It's hard to believe that about three weeks have passed since BAKERU was announced for a Western release. This supremely-Japanese game is rooted in the prefectures of Japan and offers up a 3D platforming adventure with a healthy amount of variety. Helmed by Good-Feel and the producer of several Ganbare Goemon/Mystical Ninja games across the generations, BAKERU brings together a lot of what has made Good-Feel's newer releases fun -- like Princess Peach: Showtime's sense of whimsy alongside the 3D action-platforming.
The original Japanese release stood out because BAKERU aimed to be a gameplay successor of sorts to the 3D Ganbare Goemon games -- something that we haven't seen a new entry of since the PS2 days. BAKERU received a lot of acclaim when it released Japan and it was the first import title I picked up since the PS3 days, but the lack of an English translation hurt it a bit. Trying to use Google Translation for menus sort of worked, but was clunky while the core gameplay was a lot of fun with snappy controls for Bakeru's stick movements and attacks.
