Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Review)

What time is it? Review time! And boy do I have a treat for you guys.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is amazing! Like godly amazing! The half-human, half genie heroine Shantae originated in an underrated but barely memorable Game Boy Color title of the same name. Not many knew of it's existence but to be fair neither have I. I have never played the Game Boy Color game. But, thanks to it's faithful following of Shantae fans, Wayforward boasted the franchise's popularity and proceeded with the sequel entitled; Risky's Revenge for the DSi Ware and the Pirate's Curse for the 3DS and Wii U. I am gonna be looking at this one.

Story
For anyone who hasn't followed the series, let's recap. In the last game (Risky's Revenge), Shantae lost her genie powers to a magic lamp wielded by her arch-nemesis; Risky Boots and Shantae had to duel against her dark doppelganger to destroy the dark magic. After that conflict, Shantae was unable to use her genie powers to protect her home; Scuttle Town. However, the dark magic manages to wake up an ancient long dead pirate master who uses the dark magic to take control of Risky's tinkerbats. Shantae, in the meantime, is dealing with a court case against the Ammo Baron whom the Mayor has given the deed of Scuttle Town to him. Due to Shantae interfering with Ammo Baron's reconstruction, the Sultana (who we never see) threatens to cut off Shantae's last remaining possession... her hair whipping pony tail. But Shantae apparently has a new change of plans when Risky Boots nabs her and informs her that the Pirate Master has turned her men into monster's called Cacklebats. Throughout the rest of the story, Shantae teams up with her arch-enemy Risky Boots in order to save Sequin Land from the dreaded Pirate Master's curse. The only way they can do that is to go from island to island and take down every Den of Evil they can find to weaken his power.

Presentation
After one look of this game from the trailer, I was hooked. The game's overall graphics are that of an SNES or SEGA Genesis game. The sprites look wonderfully animated and the level design looks like a beauty. I especially like the music soundtrack, it's just so catchy. The characters are also well likable, characters like Sky, Risky Boots, Rottytops and Squid Baron have such unique personalities. As you delve more deeper into story territory you understand that some characters like Rottytops and Risky Boots play a certain role in Shantae's life. But for the story as a whole, it's mainly focusing on Risky's development as a character. I don't want to spoil much for the story but it is quite unique. The writing is just amazing. It's nice mix of comedy and the story does take itself seriously when it needs to. The comedy for the most part felt like a Saturday morning cartoon, with characters giving off witty dialogue, over the top expressions and funny one liners that make me wish Sonic Boom had. The other part that shocks me is that this game likes it's female leads so much that there is a minimum amount of fan service given to them. It's practically harmless but one can't even think how this game got past the family friendly censors.

Gameplay
This game plays so well. This is what happens when you take time to develop your game and give it some polish. To me, this game is so perfectly polished, programmed well and plays like a dream. Shantae has an arsenal of moves such as whipping enemies away with her magical hair, shooting long distances with Risky's pistol, running at fast speeds, gliding over wind gusts with a pirate hat and so much more. In the previous games, Shantae had the power to transform into animals with the power of belly-dancing and has magical elemental powers. They are absent from this game due to story reasons and they are replaced with Risky's equipment instead. Shantae uses these abilities to get through dungeons and traverse through dangerous terrains. Throughout the game you are required to hunt down Cacklebats to absorb the dark magic with a lamp, and there are some areas where you need the required ability to get that Cacklebat. Backtracking is apparent in this game and I sometimes get lost with what I need to find. There are also squid-hearts to look for in order to increase your maximum health and just like the Cacklebats you need to backtrack to find some remaining squid-hearts that you missed. There are parts that annoyed me like how enemies get progressively strong. And this game is also really challenging, with it's platforming and boss battles. But at the end of the day, I had fun playing this game and I'm so glad I played it to judge for myself.

Verdict
Wayforward doesn't disappoint. This game is already being praised by fans and critics alike and I was waiting for this game to come to the PAL region since it's North American release. This game... IS SO AWESOME! I've got nothing else to say about it but how much I loved this game. It makes me want to get Shovel Knight now. But in all honestly, go check it out, it's available on the Nintendo e-Shop. I give my final score an 9.6. If you like platformers, you'll be surprised.

Comments

[Soarin-Dash]

I'm pretty much of the same opinion, the first tow games were good (Although the first hasn't aged too well and as the guys at Brainscratchcomms said, Risky's Revenge just seems kind of rushed) but Pirate's Curse is easily the best game in the series so far, Half Genie Hero might end up topping it but we'll just have to wait and see. It looks really promising right now from what I've seen in the demo.