Thursday, February 2, 2012

Video Game Review: Scary Girl (XBLA/PSN)

Is Scarygirl's unique artistic charm enough to set itself apart from the competition?


 Scarygirl originally started its life as a graphic novel which doesn’t surprise as the game is literally dripping with artistic charm. You would be excused for looking at Scarygirl and wondering if Tim Burton had worked on the game or it was based off one of his franchises as it echoes his odd artistic values. Scarygirl herself is certainly not scary, and instead is just pretty much odd. The heroine you’ll be playing as sports an askew pirate hat, an eye patch, skull earrings, one hand that is simply a bone sticking out, and the other that is a tentacle adorned with a hook. The story isn’t any more conventional then it’s protagonist either.
The titular Scarygirl: a Tim Burton-esque heroine
A little girl is abandoned by her parents at a swamp and a giant talking octopus with a dapper little mustache takes her away to raise her; naming her, you guessed it, Scarygirl. The octopus, by the name of Blister, builds the girl her very own clubhouse and adorns it with everything Scarygirl might need growing up. As she grows though she is plagued by nightmares of a enigmatic man and what she only can guess is his ill intent. Upon meeting a kung-fu wielding guru bunny, Scarygirl sets off on a quest to find the man. The premise really doesn’t get much more deep then that throughout the game, but it’s enough to keep fighting baddies and platforming throughout the game.

The bulk of Scarygirl is your standard platformer, though I never thought I’d use the word standard for anything having to do with a tentacle wielding girl. It doesn’t subscribe to the tight controls of Mario, but instead is closer to the floaty feeling jumping mechanic of something like LittleBigPlanet. Scarygirl isn’t so much about navigating the environment or tricky jumps though as she has an ability that lets you hold down the jump button to helicopter her tentacle and float above gaps. Other tricks are introduced like climbing certain walls, swinging with your tentacle from hooks, and sometimes other mechanics are introduced like using glow mushrooms in the fantastic spider cave level. Overall though the focus lies mostly on combat with platforming just serving a way to get through the stage from left to right.

Scarygirl’s combat system is not extremely deep and the controls can be a little loose, but overall I had a lot of fun once I got the feel for it. Basically you have your standard attack, your heavy attack which launches baddies skyward, and your tentacle grab. Generally you’ll beat enemies down with a combo of standard and launch attacks and then once stunned you can grab them in your tentacle. At this point you can either toss the enemy at another bad guy or you can keep him in your tentacle and use him as a melee weapon until he dies. These attacks do a lot more than your standard attacks and after a while you’ll find yourself combo attacking like a master leaping from enemy to enemy and using their own defeated friends against them. It’s great fun when it works.
Boss fights cap the end of some levels
Unfortunately sometimes the controls are a little too loose for their own good and when you're ganged up on by numerous enemies it can be a little awkward. Luckily you have a rage meter that fills up and unleashing it, in addition to making the game world look even more odd, makes you unstoppable and changes your attacks to things like straight up chomping on enemies. Often times you’ll also have problems aiming when you decide to throw enemies. It would have been greatly helpful to have some sort of aiming reticule come up because there are even times you must use it to proceed. Overall though it shouldn’t impact you greatly, even if it is frustrating at times.

In each level you’ll be able to collect gems that add up and you can purchase upgrades for Scarygirl with them, such as an anchor for her tentacle instead of a hook to boost attack power or additional moves for combat. Also on sale are duplicates of the vinyls that you can actually physically purchase offline based on the enemies and characters of the Scarygirl universe. It’s a nice touch that gives you a little more reason to collect these random gems, though I took issue with the fact that the merchants you purchase items from seem to be few and far between.
The Spider Caves: Probably the coolest level in the game
To add longevity there are branching paths in every level and each level is scored at the end, an achievement netted for getting perfect on every level. The problem with the branching paths though is there are often times no clear marked paths. Though one is supposed to be harder you can’t tell which till you’re on the path which invalidates your choice from the start. It’s also baffling that they don’t allow the progress to carry over to subsequent playthroughs so unless you know which path you took it becomes a guessing game to get every jewel, as they're suddenly all back. You have to hit both paths in one run of the level and if you don’t know where the split is you’ll have to play multiple times, otherwise you’ll not get a perfect for collecting all gems.

Scarygirl can also team up with Guru Bunny in a fantastically simple drop in, drop out multiplayer. By simply pressing the A button, a second player takes control of Scarygirl’s kung-fu friend. Guru Bunny is capable of every move that the main protagonist is, but instead of a simple palette switch they have separate animations.

It’s a nice touch and the ability to pause the game and remove the second player makes it so easy for someone to just come by and start playing. It seems that this kind of simplicity in drop in, drop out is fading away with most games and I certainly appreciated it. You don’t share lives so once the second player dies it’s up to player one to reach the next checkpoint where Guru Bunny is revived. My six year old boy and I played the entire game together and it made for a fun experience, as I was able to proceed without him if I so choose.
The artwork is vibrant and quirky
In the end the greatest detractors to Scarygirl’s experience are the loose controls, uncertainty with branching paths, and a high price tag; at 1200 MS points or 15 dollars, if you like your price tags in real money. Even so if you enjoy quirky atmospheric artwork, easily accessible multiplayer and fun (if a little loosely controlled) combat then you should give Scarygirl a try.

Score: 7 out of 10

A copy of this game was provided to Unexpected Parcel by the publisher for review purposes.

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