CB: How does this compare to Castle Crashers? It sounds like a less fun, less in-depth version of Castle Crashers to me. Sounds like they are relying on the great irony of cute Fairytale characters doing violent deeds to make the game.
Sounds like a skip to me, and I was so looking forward to another Castle Crashers-type game
It sounds like a less fun, less in-depth version of Castle Crashers to me ... like they are relying on the great irony of cute Fairytale characters doing violent deeds to make the game.
That's a pretty good summary actually. If one hasen't already played Castle Crashers, one should play that before this. It has more advanced game-play, no jumping puzzles, and better, clearer, more stylish visuals.
On Irony:
I didn't go into it in the review, because it was already pretty long, and I usually don't go much into the literary aspects of a game, but I'll take a momment to go over it here:
The entire game is centered, and designed around a "great irony", which is a good device if used correctly. Unfortunately it's not used correctly here.
The Irony in this game is, as you mentioned, that such violence could possibly exist in such a peaceful serene world. This device doesn't work in this game for three reasons:
First: The basic premise is flawed because fairytales, for most of history are very gritty already, so it's not actually ironic at all for these characters to be violent. It wasn't until the Victorian Era that people even started thinking that perhaps children should be exposed to a different version of the world than adults, and the stories were tamed a bit. Then, they weren't made colorful and bubbly until Disney got ahold of them, and even then, they were never this bubbly and colorful. The artists here are not mocking fairytale styles, they are mocking an over-idealized version of Disney style, which only exists in their heads. That's not actually a parody, it's a farce. Besides that, if they did want to successfully parody Disney style, they would need to mock some Disney elements, there would need to be some anthropomorphic mice, and dancing brooms and stuff, and it's just not there.
Second, the idealized world itself doesn't work because it is inconsistent. The backgrounds are pretty and nice, but the characters are ugly, even the "pretty" ones. If the characters were all as beautiful as the scenery, it would have worked much better.
Third: The premise is expected. No one is shocked by a peaceful children's story world turning bad. It's already been done too many times, and it's cliche now. You can't mix irony and cliche unless you're Alanis Morissett.
Every element of the game is relying on the support of a single flawed device, and it simply doesn't hold up.
Comments
Sounds like a skip to me, and I was so looking forward to another Castle Crashers-type game
That's a pretty good summary actually. If one hasen't already played Castle Crashers, one should play that before this. It has more advanced game-play, no jumping puzzles, and better, clearer, more stylish visuals.
On Irony:
I didn't go into it in the review, because it was already pretty long, and I usually don't go much into the literary aspects of a game, but I'll take a momment to go over it here:
The entire game is centered, and designed around a "great irony", which is a good device if used correctly. Unfortunately it's not used correctly here.
The Irony in this game is, as you mentioned, that such violence could possibly exist in such a peaceful serene world. This device doesn't work in this game for three reasons:
First: The basic premise is flawed because fairytales, for most of history are very gritty already, so it's not actually ironic at all for these characters to be violent. It wasn't until the Victorian Era that people even started thinking that perhaps children should be exposed to a different version of the world than adults, and the stories were tamed a bit. Then, they weren't made colorful and bubbly until Disney got ahold of them, and even then, they were never this bubbly and colorful. The artists here are not mocking fairytale styles, they are mocking an over-idealized version of Disney style, which only exists in their heads. That's not actually a parody, it's a farce. Besides that, if they did want to successfully parody Disney style, they would need to mock some Disney elements, there would need to be some anthropomorphic mice, and dancing brooms and stuff, and it's just not there.
Second, the idealized world itself doesn't work because it is inconsistent. The backgrounds are pretty and nice, but the characters are ugly, even the "pretty" ones. If the characters were all as beautiful as the scenery, it would have worked much better.
Third: The premise is expected. No one is shocked by a peaceful children's story world turning bad. It's already been done too many times, and it's cliche now. You can't mix irony and cliche unless you're Alanis Morissett.
Every element of the game is relying on the support of a single flawed device, and it simply doesn't hold up.