Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
May. 15th, 2016 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroJoin the genie half-genie former half-genie Shantae as she has to save Sequin Land from a new foe, the sealed-evil-in-a-can Pirate Master, with help from her nemesis Risky Boots.
This game came in the form of a 3DS download code from the Friends of Nintendo Humble Bundle, and the bundle almost earned its keep from this game alone. I had a lovely time with it.
The game doesn’t take itself seriously, but in the best of ways: The characters run with the ridiculousness and treat it with just the right level of gravitas. You can both accept the danger of the situation to the people of Sequin Land and also Shantae whipping monsters with her hair. (There’s also a delightful He-Man pastiche as one of the side bits.)
The characters are virtually all “bubble bod” buxom anime characters who often take cheesecake poses. Which I totally don’t mind, but other people are sensitive to.
There are a couple of points where I found a walkthrough useful, mostly to get all the heart squids and dark magic, though occasionally because I couldn’t figure out where I was supposed to go back to for a plot point. Similarly, I could play most of the game outdoors, but there are a couple of “dark” areas (including on stealth section) that are relatively straightforward unless you’re trying to play them in natural light, where you can’t see a goddamn thing.
The final area is nail-bitingly insane—early Megaman-style spike-covered platforming hell. If it wasn’t at the very end when stubbornness got me through it, I might have given up. (The saving grace is that bursting from spikes or falling in a pit only costs you a quarter-heart and pops you back to the beginning of the area. Your perseverance will likely run out before your health reserves.)
Overall: This is a delightful little Metroidvania. I got the other game in the series in a Steam bundle (this is actually a sequel, but that wasn’t a big deal), and now I’m totally looking forward to it.
This game came in the form of a 3DS download code from the Friends of Nintendo Humble Bundle, and the bundle almost earned its keep from this game alone. I had a lovely time with it.
The game doesn’t take itself seriously, but in the best of ways: The characters run with the ridiculousness and treat it with just the right level of gravitas. You can both accept the danger of the situation to the people of Sequin Land and also Shantae whipping monsters with her hair. (There’s also a delightful He-Man pastiche as one of the side bits.)
The characters are virtually all “bubble bod” buxom anime characters who often take cheesecake poses. Which I totally don’t mind, but other people are sensitive to.
There are a couple of points where I found a walkthrough useful, mostly to get all the heart squids and dark magic, though occasionally because I couldn’t figure out where I was supposed to go back to for a plot point. Similarly, I could play most of the game outdoors, but there are a couple of “dark” areas (including on stealth section) that are relatively straightforward unless you’re trying to play them in natural light, where you can’t see a goddamn thing.
The final area is nail-bitingly insane—early Megaman-style spike-covered platforming hell. If it wasn’t at the very end when stubbornness got me through it, I might have given up. (The saving grace is that bursting from spikes or falling in a pit only costs you a quarter-heart and pops you back to the beginning of the area. Your perseverance will likely run out before your health reserves.)
Overall: This is a delightful little Metroidvania. I got the other game in the series in a Steam bundle (this is actually a sequel, but that wasn’t a big deal), and now I’m totally looking forward to it.
