Super Lucky’s Tale Review

This is quite possibly the most Rareware game that wasn’t actually made by Rare or former Rare developers. Even the music sounds a lot like the Rare platformers of the N64 era. I like to imagine that Super Lucky’s Tale is the kid-friendly Conker game we never got to see. But just because it looks and feels like a Rare game doesn’t mean it’s as good as truer Rare clones like Yooka-Laylee. Compared to that and other modern 3D platformers, this one’s a little weak. The level design, puzzles, and boss fights simply lack creativity and cleverness. Sure, you can still have fun with something that doesn’t push any boundaries (I have), but that leads into the bigger issue with Lucky’s Tale: the friggin’ camera.

Weirdly, the camera is mostly fixed. You can only rotate it 2-3 clicks to the left or right, if at all. This means the game is very forward-moving; you’re not meant to backtrack or explore every nook and cranny. And you can forget about tilting upwards or downwards, making it hard to judge the distance between you and the floating bee in front of you. Why would you make a 3D game but make navigating its 3D world so restrictive? Maybe this is why they periodically threw in a 2D level, almost like an apology. But the 2D levels are even less fun, because Lucky still moves like he was intended to be in a 3D world. Man, this game would have been great if it was more open. It’s really polished in every other aspect. But the camera design is a total bummer.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.