Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition

This franchise came out during a period of my life where I completely stepped away from video games because I was busy doing other stuff, so I never got to play them in their original versions and I just vaguely knew they were a solid series of games in the style of old-school platformers from the NES and SNES days. So this is my first Shantae game and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. It plays like a classic platformer with some mild Metroidvania elements, so it feels much more like Mega Man or something like that than to a true Metroidvania. It looks beautiful, the characters are likeable and the story's tone is comedic and cartoony, so everything meshes well together. I've bought all the series on sale over the years, so I'll definitely try the others, though I'm keeping my expectations in check because this one is a remake, so the earlier sequels probably don't look or play as good, though the most recent games should be comparable.

2D platformer with slow downs ... however they achieved that miracle.

shantae my wife

Finished this game on Hard Core mode immediately after playing the previous games for the first time. I may be in the minority opinion, but there are aspects in the level design of this game that I find better than Risky's Revenge and Pirate's Curse. Although the game lacks an overworld map, it still holds plenty of incentives to backtrack like other metroidvanias. But it has a bigger focus on precision platforming. Supposedly the game is too easy on normal mode so I can't comment on that, but on hard mode I found it to be really challenging. So much so, that I started tilting by the time I got to that awful final stage... But despite the finale, I still really enjoyed 90% of the game. It isn't as funny and as charming as Pirate's Curse, but it still feels like Shantae. My biggest criticism is the repetitive levels throughout the included DLC modes. Although it's nice to get different flavored gameplay and characters, the levels and bosses are mostly the same. So it kinda gets less interesting with each subsequent playthrough. Best to space those out.

[b]Fantastic & Gorgeous with creative gameplay mechanics and entertaining dialogues.[/b] Game is constructed more like a typical stage-based platformer, rather than a metroidvania. We venture on expeditions from a general city-hub from which we take most of the quests. For that reason ([i]which can be considered my only complain[/i]), there is a little bit too much unnecessary backtracking, just so we can access items previously inaccessible, making the game quite repetitive even for metroidvania. I know this was the intention for players to pay close attention to the level layouts & to explore them over and over again with newly acquire abilities, however... I think the game's overall flow suffers a bit because of that. Probably because for that reason, they've added a "Hero Mode" - an alternative game mode with main abilities unlocked instantly. However, Given stages usually get rearranged enemies/platforming sections + new enemy types appear (for at least once) after initial beating them, it somehow adds a bit of fresh air to the levels ([i]at least for a while[/i]). For subsequent playthroughs devs added a "Hard Core Mode" - which isn't simply numbers boost, but it also vas…

It's my least favorite Shantae game so far. Gone is the open metroidvania level design. Instead, the game is a pretty middling linear platformer. One of the biggest issues with Half Genie Hero is that it has almost no identity of it's own. The entire thing is a rehash of old villains, with a plot that feels extremely by-the-numbers. The port also has a TON of issues, The game straight up does not function if you download and click play, which is insane for a game released during the PS4 generation. I had to mess with my driver settings for like half an hour to get it to run properly. On the positive side, the music is incredible (as expected of Jake Kaufman). The gameplay itself feels good as well, despite the uninteresting level design. I would not pay $30 dollars for this, but would still recommend it if you like the series. It was a pretty cozy playthrough.