
Developed by: Playtonic
Collectibles?: Yes and they are needed to 100% the game. 
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Total number of levels: 5(Excluding Hivory Towers which is just the hub world)

So Yooka-Laylee...I'm honestly glad that I had low expectations for this. I mean it's not really a bad game but coming from the ones who made Banjo-Kazooie, you expect that match to be there and it instead lacks so much polish and content.

But before I start to talk about its problems, let's talk about its plot, progression, and collectibles. Yooka the chameleon and Laylee the bat are relaxing about and reading a big book when suddenly, a bee named Capital B and the scientist Dr.Quack prepare their plans for sucking up every book in hopes of finding that "special" one. 

As you can guess, Laylee's book gets taken away along with its pages and the two decide to head to the Hivory Towers to retrieve the book. That's just about it for the overall plot and frankly, that's all that needs to be said as most of the dialogue is centered around breaking the fourth wall and making puns.

But you of course must be wondering whether the entire cast feels right at home like Banjo-Kazooie and that..is a yes and no answer. Yes, the cast is colorful having a sense of quirkiness and gibber. But are they humorous as the bear bird duo cast? No cause like I said much of the humor tends to break the fourth wall which won't deliver many laughs but mild chuckles at best.

It also doesn't help that they don't have much personality as they just serve their purpose and just end at that. The only character that stood out for me is Trowser who is a snake that somehow wears pants.

So then the progression..as you probably know, 3D platformers perform differently than 2D ones where the goal is more often than not to find the main collectibles to unlock more levels. In this case, you enter levels through books, and to unlock further levels, you need to get pagies. Pagies are found by finding them, solving puzzles, accepting missions, and completing certain other tasks. 

Some Pagies are locked however and cannot be obtained unless you get newer moves from snakey pants Trowser. As you progress through the level, you'll come across sections which seem incomplete. As such, you have to use Pagies to expand the level further which is arbitrary as you're exploring the levels to get them in the first place. It's why I always unlock the level and then expand it to get the whole thing rather than half. That way, I never get to see incomplete sections that stop me from getting stuff.

And you thought that we had enough of Shovel knight...

You get a jump and a double jump at first but later on, you unlock more moves both when you in Hivory Towers(Which Trowser gives for free) and in the levels. Some of these moves deplete your gauge but by waiting for a while or touching a butterfly(more on that later) the gauge replenishes.

Unlike Banjo-Kazooie where you can almost get all collectibles without roadblocks, all the levels here have some roadblocks that stop you from getting stuff. So I advise you to unlock all the moves first so that you can get all the collectibles.

Speaking of which, the collectibles are like how they are in Banjo-Kazooie.

1. Pagies: Like Jiggies except they talk a lot more than Jiggies and you don't insert them into the book like how you would for the jiggies with the paintings.

2. Quills: Remember those red and gold feathers from Banjo-Kazooie? Well, they are just that..except instead of offering specific amounts to fly or be invincible, they are Trowser's main currency(what does he need them for?). Get enough of them to use moves and getting them all in a level grants you a Pagie(Except in Hivory towers...) 

3. Mollycool: Similar to the Mumbo Tokens in Banjo-Kazooie that after getting enough of them, turn you into something else to complete certain objectives. Except you only need to get one in each level.

4. Play Coin: Get these to play Rextro's arcade games in each level. Beating the game and getting the high score combined give you two pagies.

5. Ghost Writers: Like Jinjo's from Banjo Kazooie, getting all five of these ghosts gives you a page. Except the five behave differently. Yellow Ghosts stand still so you can get them easily. Red ghosts charge at you and you need to hit them three times while missing their attacks. Blue ghosts giggle when nearby and can only be touched when using Laylee's Sonar Shot at them. Green ghosts play catch me gimmick as they run in specific paths and you have to catch them. Finally, the Purple ghosts want to be fed some ice shots to be touched.  

6. Butterfly booster: Boosts extra health like the extra honeycombs. The only difference is you require one at each level.

7. Power extender: Increases your ability gauge.

Boy, that's a decent amount of collectibles I think(though not as decent as Banjo-Kazooie in my opinion). But how well placed are these collectibles? I guess..decent. Mollycools are placed both near and a bit far from Dr.Puzz while Playcoins is right around where Rextro is. Butterfly Boosters and Power extenders are well placed and can be in unexpected areas. 

Ghosts writers are the toughest to find since even the hunter tonic doesn't sense their location, meaning they are in cryptic parts. Like I spent a lot of time getting the last one in Galleon Galaxy and...let's just say that my curiosity wasn't very rewarded for that one. 

