As I mentioned in my Beat the Backlog Club announcement post, I’m cheating a little this month since I didn’t get the ball rolling for the BBC project until mid-January. As such, I’m plaything through The Legendary Starfy, a quirky platformer for the Nintendo DS that, admittedly, I started in December. Given that I only played a level or two in 2012, I figured it would serve as a good title to ease me into the idea of playing a game a month.
The Legendary Starfy is a relatively basic platformer, albiet a little easier than the likes of Mario or Rayman, as apparently it’s intended for a slightly younger audince. In addition, much of the gameplay takes place under water, which is generally a source of much frustration in other platformers. Gameplay is relatively straightforward, however, with Starfy using his star powers to glide effortlessly through the water and companion Bunston occassionally lending costumes that serve as power-ups.
While Starfy‘s cuteness hooked me from the start, the rest of the game has been a bit of a mixed bag. I don’t play many platformers and as such don’t think I can really articulate what I think makes some better over others, but something about Starfy‘s level design leaves much to be desired. Simply playing through them becomes a bit of a chore, especially since it’s all quite easy and the game makes it extremely clear where it wants you to go and how you should go about getting there. The kind of fun and excitement I had playing through Rayman Origins is, unfortunately, not to be found here.
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| Almost everything can be forgiven in a game this adorable. |
In addition, the music is mind-numbingly awful. You can tell the developers wanted to go the “super-cute” route here, too, but it just comes off as being too sugary-sweet and overdone. As a result, I’ve been playing the game on mute virtually the whole time.
That’s not to say Starfy is horrible and that it shouldn’t be experienced, but I don’t think its charm lies in what traditionally makes platformers fun to play. So far, my favorite aspects of Starfy have actually been in the game’s characters and dialogue! We’ll see if that’s what gets me through the game, or if the gameplay actually gets better later on…
Are you playing a game from your backlog this month? Feel free to share what title you picked and chat about your progress in the comments!
Well, that’s not a good start! Sorry to hear you’re not exactly feeling the love for ol’ Starfy at the moment. This is why I’ve long avoided this series, BTW. It’s always sounded too easy to me. And if the music is annoying, too? Yeesh. Anyway, I hope it gets better eventually. At least you’ll be moving on to a new one soon, right?
Yeah, the silver lining is of course the fact that I only have to play this for a couple more days before I can move on to something more fun!
And I know what you mean about hearing some less-than-positive things about the series. I definitely think it’s worth trying out someday if you’re into cute games (which I know you are), but I can’t say I’ve fallen in love with it or anything like that. Which is a shame! At least I can say I’ve played it 😉
Ah, Kirby’s Epic Yarn! Can you believe I haven’t played that yet?? Now that’s something I really need to get to! (once I add a copy to my collection…)
It’s too bad you didn’t enjoy DmC, but I can understand where you’re coming from. I’ll definitely head over to your blog to read more of your thoughts on it!
As for Xenoblade Chronicles, that’s another one I need to pick up… And funny you should mention Devil Survivor 2, as I just got Overclocked for Christmas! Would you say it’s better then the first one?
Yes, at least you only have to play it for a few more days. Which game will be your next one, BTW?
I think I’m going to go with Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime for my next backlog playthrough. Either that or Super Mario Sunshine…
Well, both Fishing Resort and Harvest Moon: A New Beginning got a similar number of votes, so I think it’ll be between those two. I’m having a hard time deciding!
I can’t wait to hear what you think about both of those games, by the way! I’ve played a bit of Super Mario Sunshine but never tried Rocket Slime.
I’m looking forward to February!
Don’t you realllllly want to play Harvest Moon, though? If so, maybe you should go for that–and then play Fishing Resort in March?
I can’t believe I’ve never played Super Mario Sunshine, to tell you the truth. I’ve always loved 3D Mario games, so how/why this one fell through the cracks is beyond me. Of course, I came to own a GC pretty late in its lifetime, so maybe that’s why…
You really can’t go wrong with anything that has “Devil Survivor” in its name. There are some improvements going from DS1 to DS2 — the music, some minor graphical tweaks, and some new gameplay mechanics — but no matter which game you go for, you’re in for a treat. Though to be fair, I’m convinced that DS2 takes the difficulty up a few notches…and sometimes, that’s not always a good thing.
On the other hand, once you collect enough skills and put them on the right characters, you can pretty much break the game wide open. Unfortunately, I’m ALSO convinced that creating a quartet of broken characters is the only way to beat the game, because some of the bosses are borderline (if not completely) broken. So there’s that.
Still, one of its strongest suits is its story (and by extension its cast). If you play through Overclocked and enjoy it, you’ll be well-rewarded with DS2. Trust me on this one.
“While Starfy’s cuteness hooked me from the start”
I can’t say I blame you. All the colors and smiling faces and whimsy…just one look at that cover makes me want to go on a magical adventure! A shame that the actual game isn’t quite so magical, but I suppose it’s serviceable enough. (Of course, I have Kirby’s Epic Yarn to fall back on if I ever need a sudden shot of cuteness.)
As for me? Well, I managed to wrap up DmC: Devil May Cry the other day (with a handful of blog posts all written as a result). I feel kind of bad for saying this, but…honestly? I don’t think it’s very good. To summarize, the gameplay’s good in theory, but there are a lot of annoyances that drag the experience down and prevent you from achieving stylish-crazy nirvana. And the story is an absolute disaster; the first five minutes are enough to tell you that you’re in for a bad time, and it only gets worse from there. It’s a shame, because it could have been good — but as it is, I can’t recommend it.
On the plus side, though, I’m close to finishing Xenoblade Chronicles — or at least closer. Unfortunately, I decided to play some Devil Survivor 2 on a whim, and…well, it’s proving to be very absorbing. In my opinion, no DS library is complete without it in your collection.