There have been many memorable characters spawned by the independent video game industry-avatars with delightful and strange qualities that cater to their gameplay mechanics and motifs. Hand drawn, pixel-based, and three dimensional designs that are able to express and execute on smaller concepts that a full retail game might feel bloated in attempting. As games have become bigger and better, the design sensibilities of earlier titles- focusing on finely-crafted level design and a well-established set of mechanics for a tight and comprehensive experience- has become a standard of independent development, instead. Well, successful independent development, that is. When a team might only have one opportunity to make a statement on a certain platform, they need to ensure their product is as well-executed as possible in order to do so.
Fortunately for developer studio Wayforward, they entered the scene at the right point to bypass this risk. They began developing and publishing games in the mid-nineties, although their output truly started to increase in the early days of the new millennium. Despite churning out a number of licensed titles on Nintendo's portable gaming devices, most of Wayforward's unique charm would stem from their collaborations with game designer Matt Bozon and Jake Kaufman. This pair would bring huge contributions to the tenacious Shantae series.
Utilizing some programming wizardry, the original Shantae was a 2D Action-adventure game with light role-playing elements, similar to the Legend of Zelda in its dungeon design and Metroid in its expanse, secret-laden world. While the original Shantae was a technical marvel, the limitations of the Game Boy Color were reflected in the gameplay. It would take eight years before Wayforward would take another crack at the formula through DSiWare with the short, sweet, and unpolished Risky's Revenge, a direct sequel that retread many of the original title's concepts but featured some lovely sprite work. The titular hero would once again appear on the 3DS in the critically acclaimed Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, a briskly-paced but extremely satisfying title that gifted the player with a different set of tools that proved just as, if not more satisfying than, Shantae's original transformation-based powers.
Up until this point, Shantae was known for its non-linear, tiered exploration and dungeon-centric level design. So the revelation that the next installment in the franchise, Half-Genie Hero, would be an Action-platformer came as a bit of a surprise when Wayforward launched a Kickstarter campaign back in 2013. Utilizing a similar visual style to their recently successful- and somewhat bizarre- Ducktales Remastered, Wayforward hoped to start a new chapter in the series with some input from the fans. Having been a huge fan of their recent Mighty series and possessing a mild curiosity in the Shantae series after having completed Risky's Revenge, I cautiously backed this project out of my belief in the developer. My hopes soared for Half-Genie Hero upon completing Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, but the thought of the new title having a very different genre also gave me pause.
Sounds like a lot of hooplah to make over a single game, right?
From Action-exploration to Action-platformer
In understanding how Half-Genie Hero works, or rather, doesn't work, it's important to take a look at what elements it transfers over from previous entries. Shantae features a health system similar to games like the Legend of Zelda, in which the player can accrue more hearts. There is also a magic meter similar to Risky's Revenge that allows Shantae the character to utilize additional spells. Lastly, the game also has a small inventory where players can store healing items dropped from enemies. Shantae's transformations return as end-of-level rewards rather than being discovered, and the linear nature of their unlocking means that previous levels must be retreaded in order to complete all of the objectives in order to complete the game. There are also a slew of familiar enemies from the series' previous entries.
Previous Shantae games were exploration-based, and Half-Genie Hero is... sort of an exception. While Action-platformers are often created with linear progression in mind (barring the occasional non-linear level selection like in Mega Man), Half-Genie Hero has a great deal of backtracking that sets it apart from its contemporaries, but not really in a way that is meaningful or rewarding. This comes from the fundamental aspects of the Action-platformer which is a way of lulling the player into a pattern of expectations and pulling the rug out from underneath them. While variation on an existing genre is far from a bad thing, the choices made here are conflicting in a way that feels as if the developers wanted to have their cake and eat it, too. An open-ended exploration title often requires a great deal of mindful gating that is either solved by player intuition or eventual power-ups that signal the surmounting of a particular obstacle. An Action-platformer often relies on set-pieces or minor moments of freedom in order to shepherd the player from one plot point, or more importantly, boss encounter, to the next. The developers of Half-Genie Hero subvert this by giving the player powerups that are used exclusively in the later levels and trivialize portions from previous levels. This is to encourage backtracking and exploring these areas, which is, in actuality, one of the worst aspects of the game.