And lastly..there is one collectible that I didn't mention in the list which is the hardest to find and I didn't notice until recently that there are five collectibles called pirate treasure which have skulls with diamond eyes. I never noticed them but getting them is nothing but achievements and it's optional so do it if you want to.

Now that we have those out of the way...let's talk about the two main problems here which as said before polish and content.

Polish

Now before I say anything bad, I want to say that the visuals and music are good as you'd expect for a 3D platformer. However, I'm more of a Banjo fan than a Ukulele(Which sounds like Yooka-Laylee) But kudos to Grant Kirkhope for composing the music here. The only flaw here in the music is that the main theme doesn't exactly match the feel of other themes in the levels like Banjo-Kazooie. 

The first things that come to mind are the technical issues the game has and the butterfly effect. Now I'm not sure if this is apparent even with the console versions but on PC, the game suffers a lot of stuttering and it's very distracting especially when doing some platforming.

Then there's the butterfly effect. You might have noticed that I said Yooka has to use his tongue to get those tasty butterflies. But filling the power gauge also requires butterflies so how can sticking up tongues do that? Short answer...it doesn't and you instead have to touch the butterflies.

So why is this a problem? Well, let's say you're in a situation where you're low on health, you see butterflies. You're tongue doesn't reach enough from a bit far off so you decide to get close to it..only to have mistakenly touched it. So you've filled your power gauge instead. The inverse is also true for power gauge. 

You'll get confused as to what to do to get what you need until you get used to the butterfly effect. I don't know about you, but it's a cumbersome game design. There are many times that I get to butterflies and touch them only forgetting that I have to stick Yooka's tongue to get health and my chances of getting health when I need it are gone. Just imagine a typical platformer where to get points you have to touch the burger but to restore health, you have to eat the burger...but that won't give you points. 

This way of game design to me is unnecessary as you're better off having a different item to serve filling up the power gauge. Heck, Banjo-Kazooie has red feathers to fly and yellow feathers for being invincible..and that was done on limited hardware!

But I'm just getting warmed up! The next problem is the moves. Some of which serve little purpose and are not alternatives for damaging enemies. Like for example..what do you think of body slam? A typical ground pound move right? And what do you use it for? Switches? Sure.

But can't you use it for anything else? Nope. I mean you can try to use it for enemy bashing but it won't be effective when comparing to your tail whip attacks. But ok forget body slam. What about the others?

Well, rolling is used for..slippery slopes and faster movement but isn't effective for enemies. The same goes for many of the moves. The one move air attack is supposed to be used to attack those Corplet Drones but it rarely works and the best way is to use grenades or transforms at them.

Looks cool. Too bad its only job is to dash at piles of snow...

Then there's the problem with moves that are seriously broken balance-wise..like Kirby's UFO broken! The Flappy Flight which you get before the last level allows you to fly for a limited time. The thing is..because it's linked to your power gauge, it will deplete very slowly which means that it will take a long time for it to be completely depleted. This may as well means that platforming past that becomes obsolete as you get this that lets you like..fly anywhere. The same goes for Sonar Shield as you're practically invincible and it's very easy to cheese the final boss because of this..even those drones!

Compare this to Banjo Kazooie. Red and Yellow feathers are required to get to use their respective powerful moves and you can only store 100 of them each. While the red ones are plentiful, the yellow ones are very rare and are only useful in few situations. Which one you think has a better balance of powerful moves here? I'd say Banjo-Kazooie.

And the last part is the level design. The biggest problem is the lack of proper geometry. Now if you don't know what this means, basically, geometries are the 3D versions of platforms designed to stop players from jumping on something that is not a platform, to make players play the levels correctly as in not cheating. 

For example, In 3D platformers like Super Mario 64, you see a slope where a red coin is? Missed it from falling at the top? Well going back there won't work as you'll just fall off. Trying long jumps or triples won't work either. So you'll have to go all the way back to the top to try again(or you can try glitching if you want to...)

Or how about any 3D platformer where you can't just use the interior of the walls that are just for the design of the walls as platforms? Or how about certain invisible walls that stop you from going there and moving elsewhere because those parts are simply for visual purposes?

If you can see where I'm getting at this, then you would understand by now what I meant by chalk. You can practically jump and any object and do a lot of sequence breaking. See a platform too high to reach? No problem..just jump on those two snowed bricks that aren't platforms and then jump on that platform instead of using the intended move. The same goes for the transformations that you get at each level. Their purposes are more like one-time use, unlike Banjo-Kazooie where the transformations could even be used outside of the levels!

