Game Review: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

3DS / WiiU

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is the 3rd installment in the popular Shantae series.

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Premise:

Sequin Land is in danger!  Help Shantae defeat the enemies of Sequin Land and save it from the tyrannical Ammo Baron and the vengeful wrath of the Pirate Captain!

Use all the items and abilities at your disposal to solve befuddling puzzles and traverse challenging terrain!

Visuals:

If you ever wanted to play a game that took you back to the glory days of 16-bit sprite graphics, this is it.  While made in 2014, this game looks like it was made for the Super Nintendo.

Sprites are all colorful and extremely vibrant.  Character's features are actually quite defined for how few pixels they use, and animations are extremely smooth and believable.

One complaint.  It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the background and foreground visuals.  Because of this, certain platforms are sometimes difficult to see, or you will think there is a platform where there isn't one.

Sound:

Nothing really special, but it gets the job done.

Music:

A simply amazing soundtrack.  I haven't been as mesmerized by a platformer's soundtrack since I played the original Donkey Kong Country for Super Nintendo.

Almost every piece of music is exciting and memorable.  While most big-title games these days are gravitating towards fully orchestrated soundtracks, there is certainly something to be said for the old 16-bit style music.  That stuff just sticks in your head.

If you like, there is a music clip from the game at the top of the post to hear!

Gameplay:

More or less what you expect from any platformer.  Run, jump, shoot, fly, avoid insane obstacles, defeat bosses, and use a large variety of weapons and abilities to accomplish your goals.

While the game is mostly what you'd expect and not necessarily anything new, there is an enjoyable puzzle solving aspect to the game, which in my experience isn't that common in platformers.  This game felt more like a platforming Zelda than anything else.  The puzzles were mostly interesting, difficult, and well executed, just like in most Zelda games.

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Controls:

Controls can be a little overwhelming at times.  As I said before, there are a large variety of items, but they aren't all mapped in the most intuitive manner.  There are some redundant button maps, and sometimes it can be difficult to remember all the button combinations for every item.  It takes a little getting used to, and it can be challenging to use at first, but if you stick to it, you will eventually get acclimated to the slightly cumbersome control scheme.

Definitely not a terrible control scheme.  It merely takes some time to get used to, and once you are used to it, you will be kicking butt like a pro.

Level Design:

Generally level design is quite good, but the game will often throw unfair situations at you and make you wonder how the designers expected you to get through it without taking damage.  This is usually because enemies tend to have random attack patterns, making it difficult to predict what they will do next.  In a game with platforming sequences as difficult as these, I'd say consistent enemy attack patterns are a must.

Something I greatly appreciate is the skeletons floating out of bottomless pits that warn you if a hole has nothing at the bottom aside from death.  

Boss Design:

Generally quite well designed.  Bosses all have predictable yet difficult patterns to avoid.  They aren't all immediately apparent on how to defeat them, although usually you'll figure it out quite quickly.  Once you catch on, they are some of the most enjoyable platformer bosses I have seen in any game.

Summary:

Overall an excellent game, and it executes sprite graphics incredibly well.  If you want something to remind you of the past glory days of platformers, or if you just want a good time, this game is for you!

• Pros:
• Appealing and colorful sprite graphics
• Challenging and mostly well designed levels
• Fun bosses
• Lots of items and abilities
• Great Soundtrack
  
  
• Cons:
• Slightly confusing controls
• Sometimes throws the player into unfair situations

SCORE:  9 / 10

Do you agree?  Let me know your opinions in the comments section below!

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