Good morning folks. I thought I would continue this morning with some of my discussion about titles that I have been playing over on Microsoft Game Pass. I think one of the great things about that service is that it serves to breathe new life into titles that maybe got lost in the mix. For example I remember Super Luckys Tale coming out, but I also don’t remember much press positive or negative about it. Out of curiosity the other night I decided to give it a spin, because with the Game Pass it is super easy to dip my toes into new experiences. Much to my surprise this is a really freaking fun game, and I think it deserves a lot more attention than it has gotten.
You play as Lucky, a fox that got sucked into another realm by an evil wizard and you ultimately need to collect all of the pages of a magical book in order to return home to your family. Structurally the game works a lot like Mario 64 with its stars mechanic, but instead of stars you are collecting pages of the magic book. Once you have enough pages you can use the book to unlock the door to the boss of a given zone which will then allow you to progress to the next zone. In any given level there are multiple objectives which also might remind you of that Mario 64 formula.
Mechanically you have a tail whip similar to the Raccoon suit from Mario 3, and the ability to burrow in the ground to move faster and avoid certain combat situations. Popping up under something knocks the target up into the air. The game has a pretty broad mix of 2D style side scrolling levels and more open world 3D levels. I think for me what makes the game work is how freaking well animated everything is and who good it feels to run around as this cute fox. The levels are not exactly challenging, but the fun and pacing makes it a really enjoyable lighthearted game experience. This would be the ideal platformer for a kid just getting used to the controller because it is extremely forgiving with plenty of lives to be found.
Similar to the Koopa Kids, each world that you encounter is controlled by a member of the “Kitty Litter”. So far I have fought a Ninja, a Mad Scientist, and the realm that I just started is seemingly controlled by a Kitty version of Napoleon and his giant oafish companion. The end of zone fights feel more like a Sonic the hedgehog encounter than that of Mario, where you are trying to interact with the zone in order to defeat the enemy more than stomping on their head three times. In one case I had to fling enemies back at the boss by burrowing under them and popping up, and in another case I had to interact with a number of switches to make something happen. Easy to figure out puzzles in general but still enjoyable.
Scattered through the levels are also a number of hidden secret areas. This zone for example had a number of these puzzles where you had to move pieces in such a way as to land the fox statue on the green plus sign. None of them were terribly complex but still fun to solve. Essentially this is not a frustration side-scroller, so if you crave that sort of interaction then maybe look elsewhere. Over the last few years there are a number of games that have come out that are really wallowing in that “nintendo hard” games model. This is more something you play casually for awhile for enjoyment rather than something that you fight with to feel pride in surviving the battle. Seeing as I play games for the escape that they give me, rather than as an achievement… I am perfectly fine with this style of experience.
If you already have Game Pass then I highly suggest you give this game a spin, especially if you have younger gamers in your midst. For those who don’t have game pass and are still curious, this was released widely and is I believe available on pretty much every platform. I’m three zones in and have been playing this as my wind down game each night. Having a lot of fun doing so.