Although the height years of the 3D platformer style have been within the late ’90s and early 2000s, there’s been a little bit of a resurgence in fascinating new style entries lately. Titles comparable to Glyph and Lunistice have proven that smaller platforming initiatives will be simply as compelling because the extra well-known examples, and now we’ve BogoSoft’s Corn Kidz 64 persevering with that pattern with one thing decidedly retro. Following the adventures of a spunky goat named Seve, this title goals to emulate the spirit of an N64 platformer as precisely as attainable. It largely succeeds; Corn Kidz 64 really looks like a misplaced sport from this period, and regardless that it has some notable shortcomings, that is total an pleasurable and enjoyable retro romp.
Corn Kidz 64 is a real collectathon at coronary heart, tasking you with choosing up varied doodads squirreled away in each possible nook of those modestly-sized playgrounds. Your predominant collectible is a big assortment of cubes that grant you “XP” for every one you seize—after getting sufficient of them, you’ll be capable of unlock doorways that gate entry to more durable challenges that disguise much more cubes. Moreover, there are different issues to do, like knocking over all of the trash cans in a stage or discovering a small assortment of bottle caps to alternate for corn syrup, which raises your max well being.
Although you’re in the end funneled down a comparatively linear route, you’re given a number of leeway in every space over what to give attention to. Very like in Banjo-Kazooie or Donkey Kong 64, there are issues to grab up all over, so it’s actually a matter of simply seeing one thing fascinating and climbing or working over to determine what’s hidden round it. This method feels pure and we admire that it means that you can resolve what you wish to problem your self with—if navigating these jumps is just too irritating, simply get lost someplace else and are available again to strive once more later.
Seve’s moveset isn’t almost as versatile as Mario’s, however he manages to get a number of mileage out of a homing strike and ground-pound transfer. The homing strike can be utilized to loosen screws or to snag bomb birds to toss at weak partitions. There are many gimmicks littered all through the setting to assist increase his skills, too, comparable to a line of floating rings that allow you to use your homing strike a number of instances with out touching the bottom, or sure varieties of partitions that may be wall-jumped infinitely.
With the way in which every part’s organized, Corn Kidz 64 feels well-paced, by no means losing any house or needlessly padding out the expertise as some platformers are notoriously responsible of. Each stage is full of stuff to do with out feeling tedious, and there are repeatedly new gimmicks and challenges offered to maintain issues feeling contemporary. A whole run ought to solely take you about eight to 10 hours, however Corn Kidz 64 makes essentially the most of each minute.
For its presentation, Corn Kidz 64 seems prefer it’s straight out of 1997, even going so far as supplying you with the boxy 4:3 facet ratio and fuzzy scanlines. You may go into the settings to tune these show choices to resemble one thing extra fashionable, however we most well-liked the lo-fi method and felt that it match fairly properly with the artwork route. The artwork model itself options all of the blocky fashions and blurry textures you’d count on out of an N64 platformer, however we appreciated the darker, virtually menacing, vibe to the visuals. One thing about these worlds is simply off in a delightfully creepy and kooky form of approach, which creates an fascinating ambiance as you discover deeper.
The soundtrack equally has that old-school MIDI really feel, with a brief assortment of cartoonish tracks that additionally do job of feeding into that ominous ambiance. It’s not a very memorable assortment of tracks, however it suits the aesthetic completely and helps add that additional layer to the retro immersion.
There have been a couple of notable points we bumped into that dampened the expertise, nonetheless. For one factor, there’s some fairly noticeable enter lag on this Swap model, which lends the gameplay a sluggish and unresponsive feeling. You modify to the lag a bit with apply, and the problem of the extent design is total stored comparatively low, however we skilled loads of instances the place extra precision was required and the controls simply weren’t as much as the duty, resulting in some irritating missed jumps and wasted efforts.
Moreover, the digital camera is one other subject, making Corn Kidz 64 maybe slightly too harking back to the retro video games it clearly channels. There are various instances the place digital camera management is restricted or mounted, and the attitude usually fails to present you a cushty view of the platforming problem. Even while you do have extra management over placement, there’s an unwieldy clunkiness that makes it really feel such as you’re combating to get it in the proper spot. You may say the poor digital camera is sort of charming contemplating the way it’s proper on-brand for the period, however all the identical, we might’ve favored to see this facet improved.
Conclusion
Corn Kidz 64 looks like a real title from the N64 period and we commend the developer for his or her capacity to efficiently recreate that retro expertise. An ideal size, good pacing, and different design all work on this sport’s favor, although its sluggish controls and awkward digital camera maintain it again from greatness. All the identical, it’s solely seven bucks—we’d give this one a suggestion to anybody in search of an honest new 3D platformer for his or her library.