Have you ever played a game that not only exceeded your expectations but also surprises you in all the right ways and make you smile and feel happy the whole way through?That sums up my experience with Shantae & The Pirate's Curse in a nutshell
The game is developed by WayForward alongside Inti-Creates(the studio that made the Megaman Zero series,ZX games and Megaman 9&10)
I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to the Shantae series,I only watched a Let's play of the first game on the Gameboy Color and I still need to play the second game in the series Risky's Revenge so I didn't know what to expect.
The trailers for Pirate's Curse got me really excited for the game but it wasn't a priority for me when it comes to games I've been anticipating for 2014....................boy I should've added it on my list ever since it's announcement on Nintendo Power(before it got discontinued at the end of 2012) two years ago.
If you saw all of my status updates here you'd know this by now but....I ABSOLUTELY....SURELY...POSITIVELY LOVE AND ADORE THIS GAME TO DEATH
I'm serious when I say if Smash 4 didn't come out in 2014 this game would've been my number 1 game of the year
You have no idea how happy this game made me.It caught me by such a surprise and I'm so addicted to it I can't put it down heck I'm already doing a speedrun right after I've finished it
Anyway,in this game you team up with Shantae's arch-nemesis from the previous two games Risky Boots as she needs Shantae's help to prevent the ressurection of the Pirate Master,an evil soul that used to be Risky Boots's boss before she betrayed him and took his crew and he'll come back to engulf the world in eternal darkness.
While the story is by no means deep and you won't care that much for it but the dialogue is what makes it worthwhile,it's humorous and funny and gave me some good laughs as the game is pretty much self-aware of itself and the troupes it's using.I loved Shantae's interactions with Risky Boots and it's nice to see that they gave Risky Boots a bit of a backstory.
I also really love Shantae as a character.She's a cheerful,energitic,funny and hot-headed girl that you can't help but love her cute charming demeanor.She's one of my favorite females in video games ^_^
As for the gameplay,it's a Metroidvania style of platforming where you explore large areas connected to each other similar to Super Metroid and Castlevania Symphony of the Night.Though here it attempts the same approach Metroid Prime 3 did where you can select which place you wanna visit instead of the regular metroidvania way of having all areas being a part of the same hub world but that doesn't hinder the game in any way since the level design makes up for it.
The level design in Pirate's Curse is just amazing & very well paced and the game controls smoothly.The backtracking is kept to a minimum and your new upgrades will help you get through them even faster....speaking of which,Shantae doesn't have her transformations in this game but instead you'll obtain Risky Boots's lost equipments as you progress through the game which include her hat,pistol,sword, canon and Risky's......boots(Nice pun right there WayForward).The boots and the canon are my favorites of the bunch since the boots allows you to dash forward in a high speed while the canon let you jump up to 4 times in a row making it perfect for finding shortcuts and new ways to traverse through the stages.
Personally I love Risky's equipments waaaaay more than the transformations from the previous games.Sure the transformations were neat and cool but they were a bit of a pace breaker,especially in the first game,where you had to stop for 3 to 5 seconds to do the dances for the transformations which not only is a pace breaker but also leaves you completely vulnerable to enemy attacks.
In Pirate's Curse however,Risky's equipment are instantaneous and can be used just by pressing the button they're corresponded it to.The game is made with speedrunners in mind and the Risky's equipments are perfect for this since it keeps up your momentum and allows you to tackle the game at your own pace either you wanted a 100% run or a regular any% speed run
On a casual playthrough the game will take you around 8 to 12 hours if you wanted to explore the game for extra stuff and the game's replayability is incredibly high heck I'm already replaying it right now on New Game +(Called Pirate Mode)
The sprite art for Pirate's Curse is just.....beautiful,this is possibly the best looking 2D platformer I've ever played,the art style is charming,the environments are lively and colorful,the game runs smoothly at 1080p(on Wii U) and 60 fps(Both Wii U and 3DS) and the character designs look amazing especially the character portraits done by the same artist from Inti-Creates that did the artstyle for the Megaman Zero series,ZX games and Megaman 9&10 and it gives it that anime-ish kind of feeling(even though the series was kinda inspired by eastern artstyle but here it's more apparent)
And the soundtrack....OH...MY....GOD...the soundtrack is truly the stuff legends are made of.I loved every single track in the game and I'm still humming them even as I'm writing this review...here take a listen to some of the tracks in the game
It's like someone took my favorite soundtracks from my favorite SNES and Ps1 2D Platformers and gave them a reorchistrated remix to them.
Jake Kaufman,the composer for the Shantae series and the Majority of WayForward's games.....I SALUTE YOU TO NO END your soundtrack is a true masterpiece.
Overall.Shantae & the Pirate's Curse is a masterpiece.I enjoyed every single moment of it and it was worth the 20$ price heck I would've been ready to pay more cuz it deserves it.
Sure a game like Shovel Knight is spectacular but personally I think Shantae & The Pirate's Curse is much better and it deserves much more attention
It's on my top 5 favorite games of all time and while I won't be giving numerical scores anymore this game is perfect in my opinion....I can barely find anything to complain about in the game aside from very very minor nitpicks that doesn't detract from.
It's on both Wii U and 3DS for 20$ and I urge every owner of those systems to get it.This is a title that deserves more love from fans of the platforming genre
Don't waste 50$ on the likes of Sonic Boom when there are games like Shantae and Shovel Knight that costs less than 20$ yet they are made with much more care,passion and love that oozes from every part of them.
