Do you bear in mind these jelly-like toy octopuses you had while you have been a child, which you throw at a window or wall? They’d half-stick/half-walk their approach down the floor, their legs glooping on and off as they rolled in a semi-controlled fall. That’s what the character within the ridiculously pleasant Pikuniku most instantly jogs my memory of. It’s simply the best way he walks. It’s essentially the most lovable factor there may be. And he kicks too.
Pikuniku, in addition to being outlandishly enjoyable to say out loud, is a platforming puzzle game through which you play The Beast. A creature feared by the locals, since you’ve been gone lengthy sufficient for them to have mythologised you. It seems, nonetheless, that you just’re a Mr Man-like pink ball with eyes and legs, principally expressionless, and undoubtedly not terrifying.
Upon leaving your hillside hovel, you uncover a inexperienced and joyful village the place the pear-like creatures enjoyment of how cash rains down from the skies, because of the obvious kindness of an organization known as Sunshine Inc. It’s undoubtedly not suspicious that the CEO of Sunshine Inc. is a cloud! His huge metallic cloud robots are in all probability harvesting all their provides of corn for good! Look in any respect the cash they drop in every single place!
The inevitable unfolding plot (about which it might be frankly ludicrous to spend an excessive amount of time analysing as an allegory for the ravishes of capitalism) is about preventing again in opposition to this naughty-bob.
Which entails poddling about, kicking physicsy objects, chatting with the locals, taking part in games, fixing puzzles, leaping throughout, profitable at made-up sports activities, rolling by secret tunnels, being finest at dance competitions, and kicking robots till they’re cross. Yes of us. This is formally: EXCELLENT.
Oh gosh, that is beautiful. It’s foolish but brilliantly carried out, humorous with out being zany, cute with out being cloying, and all of it strikes alongside at a splendid zip. One second you’re historically platforming your approach up into the clouds to seek out cash, the following you’re plotting the downfall of an organization with a rag-tag group of rebellious leaves of their underground metro station, and after that you just’re collaborating in a very one-off Dance Dance Revolution-style dance off with an smug robotic.
And crucially, it does all of those bits extraordinarily effectively. I’ll admit, when it went DDR I groaned. There was a second perhaps ten years again when each game thought it was a witty notion to crowbar the format in, and did a half-arsed job of it. Not so right here! Despite being a one-and-done second, extra for the gag than the rest, it’s good! The buttons completely timed with the dance monitor, letting you discover the groove to succeed. And it has the center to not fall again on it once more. Because perhaps now you’re taking part in a bizarre model of basketball with a watermelon and haphazard kicking physics. Or taking part in hide-and-seek with a rock. Or engaged in a battle to the dying with a slice of toast.
This game simply made me joyful. The screenshots don’t do it justice – they make it look too simplistic. It’s in regards to the game’s motion, the best way The Beast staggers and flails, the terribly sensible bulge of his eyes while you fall down an extended drop. And it’s in regards to the dynamism of the conversations, the laughs it generates as you go. And I like the artwork. It lives on the precise mid-point between Grant Orchard’s Hey Duggee and Roger Hargreaves’ Mr Men books. It’s extra the previous than the latter, too, sharing Orchard’s obvious love of geometric design, and even the peculiar vignettes of dancing bugs. If builders Sectordub haven’t watched CBeebies’ Hey Duggee, I’ll eat my Squirrels badges.
The solely points I’ve listed here are minor. I didn’t love the music in any respect. It’s bleepy-bloopy, however only a bit too crude. The sound results are all utterly brill, so it’s an aural disgrace the music feels under-developed. The different is that I want the artwork edges, particularly the speech bubbles’, have been smoother. There’s a jaggedy high quality to them in locations. Like I stated, actually minor.
What a very nice time that is. It’s family-friendly, with out being a youngsters’ game. My son sat in for a few hours whereas I performed this and adored it, however didn’t perceive any of the plot. (The dialogue is textual content with noises, so I needed to invent voices for all of the characters to learn all of it aloud to him, which then led to our spending the remainder of the day speaking to one another in robotic voices. My voice for the Worm Mother was fairly the factor.)
This is a joyful, happy-faced good time. There are “boss fights”, however they’re intentionally not an obstacle to progress. (One particularly in a approach that I shan’t spoil, however gosh it made me snicker.) The chatter is plentiful, however at all times enjoyable to learn (or enact). And it’s extraordinarily humorous.
What a really beautiful factor.