Having a hard time collecting stuff. Jump on one of the taller rocks and just look around. I mean you can literally jump on anything to make collecting and progression easier. Heck, there isn't any chalk added for the amount you can fly either..and if you fly too much, you end up being instantly dead, and believe me, I tried it!

You feeling lucky?

And this really is the big problem and why it needed a lot of polish. Besides this, the cart levels with Kartos are terribly executed. The moves are limited and the gem placements aren't tweaked right meaning you can't get all three gems in a row if you didn't time your jump at a very accurate point. It's honestly my most hated part of the entire game but somehow, I managed to get all of them completed..and for what? just one Pagie for each level(well two from the fourth level but that's beside the point.)

And that's that..for polish anyway. Let's talk about...

Content

Let's see what you have here... seven collectible types to get, a hub world, five levels..and what else? Multiplayer? O..kay? Still not enough for my satisfaction, however. Like ok..what do you have in each level that stands out?

Let's see..three types of enemies that are always the same no matter what? Nearly half of the objectives are the same for each and every level? And A hub world that is completely empty throughout?

I'm being serious. All you do in the levels is finding Pagies in the same fashion whatsoever. You have your basic simple puzzle types, mine cart types, arcade types, race types, and then boss types which admittedly are the best in the game as the bosses are very engaging.

Sure, some puzzles stood out..but those are few and far between. Everything else has the same kind of puzzles like jumping through hoops before time runs out, taking the knight pigs to their destined location before the time runs out(yes you read that right.), reaching to specific parts before time runs out. That is all there is to it. Like 70% of the game is focused on gotta do it within the time limit.

And even if that isn't entirely true, the objectives still lack in variety and don't really mix with the theme of the levels very much. The only level to actually stand out with variety is the level is Capital Cashino where instead of Pagies, you receive tokens which you can exchange for Pagies. Not only that but every objective you do actually is unique and not like the other three levels you do(well, except for finding ghost writers and getting 100 quills). But then the final level doesn't do anything at all and is just level one, two, and three all over.

Now let's look at what Banjo-Kazooie had to offer when in comparison. Its got...

Eight collectible types(Two for offensive and one for flying), NINE levels with variety(even enemies!), a hub world that needs two collectibles to expand the world further, and a real ending unlocked after 100% the game. Which one here offers more meaningful content? Yooka-Laylee? Or Banjo-Kazooie?

Now you're going to argue that since Yooka-Laylee has fewer levels, then it should make up with more quantity of things to do in the levels like the quantity of the collectibles. Well ok..but what does Yooka-Laylee let you do with the stuff that you max out on? Unlocking Tonics which are just buffs?

If they were gonna put N64 low poly graphics, why even bother with high details?

I'll admit that the one that has N64 graphics looks impressive but other than replaying the game in lower graphics, what other reasons would you have to get all the Quills and Pagies? At least with the bear and bird duo, there's a good incentive to 100% the game but here? You get nothing in doing so and the final boss only needs 100 Pagies which is already easy enough to do as said in the polish section.

Look, I get it. It's not very bad levels like..the not so good times for Sonic or an unpolished mess from the getgo. But coming from the dudes who did Banjo-Kazooie, it's a disappointment. 

But hey let's not end all bad here. The new game Impossible Lair seems to be more positively received and the next time we venture to Yooka-Laylee, we look at Yooka-Laylee and the impossible lair.

Well, that's that from the Super Platform Gamer. Until next time, this is me saying...

                                                            GET JUMPING!

 

Retrospective: Shantae

This is a brand new topic that will just talk about how the overall series has turned out from the start to the finish. Since there are only five games here, it shouldn't be a problem reviewing them all.

So with that out of the way, we're gonna start with one of the known Platform-Adventure ones and that's Shantae!

 

First off, let's talk about the Heroine and the Villain here!

Name: Shantae

Objective: Guarding Scuttle Town and stopping Risky Boots evil schemes.

Likes: Umm...pretty much what girls would like? 

Abilities: Can transform into different animal forms. The most known ones are Monkey, Elephant, Bird, and Mermaid. Also can use her hair as a whip. 

Shantae is a simple heroine. All she wants is for Scuttle Town to be safe from Risky Boots evil attempts. Now there are moments where the games do have some form of character development as she wants to know of her past to some extent. 

Now we look into the main villain of the series...Risky Boots!

Name: Risky Boots

Objective: Rule over Sequin Land...or take revenge on Shantae.

