Managed to squeeze one more in before the end of the year! I loved this game. It controls perfectly and each level is paced well. There’s a great balance between precision, quick jumps, climbs, swings. Checkpoints are perfectly placed and lives are generous enough to feel fair, but still make items worth collecting. Vehicle sections and faster levels are exhilarating and (mostly) fair in giving you time to react and look ahead. Both levels and bosses have this wonderful feeling of ending right when they should, and are excellent at introducing and expanding upon concepts both within levels and across each island.

The difficulty curve is spot on, with only a few of the last levels feeling a bit too nasty for me to want to try them again. The bosses are excellent. I particularly loved the polar bear, tough but satisfying. The final boss is a bit more tedious than fun, which is a shame but not the end of the world. The music is typically excellent, atmospheric and uplifting. The art direction is bouncy and fun, lots of fun little animations and bright, colourful trees, sands and hills.

Grassland Groove is easily my favourite level, a joyful delight of African rhythms, wonderful jumps and climbs, as trees and giraffes bounce along to the music with you. Amiss Abyss also stands out for its gorgeous dark underwater swimming, lit up intermittently by sea life below. But there are so many to choose from. Overall a great end to the year for me.