I picked this one up from Japan pretty cheaply. I found the fifth game to be a fun time, so is this a step back? Well, maybe a step sideways.
Again I found myself charmed with the game’s look and feel. The combination of characterful pixelart with chunky 3D backgrounds pleases me, and the gameplay is a similarly fun blend of mild surface platforming and underwater swimming. Switching between them keeps you on your toes, as your action buttons sort of swap places.
As opposed to the other Starfy DS game’s use of the bottom screen for different character functions, this one has a minimap display. This informs the level design, which often has branching paths to search through for your objective, with a warp point at the ends to take you back to the entrance/exit. There’s also a substantial post-game with new areas and collectibles in each level. I’d had enough of backtracking by the end though, so I didn’t do any of that.
A nice feature of this game was Starfy’s sister Stapy/Starly being a constant companion in the story. She gets to have her own interactions in cutscenes, and frequently her own levels too. This gives some variety as she has her own set of abilities that unlock over the course of the game; for example, she gets a wall jump at one point, while Starfy gets a double jump instead. There’s also co-op levels where you swap between them to solve puzzles, etc.; this mechanic unfortunately becomes tedious as it goes on.
Also tedious are the wordy cutscenes. You meet all manner of cartoony sea life, and other animals and weirdoes, but it was hard to connect to them through the language barrier. I can also sort of see why they didn’t localise the game in the first place as there seem to be a lot of distinctly Japanese cultural tropes and character types.
Again I had a nice time with Starfy 4, but it doesn’t do too much to stand out from Starfy 5. Judging from just those two games, it seems that instalments in the series are iterative rather than revolutionary. It ends up feeling a bit optional, but I still liked revisiting this undersea world.
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