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Games : Worth a Look
Ranking:
Release Date: April 19th, 2016 Movie Release Year: 2016

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

Overview -

While WayForward Technologies have worked on a number of high profile gaming series such as 'Contra' and 'Double Dragon,' they are most synonymous with their own 'Shantae' series. 'Shantae and the Pirate's Curse,' the third installment in their beloved platforming series that stars a belly dancing half-genie, was originally released on Nintendo 3DS and Wii U in late 2014. Now over a year later, it has been ported to PlayStation 4.

OVERALL:
Worth a Look
Rating Breakdown
VIDEO
AUDIO
Tech Specs & Release Details
Release Date:
April 19th, 2016

Video Review

Ranking:

Unlike 'Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut,' WayForward designed 'Pirate's Curse' for HD systems from the very beginning. That's why you won't see any borders surrounding the action, and the pixelwork looks gorgeously drawn instead of blown up. The animation in particular is gorgeous to see, as the characters bounce around with every step. 'Mega Man 9' developer Inti Creates even contributed to the game by producing beautiful portraits for characters during dialogue sequences.

There's also a lot of small touches that make the world seem like its alive. Scuttle Town, the game's hub area, constant changed as I progressed through 'Shantae's story. After getting wrecked in the very beginning, players get to see it slowly rebuild again. If there's one disappointment, it's that there are a lot of re-used enemies and characters. While they may get a nostalgia pop initially, I was ultimately left wishing that there were more new visuals left to see.

Audio Review

Ranking:

'Shantae' features a fantastic soundtrack by Jake "virt" Kaufman. There's over 2 hours of music, and it makes for a perfect accompaniment to Shantae's journey. Since her adventure goes to several highly different locales, Kaufman's soundtrack is able to experiment more. Each theme for an area creates an atmosphere for it, and I found the music constantly stuck in my head after I stopped playing.

The sound design is also well done, although it's a bit disappointing that the voiced dialogue is extremely limited. While it made sense that not every conversation could be voiced on Nintendo 3DS, there's really no reason why the console version should also be limited. If there's one upside to the lack of voice acting, it's that the music is always in the forefront, and is never relegated to just simply background noise.

Final Thoughts

'Shantae and the Pirate's Curse' is a highly enjoyable platformer that doesn't take any risks. It's almost like comfort food in a way. You know what to expect, and it scratches that particular itch, but it's ultimately empty calories. Hopefully WayForward Technologies will take more chances and innovate with the next entry in the series, 'Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.'