Sigh. I hate to be the resident Backloggd Bitch™ this time around but there just isn't enough to love here. The music's good, keyboard/mouse controls feel perfect (I'm not a fan of the controller, especially with the camera,) I like levels 4 through 6, and the aesthetic is all right there... but like, that's it.
The gameplay feels a bit dry, I suppose. I don't mean the simple moveset, nono - that's all fine and dandy, plus the game knows how to make it interesting in a few cases - I mean the levels. There's not a single nook or cranny, no real scavenger hunt, a grand majority of the powercells are in predictable places and it ends up feeling more like a to-do list as a result. There's enemies... I guess? They're big hunks of metal that never attempt to attack you with a walk speed slower than Patrick Star's pet rock. They present no remote challenge, in-line with most of the game, which otherwise (aside levels 5 & 6, though they're not really open-world) have no obstacles to speak of.
Now there's nothing wrong with a game being a cake walk if it's putting something interesting or engaging forth, but Super Kiwi 64 (again aside levels 5 & 6) doesn't do that. MACBAT 64, a Siactro game from 5 years ago, gets creative with its gameplay far more than this does. Super Kiwi 64 only really mixes it up with the addition of keys or the occasional level gimmick like lava, switches, or when you get extra speed for no explicable reason from your dog pilot partner. I won't nitpick the lack of explanations or plot - that part's fine, good games don't always need good writing, though it does feel like Siactro tried to set one up and left what he had in after deciding against it.
It's a shame, really, because Siactro is a talented guy (Toree 3D is damn solid and I need to raise my rating for it) and there are definitely the makings of something great here - enough so that the game is, honestly, not bad. Enjoyable, even. It just needed more love, more soul, more time in the oven. It's almost there.
Also, Siactro forgot to put in a Quit button on the PC version; an inaction that says a thousand words.
The gameplay feels a bit dry, I suppose. I don't mean the simple moveset, nono - that's all fine and dandy, plus the game knows how to make it interesting in a few cases - I mean the levels. There's not a single nook or cranny, no real scavenger hunt, a grand majority of the powercells are in predictable places and it ends up feeling more like a to-do list as a result. There's enemies... I guess? They're big hunks of metal that never attempt to attack you with a walk speed slower than Patrick Star's pet rock. They present no remote challenge, in-line with most of the game, which otherwise (aside levels 5 & 6, though they're not really open-world) have no obstacles to speak of.
Now there's nothing wrong with a game being a cake walk if it's putting something interesting or engaging forth, but Super Kiwi 64 (again aside levels 5 & 6) doesn't do that. MACBAT 64, a Siactro game from 5 years ago, gets creative with its gameplay far more than this does. Super Kiwi 64 only really mixes it up with the addition of keys or the occasional level gimmick like lava, switches, or when you get extra speed for no explicable reason from your dog pilot partner. I won't nitpick the lack of explanations or plot - that part's fine, good games don't always need good writing, though it does feel like Siactro tried to set one up and left what he had in after deciding against it.
It's a shame, really, because Siactro is a talented guy (Toree 3D is damn solid and I need to raise my rating for it) and there are definitely the makings of something great here - enough so that the game is, honestly, not bad. Enjoyable, even. It just needed more love, more soul, more time in the oven. It's almost there.
Also, Siactro forgot to put in a Quit button on the PC version; an inaction that says a thousand words.
4 Comments
can we fight for the backoggd bitch title
when and where
does a cool flip and shows off my white boy arms anytime... anywhere...
Jenny
1 year ago