RE-REVIEW: Shantae and The Pirate's Curse


Title	Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse
Developer	WayForward, Inti Creates
Publisher	WayForward
Release Date	April 19th,2016
Genre	Platformer, Adventure
Platform	PS4
Age Rating	E10+
Official Website

Wayforward has finally ported their classic Metriodvania title Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse to the PlayStation 4. I had never played this series before, but I had always heard great things about from others. Since this is a RE-Review I won’t go into a ton of story details here, as our Review Manager Josh pretty much covered all of that in his initial review of the 3DS version of the game. Instead I will mostly be focusing on how well the game ported over to the PlayStation 4 console.

Graphically, this game looks pretty good on the PS4. I was a little worried since they were taking something from that small of a resolution and putting in 1080p, but the end result is really smooth screen scrolling with very little tearing, and though you will see some pixelated edges here and there, it really just gives it a distinct retro look that works really well with the overall style of the game. This art style really shows off the impressive looking stages and enemy sprites. The NPCs, and enemy sprites are very detailed, and you can tell that care was not only given to them when they we’re created but when they were upscaled as well. The character portraits for the cut scenes look outstanding as well. Shantae has never looked hotter than in that Egyptian outfit. Have mercy!

The music and sound effects are top notch here. You’d be hard pressed to find a better soundtrack in retro style like this anywhere else. All of the tunes are catchy, upbeat and fit the story tone to a tee. I found myself humming them long after I stopped playing the game. The voice cut-in that occurs during the cut scenes are also well placed, and just add to the overall charm of the game.

The controls are tight and very responsive. I’m not a platformer gamer in the least, and I had very little trouble going through the game’s several platforming sections. The button layout works pretty well, but having the saber on the back trigger feels a bit strange to me for some reason. I wish they had given the player the option to remap the buttons as they wished, but this is not a huge issue. I would have also liked to have seen a button to pull up the map without having to go through the items menu, but since this game was made a long while ago, this is pretty forgivable.

Overall I really enjoyed my time with Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse. I really loved how the story was kinda serious but told in a very humorous manner. The level designs were quite nice, and even though back tracking is a major part of these kinds of games, I felt they never really made you do this for no reason or too often. The only real issue I had with this game was I thought the dashing mechanic was a bit hard to pull off at times, and I’m not generally a fan of platforming. Though I complain about platforming sections, they were reasonably done, and I mentioned before the controls are very tight and responsive. I will likely check out the other games in the series when time permits me to do so. I got around 8 hours of gameplay out of this one, and that can be extended if you collect all the collectibles and wanna check out the multiple endings. There is also an unlockable pirate mode for you to enjoy. This one will run you $19.99 on the PlayStation Store. I would have to recommend this one to anyone that loves a good Metriodvania or anyone looking for a nice retro style title with a fun story.