Penny's Big Breakaway - New 3D platformer from the makers of Sonic Mania

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I really want to like this game, but it needed more time in the oven. It's very buggy, and the controls straight up don't work half the time. It's a shame because the concept is solid, the levels look nice and are well designed, and Penny's moveset is great when it decides to work.

Very disappointed they let the game release in this state. I expected better from the Mania devs.
 
Sugriva said:
it needed more time in the oven. It's very buggy, and the controls straight up don't work half the time
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Glad I'm not the only one, i thought it was just me.

i noticed Penny freezes mid-jump/fall whenever she touches a ledge/window banister, even though they look like they could be walked-jumped on with no problem.

I've also gotten ontop of roofs when I clearly wasn't supposed to

P.S. fuck that "don't let the soda become flat" mission.
 
Celebrate Nite said:
Glad I'm not the only one, i thought it was just me.

i noticed Penny freezes mid-jump/fall whenever she touches a ledge/window banister, even though they look like they could be walked-jumped on with no problem.

I've also gotten ontop of roofs when I clearly wasn't supposed to

P.S. fuck that "don't let the soda become flat" mission.
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So many little things that add up to a frustrating and unfun experience. Penny randomly stopping in mid-air and losing all momentum when I try to chain the yoyo roll out of a dash, the game rocketing me off of a ledge because attack and dash are mapped to the same button, the yoyo flying to the wrong enemy or getting caught on random objects, clipping inside of objects or randomly falling through the floor...

music is nice though

EDIT: Another thing I wanted to complain about is how bad the drop shadow is. In an isometric platformer with a fixed camera, it's important for the player to be able to see where they're going to land, and Penny utterly fails at this.
 
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Most of the time the controls and mechanics feel solid, but sometimes Weird Shit™ happens and you snap back as if it registered a swing. The main character design is okay in my eyes, but there's no character. Even Hat Kid has character by the end of the game. The game ends up feeling kinda lonely. Game seems to of sold okay, but definitely not the Sonic killer, even when compared to something like Rolling Rascal which has gotten more discussion and traction with just the demo, and that MC design is kinda abhorrent imo.

Was also shocked the game runs at 30 fps on Switch, the one guy from Digital Foundry actually lied through his teeth and said it was 60 fps on a video posted two weeks before release. Whitehead has said they plan to optimize the Switch version in the future though. I could see it targeting 48 fps if 60 fps isn't possible.

Don't really feel inclined to 100% every level as there doesn't seem to be a payoff for doing so. Mostly just speeding through levels and getting into places you shouldn't be to skip entire sections.

Music is great but I can feel it getting repetitive. I like the game and want to see more stuff from Evening Star, but I can see this title going mostly under the radar.
 
I never saw an indie game with such high production value and low production value at the same time. On one hand the game looks great and they nailed the Treasure style I imagine they were going for, but on the other hand the boss fights are a buggy half-baked mess with janky animation transitions and very bad pacing
 
I'm definitely waiting on some patches for this one. I want to love it, aethsteticly speaking, they nailed it, it looks like a Saturn platformer with modern graphics and has the vibe and energy of one... but it also plays like a Saturn platformer with how janky it is, and that not acceptable these days. Penny has some really fucking fun movement options... but you can't go buckwild with them (you know, like you would in its inspiration: Sonic) because the second you do, you're clipping out of bounds somewhere inescapable, or you're dead. I should not be spending an hour on the very first level of the game just because of the amount of times I got clipped OOB somewhere and had to stop and test to make sure me getting clipped for the 10th time wasn't a fluke and could be replicated.

Y'all made Mania, get it together please. I want to give you guys my money, but when my experience was that miserable on the first level, and made me not want to play the rest of the game, I can't really justify paying up, now can I?
 
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TVB said:
Not yet, but we're getting there, unfortunately and unsurprisingly
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I played the game, and it didn't really come off anywhere as bad or embarrassing comparatively. Reception to the game seems to be mostly positive outside of the farms.
 
X Prime said:
Counterpoint: should you get your vidya game opinions from anywhere except your fellow transphobic Kiwis, though?
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Still can't get over how a Kiwi utterly sperged out at Cruelty Squad adding achievements.

Meltryllis said:
Did the dev finally get cucked into adding achievements for the soy achoovement hoonters? I'm genuinely disappointed.

Achievements RUIN the original vision. And for what? To attract more brainless achoovement hoonter cucks who only care about displaying their stupid squares on their main profile. Have you seen what these people play? Their accounts are full of 1000 achievement hentai bejeweled clones and lazy puzzle games that award you 500 cheevos for 10 seconds of gameplay. "I-I'm achoovingg I'm achooovinng!!!!"

THIS. This is why the gaming industry is collapsing. Devs who just do everything the players tell them to to make more cash. How can you ruin something so great for profit? How can you betray the original fans that were there from the beginning for some stupid demographic that doesn't even CARE about the game's quality? I'm never buying anything by this developer EVER again.
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I tried playing this, but I kept dying because my character kept getting the zoomies with how janky the controls are.
 
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