Needs a Some Polish – Shiny Review [PC-Steam]

Visually captivating, endearing designs, but too basic to really shine – Shiny Review

Stranded on a planet headed toward the sun, robot Kramer 227 bus find a way to harvest energy and rescue his friends before they crash into the sun. Kramer 227 will have to dash through 20 levels, jumping and dodging obstacles, using the power-ups he can find to overcome the treacherous environment of Aurora and rescue his friends without losing power himself.

I find my Shiny review to be a bit biased. Because it is a truly enjoyable platformer and has a pretty good story. But I feel it’s not enough to be a PC game. I know a lot of games on Steam are quick pick-up and drop games, but I have this wall where I deem a game unworthy to turn on the computer, and I begrudgingly have to put Shiny in that category. So that is why the score for the game is going to be so low.

The puzzles and the platforming elements are good and very reminiscent of the good old platforming days. It is very rewarding getting new powers ups and trying to figure out the best path as to not deplete your own battery saving everyone. It’s a great juggling act that is really enjoyable. That combined with the storyline gives it somewhat of a Wall-E feel.

However, it is not revolutionary or pushes the boundaries in any way. The controls feel a bit unresponsive, it feels and moves like a platformer on a mobile device. Considering the resources a PC has to offer, I am unable to justify turning on my PC to play this game. And compared it to its contemporaries like Ori and the Blind Forest, it’s completely basic. The graphics are unique but again look like mobile game graphics. This game would be great for mobile, but I can’t help but say it’s a waste of time on the PC.

Shiny is dull and needs a good polish. There is definitely something there, but it’s hard to justify the effort to see it when there are much better alternatives in both content and access. For my Shiny Review I give it a 3.3/10.