Likes: Ruling over the sea.

Abilities: Can use her pistol gun, call out her Tinkerbots, uses swords...all typical pirate stuff.

Risky Boots is nothing but a pirate who wants to take over Sequin Land. She'll do anything to achieve that even if it means stopping Shantae(guess she's really good at taking risks! get it?). Why she wants that goal? No idea..though Pirate's Curse does have some kind of background for her but..not by much.

However...Shantae thinks that she has a soft spot deep down.

So we got through the main heroine and the villain. Now we get into the series.

Title: Shantae

Platform: GBC

Developed by: Wayforward

Published by: Capcom

Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure

Number of levels: 12(but most of them are hub worlds)

Collectibles: Yes but they are optional and are only useful for better progress.

Release Date: 2002

As you can tell, the first one is rather obscure as it's developed for the Game Boy Color..in 2002..a time where the Game Boy Advance was already out a year ago. On top of this, Capcom published this one. Weird isn't it? A Japanese publisher publishing a western-based game?

Anyway, the first one starts off with Shantae stopping Risky from stealing the Steamwork Engine. After finding out from Mimic, Shantae heads out to find the four tablets before Risky does in order to stop her evil plans from taking over Sequin Land.

I gotta admit though. It almost looks like a GBA game!

The game at first tries to play like a straightforward platformer since it has lives and you mostly do platform jumping. But really it's not, as the game has levels that act more like exploring to find a town, visit the town and then find a way to unlock the town's gate to get the tablet.

You're only attack method is Shantae whipping her hair. It can be slow at times and certain enemies take more than one hit. Speaking of which, enemies here are in variety. Female scorpions, female archers, female monsters(I'm kidding), and ghosts. Oh, and who can forget this series Goombas which are, of course, Risky's Tinkerbats?

    

Eventually, you will unlock a new dance that does things like transforming Shantae into a Monkey that can climb on walls, an elephant that can destroy boulders, a Spider that can climb to higher places, and a bird that can take Shantae to higher platforms. 

They can attack too but they have their own upgrades that have to be collected in order for them to do so. Besides that, you can also just walk if you want but why would you use it?

So how the level design works here is that the majority of the levels have it focused on platforming rather than having areas that are for exploring. What I mean here is that you will tend to keep jumping from platforms to platforms for most of the time, rather than how most platform adventures work, where you don't always rely on platforming to make progress.

Because of this, some sections tend to drag when it comes to just going to the next town.

To make matters worse, the game has nighttime where enemies are tougher, and that these firefly collectibles are only present at night. When night comes is never clear, however, which can be a problem.

Don't make her scream or she'll burst your eardrums!

But to be fair, there are four squids per town that you can get that give you a dance form, which makes it faster to get to areas. You have minigames like dancing and gamble which give you more gems but they are too hard to do. Oh, and I guess you can buy items like Pike Ball which damages enemies while it goes around Shantae.

I guess the only other odds in this one is the life system being here. There's no reason for this at all as if you end up losing a life, you just resume from the same part which makes fighting bosses awkward as their health does not reset. Belly dancing is also tedious as you have to perform the right combinations fast and with perfect timing! Gems could be problematic to get, but not by a whole lot if you're skilled enough to win dances and gambits.

And of course..the bottomless pits. Unlike the later games where bottomless pits are less common, here they are not and because of the screen crunch, you're going to end up falling down.  Fortunately, you can get the cloud upgrade which prevents you from falling down..well..only for a short time.

Humor isn't much here and the characters are hardly expressive. But considering that they made a game like this work on GBC, I can cut them some slack. Heck if you put this on GBA, it has inbuilt enhancements so good for that!

Now if you're going for the original game, good luck cause it's damn near expensive! But fate is so kind to us that it's out on the 3DS e-shop at a mere 5$. Also of note is that it's coming to the Switch I think at the time of writing this.

Next up is Risky's Revenge

Title: Shantae Risky's Revenge

Platform: Dsi, PC, IOS, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Wii U

Developed by: Wayforward

Published by: Wayforward

Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure

Number of levels: 6

Collectibles: Yes but they are optional and are only useful for better progress although the ending image depends on whether you 100% or not.

Release date: 2010

I'll admit that hearing how the original didn't do so well, I didn't think that Wayforward could muster up a sequel. But after eight long years, they finally did..and it is SO much better!

The most obvious one is the graphics. They are far more colorful and vibrant compared to the original with those buttery belly dancing animations! (*ahem*) that aside, the characters and gameplay are also a step up in the right direction.