The transformations in Half-Genie Hero are tiered so that no single one can execute the variety of abilities needed in order to unlock and discover every secret. The most obvious examples of this are the crab and mermaid abilities, as well as the bat and harpy. The crab can move underwater, opening up huge swaths of previously unexplored portions of earlier stages, and it can slip through smaller gaps. The mermaid, however, does not sink in water and can destroy obstacles, offering more mobility and a ranged attack. The bat can only fly in a straight line, while the harpy can move more freely and attack. This more than often leads to the player progressing to a certain point, and then giving up upon being unable to progress further.
I say "exploration," but aside from a few examples of multiple side-rooms and one stage's "labyrinthine" design, there's very little exploring to do. Most transformation sequences are telegraphed a great deal in advance, or open a small side-room or two. The most impressive feeling of a whole new part of the world opening itself up is with the first transformation itself, which does not say much for the rest of the game. The vertical space in Half-Genie Hero is so small that one might wonder why the harpy powerup was needed at all- the answer, to uncover one or two sequences where it is necessary. A number of these new areas offer much less challenge than the normal stage progression, as well, with one or two rooms requiring precise timing, but no more than that.
What is truly unfortunate, though, are the rewards to be found through this backtracking, which are small upgrades and items important to the plot. This reveals an intention to pad out playtime for an already-brief experience via backtracking. The player is discouraged from actually doing so because of the tiered nature of these transformations, as they will eventually and frequently hit dead-ends otherwise. In total, a playthrough of Half-Genie Hero lasts only six or seven hours, a generous estimate and about half of the time of any of the previous titles.
A Well-intended Product
That Half-Genie Hero was priced similarly to its predecessor upon release does not feel justified, but could be considered passable if its meager DLC expansions had been added for free. Its Risky Mode DLC campaign is fundamentally flawed, adding a character with a different set of moves and powerups with her own "non-linear" retelling of the game's events. This non-linear approach is completely imbalanced, however, and each powerup unlocks in the same set order regardless of which level is completed first. Again, there is a deliberate intention on the developer's part to have the player progress through the game at a certain pace, which just feels more padded than it needs to be- and keep in mind, Risky's campaign becomes a blisteringly fast playthrough even with the content available and clocks out around one-third of the time of a normal playthrough. The Friends to the End expansion features new character mechanics and remixed levels designed specifically for their traits- but because each of the three are limited in nature, the puzzles never really become more difficult and the level design is as uninspired as the normal campaign.
Something I often touch upon in my discussions of any video game are the developer's intentions, as well as what the player is meant to perceive as their intentions based on the final product. While Shantae still has one final bout of DLC to be released, featuring three different drastically different play styles that will hopefully change the game's design in a more meaningful manner than the Risky Mode, the intent of the product remains elusive to me. A cursory look at the game's Kickstarter reveals that two of the six levels ("chapters") of the current product were stretch goals- these goals appearing two-hundred thousand dollars into the stretch goals, mind you. That the initial product itself would have only been two-thirds of what currently comprises the main campaign seems baffling, and that's not even accounting how much of that would possess needless backtracking. As it stands, what currently exists feels passable as a twenty dollar title- though apparently Wayforward disagrees, seeing as the Day One Ultimate Edition has all the DLC content bundled in, as well as physical rewards, at a forty-dollar price point.
While much of this article sounds like ragging on a finished product from a less-than-enthused investor, I feel that it is important to acknowledge two aspects of Half-Genie Hero- one, that it was a Kickstarted title, and two, that it was created with the intention of being an Action-platformer. Although I am not particularly a fan of the genre or the direction that this title took in order to fit the mechanics and motifs of the series into said genre, taking a look at Shantae's contemporaries reveals a sobering truth: in terms of Action-platforming, it is not as hard, original, or enjoyable an experience as other games. While the matter of difficulty is always up for debate, much of Shantae's once-original concept- a genie transforming to tackle different kinds of obstacles- is ripped lovingly from the two games that utilize the same mechanics. Some of the bosses have overt design and reference to previous games- tongue and cheek in execution or otherwise- and those that aren't are fairly bland. In terms of DLC, Shovel Knight, a game funded on one-third the overall budget, continues to offer drastically different campaign modes and mechanics, atop offering more substantial difficulty and personality. Even in terms of replayability, complexity, and depth, some of Wayforward's other intellectual properties outshine this title.