Alongside Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze,Shantae & the Pirate's Curse is my favorite platformer from 2014 and one of my top 5 favorite games of all time
Have you ever played a game that not only exceeded your expectations but also surprises you in all the right ways and make you smile and feel happy the whole way through?That sums up my experience with Shantae & The Pirate's Curse in a nutshell
The game is developed by WayForward alongside Inti-Creates(the studio that made the Megaman Zero series,ZX games and Megaman 9&10)
I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to the Shantae series,I only watched a Let's play of the first game on the Gameboy Color and I still need to play the second game in the series Risky's Revenge so I didn't know what to expect.
The trailers for Pirate's Curse got me really excited for the game but it wasn't a priority for me when it comes to games I've been anticipating for 2014....................boy I should've added it on my list ever since it's announcement on Nintendo Power(before it got discontinued at the end of 2012) two years ago.
If you saw all of my status updates here you'd know this by now but....I ABSOLUTELY....SURELY...POSITIVELY LOVE AND ADORE THIS GAME TO DEATH
I'm serious when I say if Smash 4 didn't come out in 2014 this game would've been my number 1 game of the year
You have no idea how happy this game made me.It caught me by such a surprise and I'm so addicted to it I can't put it down heck I'm already doing a speedrun right after I've finished it
Anyway,in this game you team up with Shantae's arch-nemesis from the previous two games Risky Boots as she needs Shantae's help to prevent the ressurection of the Pirate Master,an evil soul that used to be Risky Boots's boss before she betrayed him and took his crew and he'll come back to engulf the world in eternal darkness.
While the story is by no means deep and you won't care that much for it but the dialogue is what makes it worthwhile,it's humorous and funny and gave me some good laughs as the game is pretty much self-aware of itself and the troupes it's using.I loved Shantae's interactions with Risky Boots and it's nice to see that they gave Risky Boots a bit of a backstory.
I also really love Shantae as a character.She's a cheerful,energitic,funny and hot-headed girl that you can't help but love her cute charming demeanor.She's one of my favorite females in video games ^_^
As for the gameplay,it's a Metroidvania style of platforming where you explore large areas connected to each other similar to Super Metroid and Castlevania Symphony of the Night.Though here it attempts the same approach Metroid Prime 3 did where you can select which place you wanna visit instead of the regular metroidvania way of having all areas being a part of the same hub world but that doesn't hinder the game in any way since the level design makes up for it.
The level design in Pirate's Curse is just amazing & very well paced and the game controls smoothly.The backtracking is kept to a minimum and your new upgrades will help you get through them even faster....speaking of which,Shantae doesn't have her transformations in this game but instead you'll obtain Risky Boots's lost equipments as you progress through the game which include her hat,pistol,sword, canon and Risky's......boots(Nice pun right there WayForward).The boots and the canon are my favorites of the bunch since the boots allows you to dash forward in a high speed while the canon let you jump up to 4 times in a row making it perfect for finding shortcuts and new ways to traverse through the stages.
Personally I love Risky's equipments waaaaay more than the transformations from the previous games.Sure the transformations were neat and cool but they were a bit of a pace breaker,especially in the first game,where you had to stop for 3 to 5 seconds to do the dances for the transformations which not only is a pace breaker but also leaves you completely vulnerable to enemy attacks.
In Pirate's Curse however,Risky's equipment are instantaneous and can be used just by pressing the button they're corresponded it to.The game is made with speedrunners in mind and the Risky's equipments are perfect for this since it keeps up your momentum and allows you to tackle the game at your own pace either you wanted a 100% run or a regular any% speed run
On a casual playthrough the game will take you around 8 to 12 hours if you wanted to explore the game for extra stuff and the game's replayability is incredibly high heck I'm already replaying it right now on New Game +(Called Pirate Mode)
The sprite art for Pirate's Curse is just.....beautiful,this is possibly the best looking 2D platformer I've ever played,the art style is charming,the environments are lively and colorful,the game runs smoothly at 1080p(on Wii U) and 60 fps(Both Wii U and 3DS) and the character designs look amazing especially the character portraits done by the same artist from Inti-Creates that did the artstyle for the Megaman Zero series,ZX games and Megaman 9&10 and it gives it that anime-ish kind of feeling(even though the series was kinda inspired by eastern artstyle but here it's more apparent)
And the soundtrack....OH...MY....GOD...the soundtrack is truly the stuff legends are made of.I loved every single track in the game and I'm still humming them even as I'm writing this review...here take a listen to some of the tracks in the game
It's like someone took my favorite soundtracks from my favorite SNES and Ps1 2D Platformers and gave them a reorchistrated remix to them.
Jake Kaufman,the composer for the Shantae series and the Majority of WayForward's games.....I SALUTE YOU TO NO END your soundtrack is a true masterpiece.
Overall.Shantae & the Pirate's Curse is a masterpiece.I enjoyed every single moment of it and it was worth the 20$ price heck I would've been ready to pay more cuz it deserves it.
Sure a game like Shovel Knight is spectacular but personally I think Shantae & The Pirate's Curse is much better and it deserves much more attention
It's on my top 5 favorite games of all time and while I won't be giving numerical scores anymore this game is perfect in my opinion....I can barely find anything to complain about in the game aside from very very minor nitpicks that doesn't detract from.
It's on both Wii U and 3DS for 20$ and I urge every owner of those systems to get it.This is a title that deserves more love from fans of the platforming genre
Don't waste 50$ on the likes of Sonic Boom when there are games like Shantae and Shovel Knight that costs less than 20$ yet they are made with much more care,passion and love that oozes from every part of them.
Alongside Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze,Shantae & the Pirate's Curse is my favorite platformer from 2014 and one of my top 5 favorite games of all time