Not long ago I found myself, as I often do, scrolling though my steam queue looking for anything of interest when I cam upon Shantae and the Pirate's curse. After looking though a few screen shots and watching part of the trailer my mind was made up. This game was a shameless game about cartoon girls with big boobs, I clicked "Not interested" and moved on. That would have been the end, I judge a book (game) by its cover and never learn anything about it, but then I got it in a bundle of other games and since I owned it I decided to give it a shot and see if my initial opinion was correct.
Shantae is a half genie that has lost her powers but still protects a small port town named Scuttle Town. Despite her lack of power Shantae teams up with her old nemesis Risky boots to stop Risky's old pirate captain from returning form the dead and taking over the world. Because thats what all dead pirate captains want. The story is silly and fun, containing lots of unique characters and locations with a few surprisingly emotional moments thrown in toward the end.
Visually this game is pretty gorgeous, with colorful areas filled with lots of unique characters and monsters. When in Scuttle town you feel like all the characters can hear the music because they all seem to be bouncing to the beat, which makes the town feel energetic and alive. However, my first impressions were not completely wrong. The ladies are not dressed in much, they animate as if there upper bodies were made of jello. That said, its juvenile. To the point where it makes me feel old. Unless you are REALLY afraid of boobs I don't think it will detract from the game too much.
Shantae plays a lot like a metroidvania but with Zelda like dungeons thrown in. Killing monsters yields not only money but also different food items which can be used in a few side quests as well as for healing. Shantae's main attack is a hair fwip that can be upgraded by buying shampoo and conditioner at the shop in Scuttle Town which make it stronger and faster respectively. There are also healing potions and a few new moves that can be purchased from the store but, much like Zelda, all of the equipment needed to open new paths and progress the story is found in dungeons. It should also be noted that this game includes a stealth section. Thankfully its very short but even so, I spent more time on this section than anywhere else in the game due to bad design and lack of precision in the controls.
Technically the game is fairly solid but I couldn't help but feel the lack of analog controls was a major oversight which caused some frustration moment to moment when platforming but was excruciating when trying to do so and be stealthy. Also, though its considered the standard, there are other controllers in the world besides Xbox controllers and I wanted to use one. Luckily X360ce exists, though even with that it required some effort to get my Dualshock4 to work.
Shantae surprised me, My first impressions didn't take into account the good writing, deep characters, and fun gameplay that was on offer. If not for the bundle I would have missed out on a really enjoyable game. Yes the controls leave something to be desired, yes the stealth section sucks and yes the ladies are dressed like a 13 year old just made his first wish of a genie but the overall game more than makes up for that. If you like metroidvanias this is one to pickup.
-AT
