Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (2016)

Publisher: WayForward Technologies
Developer: WayForward Technologies
Director: Matt Bozon
Platform: PC/Steam

Overview:
Shantae helps her uncle complete his experimental dynamo to help defend Sequin Town from attacks by pirates like Risky Boots.

Gameplay:
With Shantae's magic restored, we return to form in this entry, though if you liked the gameplay of The Pirate's Curse, you can experience that via the Risky Boots DLC. There are more transformations than ever, but this actually forces you to swap out some as you can't use them all at once. Most of the game is fairly standard platforming (with the tight controls the series is known for), but there are a couple of stand-out set pieces, like the magic carpet race.

I'd say the biggest knock against the game is the length. I don't know exactly how it measures up to Risky's Revenge, but even taking my time and going for 100%, it seemed like it was over all too soon. While things like hard mode and the DLC campaigns can keep you going a little longer, you'll probably wish you had more.

Story/Characters:
The story is fairly light and unfortunately doesn't take advantage of the change in character dynamics that was built up in The Pirate's Curse. While the series' lore doesn't feel like it's getting advanced much, it does its job and is enjoyable enough. Much like the overall game itself, it comes up a bit short while not feeling too disappointing.

Graphics:
The in-game graphics use vector art instead of sprites (or at least it seems that way), giving the characters a crisp cartoon look similar to such games as Castle Crashers. There is plenty of animation going on, which fits well with the upbeat tempo of the series. I will say I preferred the illustration style of The Pirate's Curse, but the character art certainly looks good here. On the visuals at least, you shouldn't have any cause for complaint.

Music/Sound:
With the opening level set to the energetic vocal "Dance Through the Danger" (even going from the title theme), you can tell they put the requisite effort into the music. All due credit goes to the work of composer Jake Kaufman. While they didn't get the necessary funding for full voicing, we still get voice clips about at the same frequency as The Pirate's Curse.

Other:
As a backer, the DLC came included as part of the deal and it would appear that the home releases have the DLC included, but the two new game modes aren't very expensive and they're a worthwhile way to get more mileage out of the game. As mentioned above, the Risky Boots campaign plays a lot like The Pirate's Curse, while "Friends to the End" mixes things up further by giving you control of Bolo, Sky and Rottytops, which makes it something like The Lost Vikings.

Conclusion:
While I'll admit this was ultimately shorter than I was hoping for, I was overall satisfied with the experience and certainly don't regret my purchase. If you're a fan of the series, it's definitely worth getting, but in some ways I feel it didn't quite manage to surpass The Pirate's Curse. Make of that what you will, but I strongly recommend it all the same.

Rating:
Own It