The story takes place after the events of the first one. Shantae, her uncle Mimic, and her friends Bolo and Sky find a Lamp sealed in a stone. As they examine it, Risky steps in steals the lamp and runs away. For not taking care of Scuttle Town, the mayor fires Shantae but that isn't enough for her to still stop Risky again. 

There are new characters that are added and because it's on a much-advanced console, characters are slightly more expressive. There are more cutscenes added, now with illustrated portraits. This is also where they begin adding more humor and it's not funny funny. It's just..meh funny if you catch my drift.

The gameplay plays like the original. Walk-in hub worlds, find people to talk to, go to the main areas, complete the dungeons, and beat the boss in the dungeon. There are some fetch quests here and there that have items for progress,  but they can be done fast enough since the worlds are small in size. 

New abilities are introduced such as backsliding, and the ability to increase whipping speed and attack! But the best thing now is that transforming no longer requires button presses as just one simple pose gets you the transform.  

While Monkey and Elephant remain the same as before, instead of Harpy(the bird), you get Mermaid which allows Shantae to swim underwater. Certain abilities require you to get Magic jars for a certain amount like getting Pike Ball an upgrade for example. Heart containers are also present which you know..grant more health?

There are panels that give a cool 3D effect!

Besides that, there is some quality of life improvements too. Now you don't need to get four squids for instant warps as there are warp statues all around that make it easier to access areas from afar. She no longer screams like in the original, and bottomless pits are now easy to spot thanks to those dead skull sprites that show up.

And there's some replay value too. Depending on how much time you take to beat the game, and whether you 100% the game or not, the game's image ending differs. 

But it comes at a cost...its length. I mean looking at the information above, it has only six levels. And in that, you only come across three dungeons. That's too short. And the map is too simple. I mean sure, it's better than the prequel where you're clueless but it could still be better.

Hmm...something seems off here.

This I think is a good starting point for those wanting to start out the series. Sure, it's kinda short( seriously..only six levels?) But it's much better everywhere else and it's worth the price tag. Heck, the director's cut adds more content where you have Shantae only cast just magic and less health!

And now we move on to my favorite game in the series...Pirate's Curse!

Title: Shantae and the Pirates Curse

Platform: 3DS, PC, Amazon Fire TV, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Wii U

Developed by: Wayforward

Published by: Wayforward

Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure

Number of levels: 11

Collectibles: Yes and 100% is required to get the true ending.

Release date: 2014

The game takes place after the events of the second one. Shantae Heads out to stop some guy called Ammo Barron, who ends up becoming the new mayor in Scuttle Town and he just punishes Shantae by getting her to stay only in her house.

As Shantae takes a bath, Risky kidnaps her and mistakes her for stealing Risky's pirate equipment. Risky develops a theory that the Pirate Master is behind her stolen equipment and so the two decide to team up and get back Risky's equipment before the Pirate Master does.

This is when the series really got me into the series..for real! And many would say that Pirates curse is their preferred game over the others. But why is it that good? Well, let me tell you!

For the first time in the series, it feels like an actual Platform-Adventure. The maps now have that classic design layout that is generally used for Platform-Adventure games. This layout is known for two things. To know what areas you've yet to uncover, and what items you've potentially missed out on. 

Sure, maybe Risky's Revenge was fine without this layout but it is so helpful to know what collectibles you've missed out on. Especially if you're in that part where you can't remember which paths were blocked.

If you get the 3DS version, you can see the map at the bottom screen while playing at the top screen!

And besides, progress is simplified too. You just select the next level when you get aboard the ship and then start the level mate!

The next thing here is abilities. Because of plot reasons, Shantae can't use her transformation abilities this time around. But instead, she uses the pirate equipment that is found in the dungeons. These abilities are incredibly subtle, unlike the transformations which slow down the pace a bit.

The upgrades feel like actual ones that are used in a typical Platform-Adventure. The Pistol for full range attack, the Cap that can be used for hovering, and the boots which work just like the booster from Metroid which is dashing at super speed and destroying everything in your way!

And then finally, there's the level design which is by far the best level design ever. Levels don't feel anywhere as passable as it was in the earlier ones. There's tons of variety in the level design itself.

I'll give you one example. There's a section in the game where you have to avoid yourself from getting caught by enemies while rescuing the others. And it doesn't drag the pace either since, after this section, you just face the dungeon. 

It doesn't stop just there as there is a lot of variety in the level environments as well like Fire and Ice worlds and ancient pyramid kinds too! The previous games might have had some of this, but the levels in pirate's curse are far too memorable.

