Herdanos wrote:Barnsy! wrote:Herdanos wrote:Bought Kaze and the Wild Masks & Monster Crown
I bloody love Kaze and the Wild Masks one of my favourite platformers. Really hope you have fun with it - it would be cool if you let us know what you think of it once you have a chance to play it
Here we go then...
Balladeer wrote:Basically, Kaze wants to be Donkey Kong Country really badly.
Balladeer isn't wrong.
Kaze isn't so much
inspired by DKC. If it is, then Mario Galaxy 2 was 'inspired' by Galaxy 1, TimeSplitters 3 by TimeSplitters 2, etc. It's more of the same, really; it's more like Donkey Kong Country Returns than
Donkey Kong Country Returns ever was.
Thing is, I bloody love it for that.
DKC2 in particular is one of my favourite games ever, though Kaze is clearly an homage (a love letter, even) to the entire SNES trilogy. Kaze handles just like Dixie. As far as I can tell each of the enemies is a direct clone of a Kremling. The levels each echo particular environments I played back in the 90s (though there is no re-using of aesthetic across levels, which I really appreciated) with memorable features recreated. At times even the music contains flourishes that I'm sure I recognise!
So if I'm being honest, I'm not certain that this game would resonate with anyone who hasn't got strong, fond memories of playing Rare's 2D platformers. Even the controls (Kaze's Dixie-esque ability to float in particular) aren't that well-explained to newbies. But it just didn't matter. It was just so pleasingly familiar. It's like revisiting one of your favourite games and discovering there's a whole game's worth of extra content left to tackle that you'd never previously found.
That's not to say it has no new ideas of its own, but they're mostly QOL improvements to enhance what is already a fantastic experience. There are no "lives" - if you die, the game throws you straight back in with minimal interruption (you go back to the level start or last checkpoint). Likewise with the bonus levels - if you fail, the game lets you reattempt until you succeed, rather than forcing you to play the whole level through again and find the bonus level in order to try it. It's a great feature, particularly as some of them are really, really tough. But it doesn't seem unfair (so far) - I'm about 20% through the game after about an hour's play - and each time I've died it's provoked a wry smile rather than a knuckle-clenching fury at any perceived injustice. However, maybe that's because I have this peculiar sense that
I've been here before. If I had to pick faults, the enemies lack charm (as does Kaze herself arguably - particular during cut-scenes) and there is definitely some slowdown at times, which is a bit ludicrous giving how little a workout the Switch seems to be getting technically. So I'm not that surprised to hear Balla report of crashes later in the game. But so far neither of these have been deal breakers.
I hope I've only scratched the surface because I've adored what I've played so far.
Drumstick wrote:Balla's done a grand job of selling that game to me.
Mate, you have to get it. It's Donkey Kong Country 4.