Missing: The thought that this is supposed to be a game.
By: Casey Curran
Every gamer has had that moment; where they think that a game they are playing is either the best or worst they have ever experienced. It’s just something that’s inevitable about any medium really. But how many people have thought, “This is the most average game I have ever played?” It’s something that has never even crossed my mind until I played Knytt Underground, a game that never feels like it excels nor fails miserably in any area.
CONTROLS (3.5/5)
I can best sum up how Knytt Underground’s controls and physics feel in three simple words: Super Meat Boy. Everything from jumping to moving reminded me of SMB’s controls, with two exceptions. The first being that wall jumping has been replaced with wall climbing, and the second is that it lacks SMB’s precision. The controls were much looser, which often caused me to miss a key jump. This was not a frequent occurrence, but it happened enough for it to put a damper on the game.
GRAPHICS/SOUND (3.5/5)
Like how the controls mimic Super Meat Boy’s, the graphics reminded me of Outland. Platforms have the exact same black look to them while backgrounds take a similar stylistic approach. These areas are beautiful as they present an array of colors with nice lighting and graphic effects. If I were judging merely on the quality of the backgrounds, I would probably give the graphics perfect marks.
However, the character models present a problem to this formula, as they look like paper cut outs. These two styles look fine on their own, but they clash together horribly. Every character felt out of place in this world, which brought the overall effect of the graphics down. Then just when I thought I could ignore my character looking out of place, a talking head segment reared its ugly head that only re-emphasized how horrible this contrast is. It’s a shame too, because the backgrounds really do look amazing on their own.
GAMEPLAY (2.5/5)
Once again, the structure reminds me a lot of Outland, as the game consists of exploring nonlinear 2D areas to ultimately find an objective. While Outland took a few cues from Metroid in this approach, however, Knytt Underground consists of nothing but fetch quests. I’m not kidding. Every single time I hit an obstacle, I had to collect two or three of something or other to pass.
In the game’s defense, there are platforms and obstacles to bypass, which occasionally present a puzzle to the player. The platforming would be beyond simple if the game controlled perfectly if it weren’t for orbs that allow the player to jump higher or zoom to another side of the map. It requires a bit more precision in the timing, but it came across like the developers felt they needed something to keep the game from getting stale. As for the puzzles, well, let’s just say Valve doesn’t have to worry about anyone outdoing Portal anytime soon.
None of this is bad, mind you. There’s just nothing overly fun about it.
OVERALL (2.5/5)
There is no other way I could describe Knytt Underground without emphasizing how average it is. It will not anger anyone, but I can’t see it leaving a lasting impression on anyone, either. In fact, it was so forgettable I had to look up to the title of the game every time I had to type its name in this review.
RotoRob GAMING 