Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

Brisk and almost effortlessly pleasing, WayForward's Shantae returns in her richest adventure to date, with all of the personality intact.

Everyone's favourite hair-whipping half-genie is back for her third adventure. Although it's been around a while, you can now play it on almost every major console. So, let's see if Shantae still delivers the high quality platforming that we're used to.

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse succeeds by building a funny, gorgeous world around its tried and true Metroidvania gameplay. In the brief moments when the combat becomes exhausting, it’s the writing, in all its self-referential and juvenile glory, and its visual splendor that keep the pace going. Though it’s an unmistakable tribute to Metroid and Castlevania, infusing a sharp wit and bold style helps Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse stand above its retro-inspired contemporaries.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a 2D side-scroller in the classic Metroidvania vein, but with a whimsical story and an anarchic sense of humour that helps separate it from the pack. Taking on the role of a half-genie named Shantae, you'll spend approximately ten hours exploring various islands, solving puzzles in dungeons, and acquiring new powers that allow you to access previously locked off areas. The game doesn't do much that's particularly new, and so while veterans of the genre should find themselves right at home, they shouldn't expect many surprises.

WayForward knows retro game design. Side-scrolling gems like Contra 4 and DuckTales Remastered are proof the developer appreciates the essence of 8- and 16-bit game design. While the studio generally succeeds in recapturing the wheat and discarding the chaff of older games, this 3DS Shantae title's reliance on pesky backtracking detracts from an otherwise capable action-platformer.

It is perhaps this design flaw that stopped me liking Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse as much as I wanted to. I was pulled in by the colourful world and characters and enjoyed the fluid]and responsive gameplay, but the continous backtracking for little reward, some unfairly difficult enemies and areas and a lack of direction pulled me out of the experience. For hardcore platforming or metroidvania fans, you will undoubtedly find lots to love here but others may find that too many smaller problems creates a much larger problematic package.