As a “misplaced chapter” restored, Shantae Advance: Dangerous Revolution has to stability the truth of being a 20-year-old recreation that’s additionally polished and up to date to fashionable sensibilities. It falls quick in that regard, however the recreation nonetheless affords the type of high-quality leisure I’ve come to count on from WayForward.
For the report, that is solely the third Shantae recreation I’ve performed amongst the collection and its many ports. I’m an enormous WayForward fan, however not as a lot a Shantae one. Pirate’s Curse on the Nintendo DS was my first Shantae recreation, and I loved it effectively sufficient. The lack of her genie powers and needing to depend on her personal resourcefulness clicked with me. My subsequent one was Half-Genie Hero, which I ultimately grabbed on the Swap primarily as a result of it was our Wii U cowl story again in PNM #27. The method of that recreation (much less “Metroidvania”, extra motion) additionally appealed to me considerably. I say this to not pad out a evaluate, however as a disclaimer for these in search of complete comparisons to previous entries. I’ve my limits.
In fact, Dangerous Revolution has each Shantae’s genie powers and the normal collection gameplay on the fore. As a sidescrolling platformer, Shantae makes use of her ponytail to get rid of monsters of all types and even remedy puzzles. That is all the time good enjoyable. She’ll additionally use her aforementioned transformations when backtracking to prior areas to entry new elements, one thing I’m extra divided on. I blame an early bug after I was in crab kind, for one. Someway, I fell beneath the extent, however it wasn’t exploration that led to a enjoyable secret. Ultimately, I heard Shantae scream, solely to respawn immovable. I’ve run into glitches in different Shantae video games, however this was in all probability the earliest. One other replace patch can be useful, although your confidence within the collection shouldn’t be shaken due to this, solely the land.
Sure, this recreation’s plot finds Sequin Land dealing with a singular basis-shaking menace. Dangerous Boots, the collection’ pirate provocateur, is utilizing mechanical gadgets to rock the city’s groundwork itself, twisting pillars to maneuver inland areas to the coast for painless plundering. The tales in these Shante video games are usually of minimal significance to me, however this is among the extra intriguing tales.
Dangerous Revolution has an fascinating problem. Hearts are beneficiant, and coronary heart holders enhance your well being. Save spots are conveniently frequent. The enemies are usually simple. Even the bosses’ patterns are shortly realized. The problem appears to stem extra from the hit detection being a tad off (at the very least in comparison with another entries) and the navigation itself. Backtracking is central, for higher or worse. Repeatedly, I entered a cave solely to find I’d been there earlier than and wasn’t due again but. Areas can look and play fairly equally. The sport began to remind me of an outdated point-and-click recreation the place some puzzles boiled all the way down to attempting every part. It feels a bit unbalanced, and even surprisingly boring occasionally.
It circles again to my preliminary point out of Dangerous Revolution needing fashionable sensibilities, which wasn’t a private want that I pulled out of the air. Sequence director Matt Bozon (whom PN has labored with greater than as soon as) stated that this recreation can be “modernized with our present sensibilities.” This brings me to my elephant within the room, and no, I’m not speaking about Shantae’s elephant transformation. This recreation has no map.
A map would’ve been so appreciated for a recreation like this that straddles the road between intelligent and mazy. I’d argue it ought to’ve been anticipated, given not simply its subgenre but in addition previous video games within the collection. The argument that it is a GBA recreation at coronary heart (Restricted Run even did a bodily launch cartridge, lengthy offered out) merely doesn’t fly as an excuse as a result of a scarcity of a map would’ve felt dated even when this had been launched on the GBA twenty years in the past. As we speak, it feels antiquated. Mixed with the removing of city tips that could nudge you in the proper course, Shante’s latest seems like one among her oldest.
Don’t get me incorrect, even being left to your individual gadgets, you’ll nonetheless have some enjoyable as you “Spin and shift Entrance Yard and Again Yard playfields to create new routes and remedy puzzles!” It doesn’t take lengthy to get used to, reminding me of Digital Boy Wario Land (which I coated in PNM #35) and by curious coincidence, is coming again by way of the Swap On-line Nintendo Classics.) However Dangerous Revolution actually would’ve been higher with extra choices to stay as much as the sport’s full promise.
I’m assured I’d have gotten extra out of this recreation had I skilled all the collection as a result of, on the finish of the day, that is each the second entry and the sixth one. Fans gained’t thoughts some conversations overstaying their welcome, as these characters are outdated pals. If their consideration turns elsewhere, it is going to in all probability be to different Shantae video games. They’ll wanna search out each secret squid, and may not miss instructions within the type of a map or mild hints. That is possible the Shantae recreation for them.
Nevertheless, a few the “Key Options” on this recreation are large letdowns for followers outdated and new. One is the battle mode. Not solely does it not have on-line, it doesn’t even have the choice to problem pc gamers! I can perceive the previous, however there’s no excuse for the latter. Even funds battlers provide the choice to problem the CPU. It feels incomplete. The opposite is the DLC. A Deluxe Version of this recreation (for $10 extra) features a trio of costumes that may’t even be modified on the fly. Not too thrilling.
However aesthetically, the sport succeeds. The GBA type may be very nostalgic for a era of players, and the standard {hardware} was able to producing some great-looking video games. Dangerous Revolution isn’t any exception. Simply bear in mind, Shantae earns her teen ranking by exhibiting ample pores and skin. Musically, I admit to lacking the Jake Kaufman compositions. Maddie Lim does some stable tracks, a number of being catchy, however I would choose a few of her work on Vitamin Connection. That stated, the Lava City tune is nice. And that space as an entire is sort of humorous.
Shantae Advance: Dangerous Revolution is a well-made, high quality recreation that’ll show largely entertaining for followers well-versed within the collection. Nevertheless it displays loads of decisions right here which can be robust to wrap one’s head round, particularly when different Shantae video games surpass this one in each tempo and polish. The restrictive 4-player mode disappointingly fails to stay as much as the hype. And the inexplicable lack of a map (or any typical trace system) makes this recreation really feel antiquated subsequent to its different entries. Thus, what must be an important recreation is only a good one. Look forward to a sale, and make this Shantae your Half-Worth Hero.
