A brother and sister live in a fantasy world and must solve tricky dungeon puzzles based on their childhood fears.  And I’m assuming the sister’s name is Mandy but I’m not really sure as you play as the brother in this one.  Had I not read the press release before writing this review, I wouldn’t have been able to glean so much information about the story, as it’s not really presented in the game at all.  Something about the boy losing his hand in an accident or something?  I don’t know.  But what I do know is that you play as the boy who wears a metal glove which gives him the power to unsheathe swords of light that you can use to solve puzzles and defeat bosses in Zelda-like 3-D dungeons.  It’s available to download on some current consoles, PC, and mobile devices, but reviewed on PS4 here.

You’ll tackle eight 3-D dungeons that are very similar to ones found in Zelda games.  They take about as long to beat, too.  Each one has a different theme: Sky Castle, Forest, Lava, Cave, etc.  Once you solve one and beat the boss, you’ll go right to the next one.  Your boy character moves around in 3-D space and can jump, crouch and crawl, roll, and dash.

The boy’s main ability is that he can summon a sword of light from his gloved right hand.  You’ll mostly use the sword to solve puzzles, like activating switches and stuff.  But you can also stick the sword in the ground or wall.  After that, you can summon another sword.  You can swing the sword on the one already sticking into something, and it’ll explode in a burst of light and acts like a bomb.  But if you stick multiple swords into walls or floors and they are near each other, they’ll connect with a line and you can hit one and make a chain reaction of light explosions.  You can also summon a bow and arrow of light, but these are only used to hit light swords from far away.  This is how you’ll solve most of the puzzles in the game.

Using your weapons of light requires magic from a meter, but you can refill it limitlessly by approaching a certain kind of butterfly jar which is scattered about the mazes.  You also have a life meter but if you have the game set to ‘casual’ it’s nearly impossible to die.  But the game isn’t about staying alive anyway, it’s about solving puzzles.  At some point in the dungeons, you’ll come across a robot with stretchy arms who can pull objects toward you and other helpful things.  So many of the puzzles involve how to get the robot from place to place.  After you finish a dungeon you must face a boss.  These are robotic creatures like a dragon or lizard, and they all have an orb inside that you must figure out how to hit.  So the bosses are like puzzles, too, similar to Zelda ones.  And for some reason, this game makes me think of ICO as well, although I like this game much more.  Hidden in the dungeons you may find treasure chests that contain life extenders or even comics explaining the game’s backstory.

I had a few problems with the game, but luckily they’re all minor ones.  I wish the boy character were more nimble and fun to control like Link.  I also think they could’ve done a better job explaining some of your moves.  I had no idea you could use swords like nails to hold things down or block sliding cubes.  Goals aren’t always clear, so I oftentimes had to consult a guide.  The game is pretty light on combat, so you’ll mostly be solving block and switch puzzles.  I think they could’ve presented the story a little better, and while I usually don’t mind bad graphics, I think they could’ve been better here, too.  Everything is very minimalistic and looks like it could’ve been done on a PS2 or even a N64 (your character doesn’t even have a face, which looks unsettling close up).  The comics and animated cutscenes look more cartoonish, and I would’ve liked to have seen the game adopt more of that style with cel shaded characters and whatnot.  But otherwise, I really liked this game.  I think Nintendo should hire the makers of Incredible Mandy to make Zelda dungeons for them.  If you miss those kinds of dungeons that were lacking in Breath of the Wild, you may want to try this game.

HOWEVER, there is one thing that did kind of ruin the game for me, but it’s more of a personal preference thing.  One of the levels has a lot of stealth gameplay, and I hate stealth gameplay and don’t like how they handled it here.

Kid Factor:

Incredible Mandy is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  Even though you use a sword, you mostly do so to solve puzzles and hit switches.  And even the enemies you defeat mostly look like robots and you just have to hit an orb in them.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, and younger gamers may find the puzzles too difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews