Skylar & Plux

Developer: Right Nice Games, Grip Digital
Steam Release: May 2017
Hours Played: 5.5
Similar To: A Hat In Time / Spyro: Reignited Trilogy / Yooka Laylee
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

In this, frankly, magnificent 3D platformer you take control of Skylar - a mute, robotic, yet anthropomorphic cat with a huge bionic arm. You start off on some shiny space-station somewhere which serves as your tutorial before you're whisked off, via a cutscene, to the glorious Clover Island where you meet your gregarious and feathery sidekick whose sole function is to serve as a guide and commentator of your adventure. Endowed with the usual abilities including spin attack, jump / double-jump and the amazingly well-animated grappling hook, you embark on your quest to finding three fuses nestled within three huge and beautifully varied worlds. The initial "hub-world" (the main starting area of the tropical island) is visual delight with pleasant lighting effects and very well-done textures; as is the entire game. 

BALANCE & PACE

Before setting off into the first main word, a towering mountain consisting of devious jumping puzzles and contraptions, you'll realise that smashing crates that yield orange crystals will be needed as payment to rescue the sad furry fellas (called Lo'as) that are locked in cages throughout your travels. These can often be discovered audibly at first by their faint pitiful cries of distress. Collect enough of these and return to the elder in the starting area and you'll be rewarded a boost in health. To assist you further with your endeavours, you'll also collect a jet-pack (for extra thrust during jumps) and a magnetic glove that has a variety of uses including throwing enemies! These, plus a very interesting time-orb gadget means your experience stays refreshing and dynamic.   

PRESENTATION & DESIGN

Skylar & Plux has been designed with fun and simplicity in mind. As well as running super-smoothly and being well-optimsed for the PC (I had no framerate drops on my 144hz monitor) the controls were responsive and very easy to use. As usual, 3D platformers are best played with a controller and I found using the abilities to be instantly intuitive and I had no problems. Additionally, switching between the abilities was a straightforward and painless affair. Puzzle and enemy design also needs a thumbs-up; I found the sliding puzzles to be an excellent challenge and pitched at just the right level, and the enemies, while not completely stupid, were fun to attack and destroy. Interestingly there was just the one boss-fight but I actually found this to be a nice refreshing change.

PROGRESS SYSTEM

Although there are three major worlds to explore altogether, the starting area could also be added to that list to make it four. This is the area you always go back to once you've completed a world and where you go for that hit-point boost. Clearing a world also unlocks the next world which, once again, can only be entered by returning to that starting area. A 3D platformer wouldn't be complete without something to collect and in the case of Skylar & Plux, you rescue those tearful Lo'as from their cages. The amount of these collected plus the possible amount you can collect, in each world, is displayed on a map which can be viewed via the monitors you stumble across in the game. These, which are scattered at regular intervals, also serve as both save-points and checkpoints. 

CONCLUSION

Despite criticisms around lack of enemy variety and short length (neither of which I share by the way), Skylar & Plux remains one of the most accessible 3D platformers available and is an ideal first introduction to the genre. The variety of locations and creative puzzle design certainly makes up for any perceived lack of enemy variety and at around 5 hours, I personally found this to be absolutely fine for three or four sessions of intense platforming fun... and as stated on many occasions: too short is usually always far better than too long. The save system doubling as checkpoints and map-check is really well done and even CRT (the kind-of Handsome Jack disembodied voice) adds its own flair. In short, if you're on the look out for a change from the Spyros, Bandicoots and Yooka-Laylees of this world, this is definitely worth a spin.  

*This game was played and uninstalled before screenshots could be made for this review. Rather than re-install the game, I have taken screenshots from gameplay videos on YouTube.