Gliding with the cap is just so darn fun!

The level structure is also great. The platforming is great, there are not many sections in the game that prompts you to get better equipment, and yes because of how it's done, there are no

Pirate's Curse doesn't have as many collectibles compared to the other two. The only ones here are heart squids and cracklebats that are monstrous tinkerbots that you should catch hold of somewhere in the levels. But that means less padding and more progress which is good in my book. Magic is gone here and the sub-items can now be used based on how many you have.  

And best of all, 100% the game actually gives you a better reward than just a better ending image which is as you guessed it, the better ending. And damn the final boss music is upbeat. Heck, the entire soundtrack is brimming with energy and I keep hearing it from time to time. This is without a doubt Jake Kaufman's best work in the series.

I guess the only step down it took is that to get more hearts, you now have to get four squids and give them to a Squidsmith, who smashes four cute squids just to give you one heart. And ok, some might argue that why would I be fine with this when I should get a full one like the other games? 

And yeah you'd be right...but considering how easy most of them are to get and that they are labeled in the map design, I'd cut off some slack. Besides, enemies now drop food items that are frequent and you can get upgrades that make things easier for you as usual so I'd cut it some slack.

With vibrant visuals, fantastic gameplay, and well thought out level design along with a great soundtrack, Pirate's curse is simply the best one in the series. I recommend playing this after playing Risky's Revenge first since their plots are connected.

And now we look at two games that start to make the series..way backward

Title: Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

Platform:  PC, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Switch, Wii U

Developed by: Wayforward

Published by: Wayforward

Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure

Number of levels: 5

Collectibles: Yes but they only exist for easier progress and you get nothing else.

Release date: 2016

Unlike the trilogy of the games, Half-Genie hero was funded through Kickstarter, and despite their goals not being met, the game eventually came to fruition. And boy did it do a lot of things that were good...and questionable.

First the good. Gone are pixel art sprites and now hand-drawn sprites. Not exactly sure if this is good or bad seeing as how I love pixel art but ok I guess though the character portraits are a disappointment compared to Pirate's Curse. 

Music is once again top-notch especially "Dance through the danger". And now the game is an entire reboot. 

Yep, you heard that right. It's a reboot meaning all the events that happened at Pirate's Curse are never mentioned here. So if you somehow aren't sure to get Risky's Revenge at least, then this is the best...starting place?

But that's where all the good ends and now its time to talk about the questionable. But before we dive to that, let's go briefly into the story. Shantae has a dream that she enters a secret cave. Upon entering it, a voice tells Shantae that she is the only one who can stop evil. She wakes up from her sleep and heads out to see Mimic developing the Dynamo to protect Scuttle Town. 

You know the drill at this point right? Risky shows up, wreaks havoc at Scuttle town, Shantae stops here, the mayor for some reason fires her, and so Shantae decides to help Mimic get the parts for the Dynamo while stopping Risky's plans.

Is this supposed to be funny?

The story is alright. At least, in this case, we get to see some kind of origins of Shantae, and while it's so little to know of, what's shown here is good enough so to speak.

But now we get to the questionable design choices. Remember I said that it's a reboot? Well, it kinda is even in the gameplay side of things as they once again decided to go with more platforming sections like in the very first game instead of the kind that was in the other two. 

But then there's a problem. See they decided to add blocked progress with specific items for every level. So to make progress, you need to get specific items in that level by talking to specific characters in that level. 

But to do this, you have to play the level in the same form over again. This means that you have to go through the same platforming of that level multiple times in order for you to reach those characters or find specific items. 

There is no way to instantly warp here and while Pirate's curse doesn't have warp points, at least there are shortcuts you can take to keep up the pace unlike here. You at least have checkpoints in case you die and that certain transformations can help you skip platform sections. But why? Especially when it's a game that heavily relies on backtracking. 

Get used to this level select while you're at it.

But you might be asking why to complain about this if I love platforming? I mean heck, even games like Super Mario World require some kind of backtracking to unlock some levels right? Well yes and no cause for something like Super Mario World, you only need to find three switches and the levels hint you which power blocks you need to get in order to unlock more levels.

So you only need to at best play the same level twice. And seeing they can be completed faster, it's usually not a problem. Here, however, it is because you have to play the same level multiple times in order to get all the items at that level sooner or later.

Going into transformations, they are back here too. Monkey, elephant, bird, spider, and mermaid return but then come newer ones like a bat, spider, crab, mouse, and jar. Monkey does what it does best which is climbing from walls to walls. 