But, much of this discussion and criticism returns to the idea of intention, and really, Half-Genie Heroes' Kickstarter page sums it all up: it's a Shantae game with HD art. This is likely the reason for its pricing, its funding goals, its design, and ultimately, its flaws. Wayforward developed a game that worked with what they had- only, these primary elements don't contribute much towards the actual gameplay. A high-quality 2.5D environment takes much more time to design than sprite work, as do hand-drawn, high-definition pieces of character art and animation. Reuse and recycling is on display everywhere- such as an army of faceless grunts circulating around a boss character, a segmented insect creature, and the numerous instances of backtracking and unlocking. The game is made with the notion of density of content through continuous revisiting, and this is doubly evident in the way all of its DLC features reuse of environments, characters, and concepts.
Is this a bad thing? No, not necessarily. While Half-Genie Hero isn't the best Shantae game in the series, it's also not the worst of the four, either. Its aesthetics, for all the issues that they present, still pop with impressive quality and vibrancy. But this departure from form, this recycled content and relative lack of difficulty and danger don't fit its genre or the spirit of the series. There's a lack of freedom here on both the player's part as well as the developer, the former constrained by the rigid gating of content inherent in the game's design, while the latter was limited by the very principles on which the game is founded. And hey, if Shantae is meant to be a kid-friendly, light Action-platformer and entry point for newcomers, it sure gets the point across (except for the multiple scantily-clad ladies gallivanting around Sequin Land). Coming off of the series' best entry, however, which bucked a number of the previous titles' trends and possessed a great deal of charm, world-building, and character development, Half-Genie Hero is a disappointment. This is coming from not only a fan of Shantae, but of Wayforward's products in general- I've been a huge fan of the Mighty! series, as well as their remasters and original takes on intellectual property, despite the latter being somewhat hit-and-miss. What I will say is that based on its title alone, Half-Genie Hero is surprisingly honest: it's an Action-platformer that delivers only half the potential that games priced half as much execute with much greater ease.
I try to skew towards the positive with my articles, but sometimes, that just isn't the case. What do you think of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, or the series as a whole? Think I'm coming off as too harsh, or that some of my claims are unfounded? Have you had a healthy dosage of Kickstarter remorse, yourself? As always, we encourage discussion below or elsewhere, and if you enjoyed this article, please subscribe, share, and check out some of the other content on this site.
Fortunately for developer studio Wayforward, they entered the scene at the right point to bypass this risk. They began developing and publishing games in the mid-nineties, although their output truly started to increase in the early days of the new millennium. Despite churning out a number of licensed titles on Nintendo's portable gaming devices, most of Wayforward's unique charm would stem from their collaborations with game designer Matt Bozon and Jake Kaufman. This pair would bring huge contributions to the tenacious Shantae series.
Up until this point, Shantae was known for its non-linear, tiered exploration and dungeon-centric level design. So the revelation that the next installment in the franchise, Half-Genie Hero, would be an Action-platformer came as a bit of a surprise when Wayforward launched a Kickstarter campaign back in 2013. Utilizing a similar visual style to their recently successful- and somewhat bizarre- Ducktales Remastered, Wayforward hoped to start a new chapter in the series with some input from the fans. Having been a huge fan of their recent Mighty series and possessing a mild curiosity in the Shantae series after having completed Risky's Revenge, I cautiously backed this project out of my belief in the developer. My hopes soared for Half-Genie Hero upon completing Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, but the thought of the new title having a very different genre also gave me pause.
Sounds like a lot of hooplah to make over a single game, right?
From Action-exploration to Action-platformer
In understanding how Half-Genie Hero works, or rather, doesn't work, it's important to take a look at what elements it transfers over from previous entries. Shantae features a health system similar to games like the Legend of Zelda, in which the player can accrue more hearts. There is also a magic meter similar to Risky's Revenge that allows Shantae the character to utilize additional spells. Lastly, the game also has a small inventory where players can store healing items dropped from enemies. Shantae's transformations return as end-of-level rewards rather than being discovered, and the linear nature of their unlocking means that previous levels must be retreaded in order to complete all of the objectives in order to complete the game. There are also a slew of familiar enemies from the series' previous entries.
