Pankapu
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Pankapu Trailers
Critic Reviews for Pankapu
If you need a 2D platforming fix you can't go far wrong with Pankapu. While the polished, crisp, beautiful presentation and gameplay are engaging enough, it is nevertheless slightly let down by a few elements that affect the beat by beat and overall flow of the game. The charming characters and parallel narrative are intriguing, and while the resonant themes, fantastical atmosphere and wonderful locales enchant and are especially vibrant on a big screen, the controls aren't quite tight or precise enough considering the challenging level design an enemy combat. An enjoyable game, if not quite as strong as it could have been.
Pankapu has interesting elements in its favour. The game's plot and the way it is presented is certainly one of them and its well crafted visuals add to the flavour. At the same time, the level design feels too repetitive and the game doesn't really feel like it offers anything new, as Penkapu's good story telling and visuals end up outshining almost everything else about the game.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
After experiencing the finished product, I'm pleased to see that Pankapu turned out to be such a charming and worthwhile adventure.
There is no doubt that Pankapu has a beautiful art style with a lot of attention given to the character animations, but unfortunately it also suffers with clunky controls and awkward difficulty spikes.
The bright and distinct visuals are incredibly appealing and the audio is pretty decent, too, which really helps Pankapu sink its claws into you as you play. It really channels the ‘one more go' type of play, and this is why I would recommend the game. Sure, it's not original in its gameplay mechanics, but it's just a solid, good game that harkens back to the days of playability being key.
Pankapu leaves much to be desired in nearly every aspect, with the sole exception being its artwork. The story hints at something greater to never deliver, the music is impossibly repetitive and grating, and by far its biggest sin is that the platforming is atrocious. The difficulty and frustration is so ever-present that it annihilates any chance of it being any fun, and the slow controls only serve to put the final mark on a disastrous title.
Pankapu is a series of lessons on what to not do when creating a platformer, wrapped up in a greedy episodic format that should not exist at all. Amongst its many issues, the sluggish controls stand out as the main big flaw of this piece of indie-developed frustration.
At its core it's a solid action/platformer, with a beautiful aesthetic and captivating sound track. The difficulty spikes combined with the frequent load times can definitely test your patience, but overall the positives outweigh the negatives. So if you're in the mood for a pleasant platformer, the dreamy world of Pankapu just might be the game for you.
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