I've got another helping of platformer goodness to share with you today, as I have just finished my playthrough of the latest Shantae game. You know the drill by now, so let's get right to it. BACKGROUND:
Shantae has been one of those series I've been aware of for a while, thanks to its recent resurgence through the indie scene. I've watched plenty of Let's Plays and speedruns of the game, but I never got around to playing it until now. I actually intended to start with Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (the game that preceded this one), but Half-Genie Hero was on sale and that wasn't, so I bit the bullet in this case. From what I understand, the story of this game is standalone anyway, so I don't think my decision was troublesome. PLOT: Shantae, for the unfamiliar, is a half-genie (duh) who lives in Sequin Land and is the de facto protector of Scuttle Town. She spends the entirety of the game thwarting the plans of the various villains of the series, including that of her rival Risky Boots, the pirate queen. Simple enough, right. The game is structured in such a way that Shantae's encounters with the villains are episodic in nature, meaning there's no explicit narrative through line binding those adventures together. Instead, the connecting thread of the game's story is established via the B-plot, where Shantae assist her inventor uncle with a contraption of his. Missions connected to this plot are interspersed between Shantae's showdowns with the bosses, and it's not until the very end where the two sides of the game converge. It's a novel approach to a story, and I think it works better than some contrivance that forces everything to be connected. The many characters of the game have their own quirks to them and are overall charming, though people averse to cheesy stories or scenarios may not feel the same way. Though there are inklings of a darker story beneath the surface, majority of Shantae's setting is light-hearted and humorous. PRESENTATION: Shantae's visuals are strikingly vibrant, with tons of bright colors and an interesting decision to use very little black/shades of gray for outlines, leading to a distinct, almost painterly aesthetic. I don't quite know how to describe it in terms of other art styles, but it looks fantastic nonetheless. Character designs lean towards the cutesy anime aesthetic, though they're definitely not afraid to get a little sexy or creepy with some of the designs. Every character has fluid animations and a decent assortment of facial expressions (via the static dialogue sprites), and their personalities shine through phenomenally thanks to these elements. The music is equally cheery and just as incredible, which is to be expected, given that the one and only Jake Kaufman (mastermind behind the impeccable Shovel Knight soundtrack) composed the OST. And while you only get brief snippets of dialogue, the voice acting was solid, too. GAMEPLAY: As established, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is a platformer. On the surface, it has all the tropes: run, jump, attack, get to the end of the level. So what makes this one special? For one, Shantae's main ability is her transformations, which allows her to turn into various creatures. These creatures grant her special abilities that allow her to access otherwise inaccessible areas (e.g. her mermaid transformation allows her to swim, her monkey form allows her to scale walls, etc.). They're mostly used for the purpose of opening new areas, but there are a few sections where you are presented a platforming challenge using these abilities. I wish there were more of these in the game, but that's just me. The interesting (or annoying, depending on who you ask) thing about these transformations is that when you first unlock them, they don't actually have their full capabilities unlocked alongside them. What this means is that while you can start discovering secrets using their innate abilities right off the bat, you can't actually open everything you find just yet. Unlocking each transformation's exclusive ability (which is either an attack, something that opens specific barriers, or a combination of both) is an entirely separate endeavor, making 100% completion a bit of a journey at the start. For the most part, the transformations are useful, but once you get to the latter portions of the game, you'll quickly discover that some of the later transformations render the others completely obsolete. In addition, some of the secondary abilities you unlock for these transformations are incredibly situational (one in particular is only used in one room). As fun as they are to unlock and to mess around with, I felt like they could have done more to integrate these transformations more into the level designs. Not to be outdone, regular Shantae has access to magic, which allows her to use various power-ups by spending meter. These, on the other hand, tend to be incredibly helpful, and upgrading them early on is worth the trouble. Speaking of upgrades, you're able to purchase a whole bunch of these and more at the shop, using the gems you collect throughout your journey. Some of the items you can buy are useful passive upgrades (attack boost, damage reduction), the aforementioned power-ups, special skills (like a dance that restores health at the cost of magic), and consumable potions. While you'll probably want to manage your money well early to get the good upgrades, having enough to spend is usually not an issue. There are six levels total (excluding the starting town), and while that doesn't seem like a lot, the game does a good job of making those six levels count. The first go-around has you go through each level (often split into multiple sections) as normal, and at the end, you fight a boss. Typical platformer fare, right? Well, yes, but once you've beaten the level, you'll realize that's only half the game. Remember when I talked about that B-plot where you help Shantae's uncle build some doohickey? Well, in between beating bosses, you'll be doing some fetch quests to help him acquire the materials he needs to finish his invention. To do that, you have to revisit the levels you just cleared and find the stuff you need to proceed. That's where your transformations come in, because once you have those things in your arsenal, the linear levels now become a little more open for exploration, allowing you to pick up shit you previously couldn't before. It's not quite a Metroidvania in terms of scale, but this aspect was satisfying nonetheless. Required quest items aren't the only secrets you can uncover when revisiting the levels. You can also find heart holders (which give you more HP), the previously mentioned transformation upgrades, gallery keys (which unlock concept art for your viewing pleasure), and even secret transformations. Going off the beaten path is almost always rewarded, and even the most arbitrary of collectibles (like the gallery keys) actually have a worthwhile payoff, with a number of them actually required for the game's true ending. Keeping track of your completion progress is easy thanks to the trackers displayed on each level when in the world select menu, though the actual collecting of the items may be a bit tedious. There is no in-game map, so often, you have to scour the level to find that one nook you haven't looked in yet. This is mitigated by an unlockable ability to warp to different sections of a level, a late-game transformation that makes exploration easy, and the fact that the levels are generally linear anyway, so it's not that bad. That said, once you get to your last few collectibles, the whole process starts to get annoying. While a lot of this game is collecting things, Shantae is still a platformer at heart. The platforming itself is easy enough, though there are sections that provide a modicum of challenge (or frustration). Boss fights are mostly manageable, but some are unintuitive and others are overly simple. Enemies are annoying early on, but once you have enough health and decent power-ups, it becomes a trivial task to avoid/dispatch them. In these aspects, the game does all right, but there is room for improvement, I feel. Once you beat the game, you unlock Hero Mode (which is basically New Game Plus) and Hardcore Mode (the game, but harder). Again, typical platformer offering, but if you like that sort of thing, the option is available. The game also has a bunch of paid DLC (which I did not buy), and they seem to be alternate campaigns of some kind. They all seemed quite different from the original campaign (based on what I've read and seen), so it may be worth it for me to pick these up down the line. The only unique post-launch thing that was free is Jammies Mode, which is an alternate version of the game where the story is Shantae trying to set up a slumber party (which I found amusing). This mode is a slightly remixed playthrough of the same six levels where you only have a basic pillow attack, the ability to send attack sheep, the ability to float, and the ability to boost your damage by collecting gems. It's equal parts fun and frustrating to blast through the original levels with these new abilities, so I recommend checking it out after you've beaten the main game. VERDICT: Though there are aspects I wish were executed better, I still enjoyed my time with Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. The gameplay is solid despite my few issues with it, the characters are funny, and the presentation is on another level. If you're unfamiliar with Shantae, this game is a great place to start. Here's the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/253840/Shantae_HalfGenie_Hero/ Check out the soundtrack on Bandcamp: https://virt.bandcamp.com/album/shantae-half-genie-hero-ost - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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