The transformations in Half-Genie Hero are tiered so that no single one can execute the variety of abilities needed in order to unlock and discover every secret. The most obvious examples of this are the crab and mermaid abilities, as well as the bat and harpy. The crab can move underwater, opening up huge swaths of previously unexplored portions of earlier stages, and it can slip through smaller gaps. The mermaid, however, does not sink in water and can destroy obstacles, offering more mobility and a ranged attack. The bat can only fly in a straight line, while the harpy can move more freely and attack. This more than often leads to the player progressing to a certain point, and then giving up upon being unable to progress further.
What is truly unfortunate, though, are the rewards to be found through this backtracking, which are small upgrades and items important to the plot. This reveals an intention to pad out playtime for an already-brief experience via backtracking. The player is discouraged from actually doing so because of the tiered nature of these transformations, as they will eventually and frequently hit dead-ends otherwise. In total, a playthrough of Half-Genie Hero lasts only six or seven hours, a generous estimate and about half of the time of any of the previous titles.
A Well-intended Product
That Half-Genie Hero was priced similarly to its predecessor upon release does not feel justified, but could be considered passable if its meager DLC expansions had been added for free. Its Risky Mode DLC campaign is fundamentally flawed, adding a character with a different set of moves and powerups with her own "non-linear" retelling of the game's events. This non-linear approach is completely imbalanced, however, and each powerup unlocks in the same set order regardless of which level is completed first. Again, there is a deliberate intention on the developer's part to have the player progress through the game at a certain pace, which just feels more padded than it needs to be- and keep in mind, Risky's campaign becomes a blisteringly fast playthrough even with the content available and clocks out around one-third of the time of a normal playthrough. The Friends to the End expansion features new character mechanics and remixed levels designed specifically for their traits- but because each of the three are limited in nature, the puzzles never really become more difficult and the level design is as uninspired as the normal campaign.
While much of this article sounds like ragging on a finished product from a less-than-enthused investor, I feel that it is important to acknowledge two aspects of Half-Genie Hero- one, that it was a Kickstarted title, and two, that it was created with the intention of being an Action-platformer. Although I am not particularly a fan of the genre or the direction that this title took in order to fit the mechanics and motifs of the series into said genre, taking a look at Shantae's contemporaries reveals a sobering truth: in terms of Action-platforming, it is not as hard, original, or enjoyable an experience as other games. While the matter of difficulty is always up for debate, much of Shantae's once-original concept- a genie transforming to tackle different kinds of obstacles- is ripped lovingly from the two games that utilize the same mechanics. Some of the bosses have overt design and reference to previous games- tongue and cheek in execution or otherwise- and those that aren't are fairly bland. In terms of DLC, Shovel Knight, a game funded on one-third the overall budget, continues to offer drastically different campaign modes and mechanics, atop offering more substantial difficulty and personality. Even in terms of replayability, complexity, and depth, some of Wayforward's other intellectual properties outshine this title.
Is this a bad thing? No, not necessarily. While Half-Genie Hero isn't the best Shantae game in the series, it's also not the worst of the four, either. Its aesthetics, for all the issues that they present, still pop with impressive quality and vibrancy. But this departure from form, this recycled content and relative lack of difficulty and danger don't fit its genre or the spirit of the series. There's a lack of freedom here on both the player's part as well as the developer, the former constrained by the rigid gating of content inherent in the game's design, while the latter was limited by the very principles on which the game is founded. And hey, if Shantae is meant to be a kid-friendly, light Action-platformer and entry point for newcomers, it sure gets the point across (except for the multiple scantily-clad ladies gallivanting around Sequin Land). Coming off of the series' best entry, however, which bucked a number of the previous titles' trends and possessed a great deal of charm, world-building, and character development, Half-Genie Hero is a disappointment. This is coming from not only a fan of Shantae, but of Wayforward's products in general- I've been a huge fan of the Mighty! series, as well as their remasters and original takes on intellectual property, despite the latter being somewhat hit-and-miss. What I will say is that based on its title alone, Half-Genie Hero is surprisingly honest: it's an Action-platformer that delivers only half the potential that games priced half as much execute with much greater ease.
I try to skew towards the positive with my articles, but sometimes, that just isn't the case. What do you think of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, or the series as a whole? Think I'm coming off as too harsh, or that some of my claims are unfounded? Have you had a healthy dosage of Kickstarter remorse, yourself? As always, we encourage discussion below or elsewhere, and if you enjoyed this article, please subscribe, share, and check out some of the other content on this site.
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