Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

[HandsomeDead]

So this is the Shantae game that was Kickstarted quite a while ago.  It finally came out at the end of last year and after glancing over at it whenever I was reminded it existed with some encouragement it hasn't lived up to it.  Wayforward are usually solid when it comes to their own projects but I'm wondering if this is struggling what with it being post Shovel Knight.

 

It started off fine, familiar, dorky and cute; a vibe the games always do.  They're never difficult games but throw enough low key platforming that is solid enough to carry this easy going adventure.  But this time, after less than a couple of hours when you've accumulated some Zelda style heart containers, it gets far too easy.  Life pick-ups are everywhere, as are consumable items, and an ability to turn magic into health and on top of that nothing does more than a fraction of damage... and there is a defense buff.  The Metroid aspect of the game finding hidden abilities is solid enough but having it pointlessly easy to get around is more of a chore than it should be.  You can just walk through everything and enemies don't do more damage as the game progresses.

There are a few challenging areas that have pits and spikes that throw you back to checkpoints that are quite far apart, and the bosses have something of a challenge to them but that's about it.

 

I'm playing the Wii U version and I'm kinda disappointed with that, too.  Just a minor thing but it kept bothering me.  I'm sure the last game had Gamepad features, and I'd bet that this was meant to as well.  The only thing you can do on the gamepad is run the game: what is happening on the TV is happening on the Gamepad.  No map or anything.  And what is weird is the item screen has these big, chunky icons that look like they should be pushed, but I have to pause the game and cycle through them.  Why isn't this shit just on the Gamepad?  I swear it must have been on the cards with how the UI is designed but it doesn't work like that at all.  I'm no game maker or anything but I just can't see that being a hard addition, especially since Pirate's Curse did (I think, I could check but I'm too lazy).

 

 

I dunno.

 

It doesn't all play bad, the main loop somewhat remains in other places.  It looks really nice.  It has hand draw animation for the first time and the levels look really nice, most of the music is great and it's got a lot of the components that made the other Shantae games the fun time they are.  But maybe they were games that were always treading water but had enough going on as a whole to still be satisfying.  And with this one some things have give.