[REVIEW] The Adventures of Shuggy

Mat Paget
(PC [REVIEWED], Xbox 360)

Xbox Live Arcade games heading to Steam may not be anything new, but it is for Indie developer Smudged Cat Games. Last year, the studio introduced the world to the vampire Shuggy in his very first puzzle-platforming adventure on the Xbox 360. Braid and Limbo both saw a debut on the Xbox Live Marketplace, followed by a port to the PC. And now, its time for The Adventures of Shuggy to follow in their footsteps.

The Adventures of Shuggy is about a vampire who goes by the moniker of Shuggy. He inherits a haunted house, and must rid it of the ghouls, goblins, and other undesirable creatures that lurk in the multiple rooms. The rooms are laid out in large areas, and the player must complete the ones that are open to them. Most rooms fit easily on one screen, but will expand further at times. Completing a room not only unlocks more, but it also grants the player a key. These keys will be used to open new areas. These rooms don’t have to be completed in any specific order. It gives a sense of freedom that is greatly appreciated when one puzzle is posing an annoying hassle.

Within each room lies a puzzle that–you guessed it–must be completed by collecting all the gems before obtaining that very important key. The game has a slew of mechanics, which include rotating the room, switching characters, or speeding up time. One of the most strategically-qualified is when the room will do a countdown, and when it reaches its limit, a Shuggy will basically echo what you did. This keeps going until all the gems are collected, so you need to be careful about where you go because if you run into one of your ‘echos,’ it’s as if you ran into a regular enemy — you’re dead.

And that’s where this game’s major flaw lies. You get hit once, and you die. There are no checkpoints in levels, so it can become extremely frustrating if you happen to die in a room that’s particularly long. So frustrating that you might want to quit out of pure anger. The jumping is really floaty, too, so missing moving platforms, or over-shooting your jump, can be a common occurrence. Most of the times you’ll fail a puzzle due to the game’s platforming. But thankfully, the ability to choose from a number of levels at a given time relieves some of that unneeded frustration. If you’re angry, just leave that puzzle be for a while; come back later.

The game also has a great cartoon-y look to it. I couldn’t stop thinking that I’ve seen all this somewhere before. Eventually, I accepted that the game looked good enough to be among my childhood Saturday morning cartoons. Also, the game packs a soundtrack that fits its Saturday morning motif excellently. So much so, in fact, that these songs will become stuck in your head, and you’ll be humming them for days.

The Adventures of Shuggy is a fine puzzle-platformer. It’s a lot of fun when you get going, but when you hit a wall, and can’t proceed any further, it can become incredibly frustrating. Thankfully, that’s this game’s only real flaw. The game’s clever puzzles, whimsical art-style, and catchy soundtrack fit together exceptionally well. Shuggy might not stand beside Braid, or Limbo, but it definitely finds its own place among the echelon of puzzle-platformers. This game is worth your time if you’ll push yourself to finish each puzzle, but others who are less-motivated may be easily deterred by some of the later puzzles.