Can I just say how lucky young gamers are today? They’re starting their gaming journeys on incredible machines, pristine graphics and games with epic storylines and sequels galore. Meanwhile, us Millenials remember the days of consoles becoming too hot to touch and frozen screens.
Take Super Lucky’s Tale, for example, a 3D platformer from Playful Corp. If I were 8 or 10 today I wouldn’t know how lucky I was. Playing Super Lucky’s Tale at 23 reminded me of the days of Tonic Trouble, Crash and Rayman on the PC. In this number, you play Lucky, an energetic Fox cast into the Book of Ages to put a stop to them, ‘Kitty Litter’. A gang of cats who want to use the Book to their evil advantage.
They’re four worlds and within each of those, they’re lots of doors to open that lead to different levels. (Think Toejam and Earl’s Mission to Earth) The whole point is to collect clovers that open up the final boss level and get you to progress. My biggest grumble comes from the fact that the clovers do nothing to help your health and when you’ve only got three hearts to sustain you, you find yourself dying more than necessary. I haven’t finished the game so I can’t tell you if your health increases, but I can say that there aren’t enough hearts to go around. I wouldn’t say I died lots, just more than I should have probably. I’ve also heard reports that you really need to find as many as possible from the very beginning or you’ll get to the end and find yourself short. I started off getting all four in each level but quickly found I’d end up coming out with only 1 in a few others. This is because the levels themselves aren’t very directional, which of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I appreciate the freedom to roam around and combat a level however I feel. But if it turns out that actually I do need all four clovers, and they do matter more than I thought then maybe there should have been more structure to help me find them.
The graphics and the general tone of the game are lovely. It’s light-hearted, upbeat, care-free – you feel as though you could be at the park eating pink ice cream. So it’s a shame you can’t control the camera besides 30-degree bursts before it moves it back. It gets a little frustrating after a while.
But the game did awfully remind me of my childhood and the hours I spent glued to the screen. That’s its come back. You’ll have to decide whether you want to reminisce about the good old days, including the days of clunky controls and shifting cameras that won’t behave.
If you’re looking for something that won’t require a lot of brain power (I loved the chess puzzles that made me feel super clever) or a game to zone out to, this is it. I imagine for the younger ones, it’s glorious 3D fun, but it would need a little more depth for me to wholly recommend it.
You must be logged in to post a comment.