It's taken me a while, but I think I maybe actually like the Shantae games now. I've always loved the way the games look - Shantae and friends are freaking great looking - but didn't like the gameplay that much. Now I've given the series another chance and I think I like it. Today's game is Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. Read more and watch gameplay here.
I just gotta reiterate - I love the way the girls look in these games. They're freaking amazing looking. It's 100% of the reason why I had any interest in the series at all. For a long time I wished they had just made the franchise into an anime instead of sexy 2D platformers. I still do wish that, honestly, but at least now I'm finally getting into the games.
The thing about the Shantae games is that I'm not sure who the audience is supposed to be. They make the characters all sexy, but the core gameplay is really braindead and easy. It's like the visuals are for adults but the gameplay is for kids.
Personally, I don't mind this because I'm not a fan of difficult "hardcore" 2D platformers. I kind of like that Shantae games are easy and you can just blast through them with relatively little trouble. It gives you adequate time to soak in the great looking characters and awesome soundtrack, so it's nice to play through a game that is relatively stress-free.
One other thing I want to say about Shantae is that I'm not a fan of how much freaking goddamn text and dialogue there is in the game. Every character is really, really chatty, but you HAVE to talk to everyone in order to figure out what the heck to do next. Just give me a map marker and let me play!
Anyways, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is OK. The newest one, Seven Sirens, is better. And they're both much better than Half-Genie Hero. We'll play those other two in the next few days!
