spunky

Best game ever made. Don't let my playtime fool you, I have been playing somewhat actively since the game came out in 1999. I have several thousand hours on this game and it only gets better as the years go by.

I really wanted to like this game, but it's just not good. The art is great and the controls feel responsive, but the movement is pretty terrible (you can't perform very small jumps, I always end up jumping too high, and the jump arc is much too slanted and not elegant). The only times I found myself dying were due to these issues, and being impatient because the stages are basically just repeating the same exact action 6 to 12 times.

The stages are mostly noise, there is about 20% content per stage and the rest is just copy-paste some saws and coins around the map. I got sick of collecting all the coins after the first few stages because:

A: It's not challenging, just time consuming.
B: I'm not receiving any feedback for doing it other than a crown above the level icon. Seriously what is the point of this? At least make it tie in to the story somehow (there are no story elements as far as I can tell).

The level order is all screwed up, you have random difficulty jumps everywhere and there is absolutely no theme to any of the levels other than the colour of the bricks and grass. I played through the first two chapters eagerly awaiting a new mechanic, but there were none at all. Every new area in a game should have at least one new mechanic, or at the absolute least reskin the mechanics you have so every level doesn't look exactly the same.

There is no real progression in terms of developing more skill as a player because the game doesn't get progressively harder and it doesn't seem like any thought was put into this. You'll have an extremely difficult jump you need to perform, then never see anything like it again. A game should give you a foundation, then build on that foundation. This felt like playing a list of N++ user-made levels in a shuffled order.

Also the key thing gets old really quick. I really disliked how the key and coins were the same colour (so I had to scan the levels and look for it since I didn't care enough to get the coins). It just felt like a chore and doesn't add any depth to the game. Mechanics like this should be used sparingly, and should fit with the theme of the level. If I'm in a warehouse, sure let me find a golden key to put into a large metal door. But why do I have to do this every stage?

I feel bad leaving such a critical review on a small game like this (and even worse refunding it) but it just truly isn't worth paying full price for. It's a great first effort, and I really hope the developer can learn from their mistakes and make something worth paying 20+ dollars for, because I happily would if the game play was there. I think this could be a great game if more mechanics were introduced, the gimmicks (coins & keys) were used more sparingly, and the level designer studied a lot more platformer games and designed higher quality levels. Quality is always better than quantity.

This is basically like time trial CS:GO surfing combined with gun play from the main game. The old school anime aesthetic fits perfectly with the fast-paced game play, and is neither too distracting or bland.

The premise is to master the physics of your character, and push yourself to clear levels in the fastest time possible. The thing I love about this design is that a level is never really ever "complete". Every level can always be done better, whether it's by seconds or milliseconds. You can't really "speed run" this game, since that's already the intended way to play it. I love that aspect, as it makes me feel like I'm speed running the game, but without the insane amount of hours of practice and preparation the average speed run requires.

The cheesy humour might be too much for some people, but I thought it really hit. It sold the feeling of playing an old playstation game. The use of the "visual novel" type UI for the menus and dialogue sections is really interesting, as It's pretty much the polar opposite of the gameplay. The combination manages to seamlessly create breaks in the action at the perfect times.

It's also got one of the best soundtracks in any game, or modern game especially. I liked it enough that I actually paid for the high quality download for the first time. This is one of my favourite games and I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone.

Honestly one of the best games I've ever played and criminally underrated, idk how this game isn't more popular. I don't have a lot of hours but this game is hard as balls if you care about scoring well. I guess that's what deters a lot of players, and I will admit it was frustrating to learn but once you're any bit good it's an extremely satisfying experience. I had to stop because I was addicted for the short time I played but I'd love to pick it up again sometime soon.

I guess it's not bad but I still didn't win any majors so don't expect to get rich quick playing this game