The platforms are back in fashion
The last few years seem like a trip to the depths of the 90 ‘with regard to the genre of platforms. After more than a decade as a style practically confined in Nintendo platforms, today the offer within the 2D and 3D platforms leaves us pieces in the catalog at a pace that was not seen for a long time.
The last case, S uper Lucky’s Tale, is presented as a Playful Corp. development produced by Microsoft Studios for Xbox One and PC. A game that comes only a few days after the release of Super Mario Odyssey, which will undoubtedly come to condition their first beats of life. However, before entering fully into the new adventure should remember the 90 ‘, and i
n particular the genre of three-dimensional platforms: although we collect in our memory some of the referents of the genre, such as Super Mario 64, of course; Crash Bandicoot, obviously; Spyro The Dragon, which could also enter the sack, or the iconic Rayman, the l
ist of corpses is no shorter: Gex, Kingsley’s Adventure, the archaic Rascal, and the most to think about when facing Super Lucky’s Tale , Croc .
In 1997 Argonaut Software launched Croc: Legend of the Gobbos . A three-dimensional platform adventure starring a funny crocodile. An absolute disaster, which probably many players keep a fond memory, those who are primarily nostalgic. Croc, however, like his second
installment, was a disaster for two reasons: the first of them to leave after Super Mario 64, the second, because he did not have enough charisma to enter the competing group of pets. Super Lucky’s Tale begins its journey with a hand of cards very similar to what Argonaut had with Croc in his day, and the result may not be very misguided.
In Creativerse is located the great previous game of Playful Corp., the studio in charge of Super Lucky’s Tale. Its previous work, although it keeps certain aesthetic harmony with the game that today they present, tried to open a space in Steam in the competing crafteo genre hoarded by Minecraft. Later they released Lucky Tale for VR, the beginning of Lucky’s saga, with a visual style that is not very showy and a modest proposal, but unique in the Oculus initial catalog. The idea was successful enough to earn the right to captain this new production, which comes close to the most classic and genuine expression of the platforms.
Experiments and return to the classics
The success in Kickstarter of Playtonic Games and its Yooka-Laylee has opened the ban for examples of all types in 3D platforms: from the experimentality of the Snake Pass of Sumo Digital, to this bet on the part of Microsoft Studios to fill a gap very evident in
your catalogfirst party Super Lucky’s Tale, in this way, presents us with platforms that do not try to innovate in a single aspect, but rather resolutely seek execution. The first objective responds to gather in a single
work, and with coherence, a good part of the traditions that have nurtured this genre. Thus, we are facing a three-dimensional modeling game, which c
ombines phases of exploration in 3D, with others of lateral development, and at the same time moments of puzzles, skill in the style of the Super Monkey Ball of Sega, and even dares with little success in the autorunner.
To give coherence to all these elements within the same video game, they use two factors: control of the camera and control of the character. The difference between the lateral progress scenarios is marked with a fixed camera that follows the displacement of
the character, in such a way that we approach designs of levels of progress in 2D based on mobile platforms and switches, rather simple and too conventional. More interesting is the approach to three-dimensional exploration scena
rios. Here the use of the camera, however, gives rise to some headaches: far from having a free camera, choose to offer a selector between three angles to look for vertices on the stage. In the absence of the 180 degree turn in perspective, as it did in Crash Bandicoot, the backtracking in the levels becomes an odyssey that gathers more of t
he attempt than of the skill. In the same way, having a very reduced control over the handling of the camera implies losing precision, especially when the character is at a very distant point. However, everything ends up being satisfactory in the end, and, desp
ite the camera errors, it is necessary to reaffirm the idea that three-dimensional levels are the most interesting.
Just in these phases, he moves away from Super Mario Odyssey, which is very good for him, placing the greatest prominence in favor of skill and platform, instead of exploration. It is true that there is an exploration component, for example, looking for
the letters “LUCKY” throughout the phase, such as the Donkey Kong, and hiding in each level secret tests that are usually fun and in some cases challenging; but it never leaves aside a structure that is very centered on platforms.
The other element that tries to give coherence to the different approaches comes with the control of the character. The proximity to the launch Super Mario Odyssey plays Super Lucky’s Tale a very bad pass. The best of the new Super Mario once
again responds to the indisputably fun that is playing with Mario: a refined, deep control, full
of movements and that lends itself to experimentation to limits that may not have been fully discovered at the moment. The control of Lucky is much more conventional and somewhat less fluid than desirable: it has double jump, turn with the tail as an at
tack and the ability to bury itself creating in its path groove, which becomes one of the main mechanics of the video game. A control that takes advantage of all its possibilities, both in the phases of lateral development and those of three-dimensional exploration. Thus, regardless of the change of perspective ac
cording to the level, the control of the character continues to feel perfectly continuous and functioning in exactly the same way for both main facets
of the game.There are no big breakpoints in the design of the different levels, and there is hardly any difficulty curve except for some peak in the final part, but as it is a brief development that contains a wide variety of phases inside, it ends up leaving, in Generally, a good taste in the mouth.
