At the end of the first world inPenny ’s Big Breakaway , the titular character and her sentient , aggressive yo - yo are confront with their first chief - similar encounter : a giant rolling ball of penguins . I had to run for my life story , swinging with and riding on my yo - yo at pivotal cause so I was n’t smushed by the egg of a boss , proving to myself that I empathise and had started to master its dual - stick control scheme .
While that all plausibly sounds pathetic if you ’re unfamiliar withPenny ’s Big Breakaway , this skirmish is where this platforming adventure from some of the developer behindSonic Maniastarted to sing . Evening Star nails the secret plan palpate , create a fluid , momentum - drive platforming experience that controls in a unique , yet intuitive manner . No other platformer look or feels quite likePenny ’s Big Breakaway . While this studio ’s first outing does n’t nail things like its narrative or arena - establish boss encounters , the developer pedigree behindPenny ’s Big Breakawayis evident in this well - designed , surprisal - launched platformer .
Moving on from mania
InPenny ’s Big Breakaway , musician follow the titular character , a performer forced on the running game after her sentient Yo - Yo tears off King Eddie ’s clothes during an audition . Throughout the adventure , Penny tries to evade Eddie and his compatriots , and meets an eclectic mold of characters along the room . In insidious way , I could tell that the report ofPenny ’s Big Breakawayis processing the feelings of the developers who had to “ divulge away ” from Sega for unidentified reasons , which leave in this gameinstead ofSonic Mania 2 .
While that meta theme did catch me by surprise , little else did narratively . Penny ’s Big Breakawayis a vivacious and coloured game with a large mould of character , but outside of Penny , none of their designs stick out out as that memorable . Some do n’t have the simplicity of characters like Sonic or Mario , and each part individually feels like they could have been design for different game .
Its script certainly got a few chortle out of me – one of the villain repeatedly calling Penny “ Miss Felon ” was my favorite running gag – and relish text throughout each spirit level does give the stages a horse sense of place . Other than those bright spot , I probably wo n’t be thinking much about Penny and her friend now that the recognition have rolled onPenny ’s Big Breakaway .
However , report and theatrical role are n’t why most hoi polloi fall to a game likePenny ’s Big Breakaway ; how expert the platforming feel and how well - design obstacle course tier are is what they seek . Thankfully , when it is n’t locking actor into an arena for a boss battle , Penny ’s Big Breakawaynails that .
Expert platforming design
Penny ’s Big Breakaway‘s gameplay is all rivet around using a sorcerous yo - yo . While you could run and start like you normally would in a platformer , the yo - yo is used for a variety of different offensive and movement science . By using the right peg on a accountant , you’re able to post out the yo - yo in any direction ; this will grab , interact with , or break any object it do into impinging with . you’re able to also use it to dash or swing in midair by using the right stick while jumping or apply the initiation to mount on the yo - yo if an incline or jump afford you enough momentum to move forward . I had to learn to use and mingle together all of these ability to complete linear horizontal surface across 11 different creation .
These unique control ab initio take some getting used to ; I frighten away off the edge of almost every stage in the first world . After some time with the game and being forced to use these skills in high - pressure situations , Penny ’s Big Breakawaygets a caboodle more intuitive . It is n’t as tight - paced asSonic the Hedgehog , but it incorporates momentum into a racy moveset . There are some fairly barbarian level shortcuts that even I ’ve determine by draw moves together across on the face of it impassible gaps .
As players drop more time with and get near at the game , I ’m excited to see what other shortcuts or neat platforming tricks are discover . Penny ’s Big Breakawayencourages players to get better in many different elbow room . For example , penguin enemies all chase Penny and slow down her down after touching her rather than dealing impairment ; this encourages players to keep moving and to learn how to utilise the different yo - yo science to shed themselves of the penguin .
Due to theskateboarding game influenceson the yo - yo treble control stick controls , Evening Star implemented a combo system of rules . Accrue enough points by the end of a level , and you unlock concept fine art . Three singular challenges and three collectable are also strewn about each stage . These tend to require players to show domination of the crusade mechanics , so you get better by completing or obtaining them . finish the challenge gives you a opportunity to realize more points in the end - of - level Busker Bonus , while come up collectible can be spent to unlock unmanageable Star Globe stages that put your skills to the test .
Add in the Time Attack mode , where player can speedrun for the honest times and equate their multiplication to other player on a leaderboard , andPenny ’s Big Breakawayis a secret plan implore players to get good at it . Having such fun impulse - ground gameplay come with the downside of makingPenny ’s Big Breakawayless interesting when players have to stop , wait , and contend with level gimmicks that do n’t emphasize the best part of Penny ’s moveset . oftentimes , this befall in genus Bos fights .
Horrible bosses
The elephantine penguin clod I mentioned in the intro set the bar high for end - of - globe encounters , but unluckily , none of the others hold out up to that standard . Many of the party boss fights after are more traditional and seek to shoehorn the yo - yo mechanics into gimmicky fight - specific challenges , like act pool with portion of a boss after damage them .
These field fights just are n’t most as engaging as the normal platforming stages , and hapless checkpointing means I had to replay large , repetitive chunks of these fight for a pot - up belatedly in the encounter . Good boss press recontextualize and enhance the basic mechanics of the biz , and the penguin ball encounter toward the start of the game understands this . That take a leak it all the more unfortunate that most of the other honcho that follow do n’t build on that .
centime ’s Big Breakawaywas hard to put down , but looking back , thwarting with these political boss fights are what have me to terminate my play academic session and come back later . The same fail for stage where they involve more room to play around with all of the gameplay creature as they were too focused on a singular doojigger or obstruction . Those are real impulse - killer for a secret plan where it ’s vital to keep moving .
Thankfully , those issues are only stop number bumps on the route Penny is rolling down on her sentient yo - yo . When Evening Star Games permit unique platforming grease monkey and fluid platforming beam and reinforces them with the scoring system and enemy pattern , Penny ’s Big Breakawayshines . Although I ’m not certain that Penny and her yo - yo have the staying power of Sega ’s iconic hedgehog , Penny ’s Big Breakawayis an easy recommendation to hard-core platforming fans eager to see what the Sonic Mania devs are up to now .
Digital Trends testedPenny ’s Big Breakwayon PC .