I gotta say that this time instead of holding the button waiting for the pose, you have to select which form to pick but these forms keep getting shuffled so you have to pick them at a good timing which is frustrating. 

Now there are foreground effects within the levels here!

Anyways, the elephant does the usual, bashing on strong rocks. Bird lets you fly around. Mermaid swims underwater. Spider lets you climb up on platforms that are on top and at the sides too. You know who else is fine with climbing on platforms? The monkey. 

But then we come to the newer forms. Bat simply sends you from one side to the other without any change in direction which is uh..neat? You know who else flies better? The bird. 

Then you have crab whose only purpose is sinking underwater. You know who else can go underwater? Come on take a guess here...its the mermaid!

See where I'm getting at? The newer forms don't really do anything that is significantly different than what the other forms do but better. Crab is the only exception to this since the mermaid can't fit into smaller gaps for some reason. 

The only ones left are the mouse and the jar. The mouse is almost never used and when it is required, it is used on sections that tend to drag over and over again. All Jar does is give out free money. 

Other forms are Duryad and Blobfish. One gives out oranges and the other...flip flops on the ground.

And on top of that, they come with abilities which you must find in order to make better use of them. 

In terms of collectibles, there isn't much. You have gems, heart holders now instead of heart squids, abilities, and story-based items. That's about it. You get a better ending pic depending on how fast you complete the game with a total percentage but that's about it. 

Level design is shallow with many sections that have secrets being very unfulfilling most of the time. There are blocks that you can destroy and they are often placed in places where you would think they hold secrets but they don't. 

And ok, in some cases, Pirate's curse and Risky's Revenge might have that but those sections in those games are few and far between especially in the latter where there is an easter secret if you do destroy a certain block.

It also doesn't help that the difficulty is reduced thanks to so many factors that are in. You have more ways to heal, an item that allows you to infinitely use magic, and more arsenal on your side. At least you can't exploit the boss fights so easily since they are all timed moments only.

Not to mention that being a game with just a few levels to explore, it's lacking in content. Fortunately, Wayforward added DLC which has additional modes to play to compensate for that. Like being able to play as Bolo, Sky, and Rottytops, Risky having her own story and mods that are based on other Wayforward games like Mighty Switch Force(Really should get into it sometime!)

But unless you'd like the game the way it is which is basically, lacking a Platform-Adventure type of gameplay, you're better off just playing the main game if you don't mind it being like the very first game.

And then we go into the final game...which is another way backward

Title: Shantae and the Seven Sirens

Platform: macOS, PC, IOS, PS4, Xbox One, Switch.

Developed by: Wayforward

Published by: Wayforward

Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure

Number of levels: 11

Collectibles: While they serve to make progress easier, you do get rewards for 100% of the game.

Release date: 2020

This time the story takes place in Sunken City where Shantae and her friends head for their vacation. Shantae must dance at the Genie grand festival to show the world how valuable half genies are. After finding all the five other half genies, the festival begins. 

But suddenly, all the half-genies except Shantae are kidnapped. So she sets out to save them and find out who's responsible. I can say without a doubt that this is the weakest story in the series. Remember how I said that the scorpion enemy defeat animations were lifeless? 

I just took a screenshot and I honestly don't know if this is Half-Genie or Seven Sirens...

Well, that is apparent here including nearly all the supporting characters. Sirens' histories are never fully explored, the characters most of the time serve no purpose in the plot and the expressions are generally weak with very limited character portraits even though the character portraits are better illustrated here.

Now the gameplay is mostly similar to Half-Genie Hero with just two exceptions. Instead of platforming levels, it now has interconnected levels that almost plays like Pirate's Curse. The other thing now is that there is a new power called Fusion magic. 

It comes in two types. One is in forms and the other is in dance. This means that transformations are not linked with dancing as they now have separate functions. Newt is just Monkey, Gastro is just a spider but it can only dig through yellow walls. Tortoise is Elephant but worse since it bounces back upon impact from walls, which makes speedrunning with it tedious. 

The frog is just a mermaid but it can never stop moving and it only slows down so passing through certain obstacles can get tedious. Finally, we have jet octo which just gives two extra jumps like the Cannon from Pirate's Curse...yay.

Then the dances which are one-time use. Seer just shows you hidden stuff in the levels. Refresh grows some plants and other things plus regains some of your health. Spark just sends out electricity and gives some damage to enemies, and the Quake obliterates everything and opens certain sections.

