New Super Lucky's Tale - RUN FOR THE PAGES!
0Super Lucky’s Tale, a 3D platformer starring a cartoonish fox, was actually one of the games that intrigued me most when Xbox One X was launched. Microsoft spent very little time showing the game off, but my preference for the genre attracted me to it. Alas, I didn’t have the system, so I never got to play it. In a tale of luck, developer Playful has brought an improved version of the game to the Nintendo Switch. In a move similar to Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. series, Playful even slapped a “New” in front of the name. New Super Lucky’s Tale is reminiscent of the 3D collectathon platformers of yore. Unlike some more egregious titles that overdid the collecting aspect, this tale is simpler and more accessible to younger and casual gamers.
You play as Lucky the fox, and your goal is to collect pages for the Book of Ages. This mystical tome contains worlds and characters within, but the menacing Jinx the cat wants it all for himself. Thus, Lucky travels through the worlds in an attempt to replenish the Book of Ages and stop Jinx’s Kitty Litter. It’s a charming story with colorful worlds and cute characters that resemble those from N64, GameCube, and PS2 games.
Lucky is easy to control with his limited but effective moveset. He can run, jump, and double jump. He attacks enemies by swiping his tail or pounding the ground. My favorite move is his burrow ability, which allows him to dig underground to run under low gates, collect goodies, and solve puzzles. There aren’t any power-ups, though, so this is the extent of Lucky’s moves.
The variety is in the level design, or rather, the multiple stage types. New Super Lucky’s Tale is a hodgepodge, featuring open 3D platformer areas, 2D sidescroller segments, automatic runner levels with an altered perspective, block puzzles, and tilt-the-ball challenges, not to mention an entire level of minigames. The game institutes a jack-of-all-trades, master of none style, and it would have benefited from some focus.
That being said, each type of level has its own pros and cons. The most standard design is the 3D platformer, where you have free reign to explore an open area, usually with some goal or collectible in mind. Lucky controls most comfortably in these segments, although he can feel a bit floaty and slippery on certain small platforms, much to my dismay. Nevertheless, the camera, which can rotate fully around Lucky, effectively ensures that no death is truly unfair. The 3D levels tend to go on long, though, and some dull ones focus on finding certain objects in areas that look overly similar. I appreciated challenging gimmicks, such as carrying an item to activate platforms or traversing an actual maze.
The sidescrolling segments were a joy for me, and Lucky’s moveset translates well to 2D. These areas are also brisker than the 3D levels, but still feel creative and meaty. Unfortunately, you can’t use the D-pad for these levels, and any game that uses analog controls for 2D platforming will always feel awkward to me. The automatic runners are even faster challenges, simply requiring you to make it to the end without losing three hearts.
There are five main worlds with about four levels in each, and the fact that the game splits it up between different game styles gives it an unfocused feel. They’re all fun in their own ways, but the game didn’t really stand out as a superb 3D collectathon or 2D sidescroller.
Every level has four pages, each obtained with a certain achievement: beating the stage, collecting 300 coins, gathering all five letters that spell out the word “LUCKY” (think KONG letters from Donkey Kong Country), and locating hidden pages. They are also located in the small 3D hubs that are usually guarded by a puzzle or unique challenge. The puzzles were a pleasant surprise, requiring you to tail-swipe statues into place. Again, I would have probably played a full puzzle game like this, but these minigames never get a chance to fully develop in the mix.
If you collect enough pages in each world, you confront the boss. The bosses were all fairly challenging in the best possible way, hearkening back to classic “three-hit” bosses of older games. They will certainly test younger gamers, as will some later levels. There is an annoying life system, but the game does hand out plenty, provided you collect enough coins and extra lives. There is a sizeable post-game with extra-hard levels, which was a great way to cap off a good difficulty curve. For those who love to collect macguffins – which I suspect makes up a lot of the game’s older fans – it’s a decent task to get every page. You can use some of that currency to purchase extra costumes for Lucky as well.
Other Videos By skinkie
Other Statistics
New Super Lucky's Tale Statistics For skinkie
At this time, skinkie has 17 views for New Super Lucky's Tale spread across 2 videos. His channel published less than an hour of New Super Lucky's Tale content, roughly 2.31% of the content that skinkie has uploaded to YouTube.