Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

I love this game, but I cannot in good conscience give it a full five stars. There are too many inconsistencies: inconsistencies in art style (high-res cartoon art or low-res pixel art, pick one!), in the presence of voice acting (full voice acting or no voice acting, pick one!), and the biggest inconsistency of all: Shantae is presented as a likable, friendly, forgiving heroine, but the gameplay is all about murdering everything in your path.

Sure the game is cute and well presented. Shantae is a very likable player character. But it's spoiled by the controls. I believe this was never meant to be a PC game, the controls are all very awkward keyboard combos, the mouse is NOT used for control (only for some menus). Joysticks don't seem to be supported at all, the only option is one of those horrid Playstation type controllers. F-off! I also couldn't get past the first boss, some "Ammo Man" idiot in an oversized cartoon tank. This once again proves what a bunch of loonies some reviewers are as well, especially the rabid 5-star ravers, and they always get all the posreps from fellow rabid 5-star ravers. One such nutter couldn't even be bothered typing ANYTHING, not even a "." - and still got posreps. So I assume, rabid 5-star loonies, I can count on your negreps then eh?

If you like fun to stop constantly because you have to search previous level for some stupid item that you need to progress then this game is for you.

Although Shantae And The Pirate's Curse remains on my GOG wishlist, I've had the opportunity to play it on a friend's PC, with keyboard, and now have doubts as to whether to buy it even if it goes on sale. The game is a retro styled platformer with a charming (and cutely sexy) central character and colorful graphics. Unfortunately it wastes no time in challenging even experienced Super Mario players with tight jumps, a hail of incoming machine gun fire, and few save points. I'd spent perhaps two or three hours in total on it and was unable to surpass more than a couple of minutes of in-game time before exhausting all of Shantae's defenses. No matter how appealing it might look, any game become tiresome when one is forced to restart countless times. My guess is a controller would help matters, but I'm unwilling to bet this game's price to find out. So unless a gamer is highly skilled at platformers, I'd suggest he check out other titles before this one.