Other kinds of collectibles that you get here are just heart squids(from pirate's curse) and golden nuggets(I'll get back to this later). Past that, just gems, food, and abilities that are overpowered here. Seriously, getting gems becomes a joke after a while and its easy to get all buffed. 

New here are monster cards and if you get enough of one kind, you unlock an ability that can range from useful to extremely broken. I'm talking about never taking damage from bottomless pits broken. 

I'm talking about dealing thrice damage broken. It makes combat a lot easier. No joke since your arsenal for healing both health and magic are large and enemies drop out food very frequently...almost makes getting Heart Squids pointless. 

Combat can get ignored really fast most of the time and because of how powerful you are here, it's really easy to defeat bosses rapidly since they almost don't have timed beat-up moments, unlike the earlier games. Just use silk cream+ Shampoo+ Swords and you've defeated the boss before you know it and it doesn't wear off unlike in pirate's curse.

And the level design is another thing. While it's better than Half-Genie hero, the game neither displays the caves that you explored in the map nor does it hint to you where the golden nuggets are which means you'll wander around finding the caves where the hear squids or the golden nuggets are making exploring for them tedious. 

The only real purpose the level design serves is getting through progress and finding out gold nuggets. Past that, you don't do anything else in the levels which make them empty. Even after having warp positions, its still tedious to explore the levels since they do not have shortcuts like in Pirate's Curse and there is only one warp point in each world no less.

And what do you get when receiving golden nuggets you ask? If you trade it to some of the people out there, you get very powerful monster cards. Wow! Like the game's not easy enough so the devs made it even easier for you!

But at least the music is still good right? Nope. It's a disappointment. It's a step back from the previous two as the music here is mostly generic and forgettable. Probably because Jake Kaufman is absent this time around.

Look I don't want to be negative here. But honestly, it still feels like a step back like Half-Genie Hero and lacks in more content. At least Half-Genie hero made up for the replay value but here, there is almost none. Weak story, weak characters, shallow gameplay, and disappointing music overall is what the fifth game is in the end. Between this and Half-Genie Hero, I rather play Half-Genie hero over this unless this gets patched.

If despite my pessimism you still want to give it a shot, I advise you to get it at a lower price cause its not worth the 30$ in my humblest opinion.

Well, those are all the five games covered so how is the series going on? Honestly, it's tough.

On one hand, the series has potential considering the simple plots, characters, and worlds. For a series of platformers, this is much needed and Shantae does that just right. The only thing I wish it could do better is in the humor as I just find it weak. Maybe have slapstick moments there like giving Bolo a whack? 

But if they want to focus a lot on the story, then they have to do everything in fleshing out the characters. And I don't just mean in the case of Seven Sirens but the general gist. Like why doesn't Sky or Shantae pity Bolo? Or what is with the Barrons especially Squid Barron? These things need to be explored more for the characters to stand out more than they are now. 

The only characters that are explored are Shantae and Risky. Everyone else is just mostly there for the sake of being there. Rottytops just randomly ends up being Shantae's friend and they don't have anything related or any kind of backstory. Same goes for Shantae and Sky who is her best friend and you don't get any history between them.

As for transformations, I'm fine with the genie forms if they just gave you the abilities and not have you find their abilities separately, especially if they are handy during combat. But the way its done makes combat mostly a chore especially if you're forced to buy power-ups to ease it out 

And while Seven Sirens does that, the abilities aren't as fun as the previous forms. The tortoise should have just acted as a booster completely. The frog should have been a mermaid with the ability to have control swimming instead of just having sections moving through paths like mazes collecting coins.

But then there's pirate's curse, where transformations are gone but have abilities that are more fun than the transformations themselves. And that it tops all the games in the series even now because of everything that it just does the best. Even characters are portrayed here better than everywhere else.

When you look at the last two games, for platform-adventures, they play too easily and levels aren't very fun at least in the Seven Sirens case. I wouldn't mind easy games if the series just ended up being straightforward platformers where it's just moved to the right and don't lose lives but the series isn't like that so the challenge needs to be there.

If Wayforward can learn from Pirate's Curse and offer variety to the levels, a charm to characters, memorable music, better map layouts, and can just make transforms more instant, I'm Ret2Go there!

But as it is, it's too early to say whether the series is looking slim or not. 

Sorry girl. I can't go out with half-genies that only give half a wish.

Well, that was long enough. I would like to venture to another retrospective perhaps maybe big ones like Mario..or Kirby..or even Sonic!  

Until next time this is SPG saying...

                                                                GET JUMPING!

                            Yeah, I changed my catchphrase. Hopefully, it's good!