So I just moved into my new house, and right before I moved I downloaded the
new Shantae game (Wii U version) and I've been playing that while my internet has been down. I haven't finished the game, but I just wanted to give a few thoughts based on what I've played so far.
First of all, if you're already a fan of the series, you're going to notice a couple differences right off the bat. The most obvious one is the lack of an overworld to explore; instead you get a Mario World / Donkey Kong Country style map that you can select stages from. Although you don't get to move on to the next level just by completing a stage, rather you unlock stages by completing small quests for people you meet in the main town area.
Now I'm sure a lot of die-hard fans are going to complain about the lack of a proper overworld, but honestly I think the series has been slowly heading in that direction over the course of its games anyways. Each of the previous three games has had smaller and smaller overworlds, with Pirate's Curse opting for more of a themed zones approach. Personally, I think their choice to abandon an overworld altogether has done a lot to strengthen this title. Levels can now be big open spaces instead of confined to caverns, and it's resulted in some stellar level designs.
Speaking of level designs, I feel like the creators of this game must have taken a page out of Donkey Kong's book, because maybe it's just me, but a lot of the level designs feel like something you'd find in the DKC games. Some areas feel a lot like DKC2, while others feel more like DKC Returns. Mind you, I'm just talking about the level designs themselves, the game itself doesn't play like Donkey Kong (although I could totally see Dixie whipping people with her hair).
It differs from DKC greatly, though, in the fact that you'll want to return to levels and explore them more thoroughly as you gain new transformations and abilities. As you gain more and more skills, the areas you can explore in a level become more and more labyrinthine.
The game also feels much faster paced to me than previous installments too. And I say that having played all of the previous Shantae games within the last month. And granted, the game doesn't FORCE you to be speedy most of the time; you could just as easily take your time and be more procedural if that's your jam, but the point is that the game allows for more fast paced gameplay than previous installments, and in my opinion it makes it a lot more fun. I bet this game is going to be really fun to speed run; I've already discovered a lot of little tricks you can do to help yourself in certain areas.
The humor is pretty spot on as well, even moreso than previous titles, I feel. The dialog feels at par with something from the better Paper Mario games, although thankfully this game isn't as text heavy.
Like I said I haven't finished the game yet, so I don't want to give any sort of final judgement, but so far I think it might be my favorite game of the year. Buuuuut ... that is actually a less bold statement than it sounds, as I've only bought like 4 games this year (don't judge me! I was using all my money to buy a house!). At the very least I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys 2D platformers. I wouldn't worry too much about if you haven't played the previous installments in the series, it doesn't really require any prior knowledge; although I would recommend giving them a try at some point because they are also good games.
