Penny’s Big Breakaway
MSRP $30.00
“Penny’s Big Breakaway isn’t one of the genre’s greats, but it’s a very unique and fun 3D platformer.”
Pros
Unique management scheme works
Clever yo-yo mechanics
Encourages gameplay mastery
Cons
Unmemorable characters
Bad boss fights
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At the tip of the primary world in Penny’s Big Breakaway, the titular character and her sentient, aggressive yo-yo are offered with their first boss-like encounter: a large rolling ball of penguins. I needed to run for my life, swinging with and using on my yo-yo at pivotal actions so I wasn’t smushed by the ball of a boss, proving to myself that I understood and had began to grasp its dual-stick management scheme.
While that each one in all probability sounds ridiculous if you happen to’re unfamiliar with Penny’s Big Breakaway, this encounter is the place this platforming journey from among the builders behind Sonic Mania began to sing. Evening Star nails the sport really feel, making a fluid, momentum-driven platforming expertise that controls in a novel, but intuitive method. No different platformer appears or feels fairly like Penny’s Big Breakaway. While this studio’s first outing doesn’t nail issues like its narrative or arena-based boss encounters, the developer pedigree behind Penny’s Big Breakaway is obvious on this well-designed, surprise-launched platformer.
Moving on from mania
In Penny’s Big Breakaway, gamers observe the titular character, a performer compelled on the run after her sentient Yo-Yo tears off King Eddie’s garments throughout an audition. Throughout the journey, Penny tries to evade Eddie and his compatriots, and meets an eclectic forged of characters alongside the best way. In refined methods, I may inform that the story of Penny’s Big Breakaway is processing the sentiments of the builders who needed to “break away” from Sega for unknown causes, which resulted on this sport as a substitute of Sonic Mania 2.
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While that meta theme did catch me abruptly, little else did narratively. Penny’s Big Breakaway is a vibrant and colourful sport with a big forged of characters, however exterior of Penny, none of their designs stand out as that memorable. Some don’t have the simplicity of characters like Sonic or Mario, and every character individually seems like they might have been designed for various video games.
Its script definitely received a number of chuckles out of me – one of many villains repeatedly calling Penny “Miss Felon” was my favourite operating gag – and taste textual content all through every stage does give the phases a way of place. Other than these shiny spots, I in all probability received’t be considering a lot about Penny and her associates now that the credit have rolled on Penny’s Big Breakaway.
However, story and characters aren’t why most individuals come to a sport like Penny’s Big Breakaway; how good the platforming feels and the way well-designed impediment course ranges are is what they search. Thankfully, when it isn’t locking gamers into an area for a boss struggle, Penny’s Big Breakaway nails that.
Expert platforming design
Penny’s Big Breakaway‘s gameplay is all centered round utilizing a magical yo-yo. While you’ll be able to run and bounce such as you usually would in a platformer, the yo-yo is used for a wide range of totally different offensive and motion abilities. By utilizing the best stick on a controller, you’ll be able to ship out the yo-yo in any path; this can seize, work together with, or break any objects it comes into contact with. You can even use it to sprint or swing in midair by utilizing the best stick whereas leaping or use the set off to experience on the yo-yo if an incline or bounce offers you sufficient momentum to maneuver ahead. I needed to be taught to make use of and blend collectively all of those talents to finish linear ranges throughout 11 totally different worlds.
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These distinctive controls initially take some getting used to; I dashed off the sting of just about each stage within the first world. After a while with the sport and being compelled to make use of these abilities in high-pressure conditions, Penny’s Big Breakaway will get much more intuitive. It isn’t as fast-paced as Sonic the Hedgehog, however it incorporates momentum into a sturdy moveset. There are some fairly wild stage shortcuts that even I’ve discovered by stringing strikes collectively throughout seemingly impassible gaps.
As gamers spend extra time with and get higher on the sport, I’m excited to see what different shortcuts or neat platforming methods are found. Penny’s Big Breakaway encourages gamers to get higher in many various methods. For occasion, penguin enemies all chase Penny and sluggish her down after touching her fairly than dealing injury; this encourages gamers to maintain transferring and to discover ways to use the totally different yo-yo abilities to shed themselves of the penguins.
Due to the skateboarding sport influences on the yo-yo twin stick controls, Evening Star carried out a combo system. Accrue sufficient factors by the tip of a stage, and also you unlock idea artwork. Three distinctive challenges and three collectibles are additionally strewn about every stage. These are inclined to require gamers to indicate mastery of the motion mechanics, so that you get higher by finishing or acquiring them. Completing the challenges offers you an opportunity to earn extra factors within the end-of-level Busker Bonus, whereas discovered collectibles will be spent to unlock tough Star Globe phases that put your abilities to the take a look at.
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Add within the Time Attack mode, the place gamers can speedrun for the perfect occasions and evaluate their occasions to different gamers on a leaderboard, and Penny’s Big Breakaway is a sport begging gamers to get good at it. Having such enjoyable momentum-based gameplay comes with the draw back of creating Penny’s Big Breakaway much less fascinating when gamers must cease, wait, and take care of stage gimmicks that don’t emphasize the perfect components of Penny’s moveset. Frequently, this occurs in boss fights.
Horrible bosses
The large penguin ball I discussed within the intro set the bar excessive for end-of-world encounters, however sadly, not one of the others stay as much as that normal. Many of the boss fights after are extra conventional and attempt to shoehorn the yo-yo mechanics into gimmicky fight-specific challenges, like enjoying pool with components of a boss after damaging them.
These area fights simply aren’t almost as partaking as the traditional platforming phases, and poor checkpointing means I needed to replay giant, repetitive chunks of those fights for a mess-up late within the encounter. Good boss fights recontextualize and improve the fundamental mechanics of the sport, and the penguin ball encounter towards the beginning of the sport understands this. That makes it all of the extra unlucky that many of the different bosses that observe don’t construct on that.
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Penny’s Big Breakaway was laborious to place down, however wanting again, frustrations with these boss fights are what brought on me to finish my play session and are available again later. The similar goes for phases the place they wanted extra room to mess around with the entire gameplay instruments as they have been too centered on a singular gimmick or impediment. Those are actual momentum-killers for a sport the place it’s important to maintain transferring.
Thankfully, these points are solely pace bumps on the street Penny is rolling down on her sentient yo-yo. When Evening Star Games lets distinctive platforming mechanics and fluid platforming shine and reinforces them with the scoring system and enemy design, Penny’s Big Breakaway shines. Although I’m unsure that Penny and her yo-yo have the endurance of Sega’s iconic hedgehog, Penny’s Big Breakaway is a simple suggestion to hardcore platforming followers wanting to see what the Sonic Mania devs are to this point.
Digital Trends examined Penny’s Big Breakway on PC.