New Sidescrollers/Platformers that You've Played and Enjoyed/Considered Getting
For the purpose of this thread, any game that was released in 2009-2011 is considered new.
So, are there any new platforming games that you guys have played and enjoyed? If not, are there any platforming games that you've considered getting?
For me, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Kirby's Epic Yarn definitely come to mind. I've finished Kirby's Epic Yarn completely during the time I rented it (everything is 100% in the Patch Plaza and Yarn bits are maxed out) during the Winter Holidays. As for Donkey Kong Country Returns, I don't own it, but I've frequently been able to play it on a friend's Wii.
Before I go into depth in those games, I'll mention sidescrollers that I've considered getting/renting. Sonic Colours, Ivy the Kiwi, and A Boy and His Blob are all games I've been wanting to try out, the first one because the previews look really amazing, and the last two for their unique gameplay and graphics (I've always been a fan of games that have hand-drawn graphics).
First, I'll review Kirby's Epic Yarn since that was the first one I played. It really did not play like a Kirby game, especially with the physics and controls and the thumping effect whenever you ran into something. Most enemies don't hurt you either, which I found really weird. But at the same time, the yarn based world that you explore in the game, the story scenes that sound like they're from a story book, the peacful sounding piano soundtracks, and just the atmosphere of the game made it really enjoyable. Sure, it was really easy when I look back at the game, but at the same time, it's the kind of game that you play more for the charm factor than for challenge (plus I don't complain about difficulty since I prefer things being too easy than too hard). Though it had quite a lot of Kirby elements and characters, the gameplay did not feel like it was from a typical Kirby game, though that did not weaken the game in any way. The multiplayer was quite fun, and it put more of an emphasis on pure co-op than mixed co-op and competitiveness like New Super Mario Bros. Wii did. The controls and mechanics were exactly the same for both Kirby and Prince Fluff, which I really appreciated. I'm hoping Prince Fluff will show up in future Kirby games.
Donkey Kong Country Returns feels enough like the old Donkey Kong Country games to give nostalgic memories, but contrary to popular belief, adds quite a lot of new features to the game such as climbable walls and barrel rocket level (oh the barrel rocket levels). Speaking of the barrel rocket levels, the controls resemble Balloon Fight much more than they do Gradius, so don't expect those levels to be as easy as they look on youtube. I made that mistake and I really regretted it. Speaking of easy, this game is far from it. Even in the first world, there's quite a lot of parts where you'll get killed if you don't move fast enough since barrel cannons will break on you and platforms will crumble. Despite having the heart system, there's a lot of levels where you get killed immediately by touching a hazard regardless of the health you have (such as barrel cannon parts, mine cart levels, and of course, barrel rocket levels). And the bosses are really brutal and take longer than you'd expect. The first boss takes around twelve jumps to kill, and he has invincibility for quite a few of the parts. Despite the game being hard, I'd still say that the difficulty is still quite fair. Overall, the game doesn't feel like that much of a rehash with all of the new mechanics they added in. It's quite similar to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but they went to the innovation direction much more significantly than they did in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but then again, every Donkey Kong Country game that followed the previous one had quite a few new mechanics added, while Mario gameplay is tried-and-true and doesn't change much because of that. The game holds quite a lot of secrets, like Golden Temple levels and puzzle pieces. Finding all of the puzzle pieces in some levels can be quite brutal, especially if it's in a level where you can't backtrack, but it gives off a good incentive to replay levels. The multiplayer was fun, but really life draining, seeing how lives are shared between Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. In addition, although you can't mess each other up by running into each other since you go through each other, it's really easy to mess your partner up by activating crumbling platforms early or hogging an "enemy platform" to yourself, though you can jump on an enemy at the same time so you both get the "enemy platform boost". Overall, the multiplayer was quite fun, but it could've used a bit of tweaking to make it more user friendly, such as a button similar to the bubbling up feature in New Super Mario Bros. Wii or summoning Angie in Kirby's Epic Yarn. The game also has quite a bit of replay value, not only with the secrets, but with Time Trial and Mirror Mode (where you only have one hit point before you die). I'm working on the latter two right now.
Oh yeah, and since I forgot that it counted, there's also New Super Mario Bros. Wii. I already wrote a review about it before though, which you can read here.
On a side note, 2D platformers are my most favourite gaming genre.
