Mekazoo is an impressive, if at times underwhelming, first project from a new studio. The game may have some rough edges and plenty of room for growth, but Mekazoo more than meets the relatively modest goals laid out by its developers when we spoke to them last year.
Mekazoo is a platforming experience inspired by the colorful, animal-centric games so many of us grew up playing; iconic titles like Crash Bandicoot, Donkey Kong Country, Earthworm Jim and Sonic the Hedgehog. You begin the game as an animatronic armadillo, with a very familiar rolling attack, and must clear several stages -- most of which have five objectives -- to reach the next boss in your path. The formula is repeated several times throughout Mekazoo, once for each of the five animals you’ll control by the game’s end. And each new transformation is guarded by an enlarged and corrupted version of the next animal you’ll learn to emulate. Later levels can only be unlocked by collecting enough medals, forcing players to replay previous missions if they haven’t already completed enough objectives to continue moving forward.
In addition to medals, up to four gems can be recovered from each stage and subsequently spent on new customization options for the game’s transforming protagonist. Players can unlock new paint jobs, glow colors and even alternate skins for the multi-faced mechanical creature that takes center stage throughout the game. Based on our experiences, we think the average player could finish Mekazoo in two or three hours. Completionists and/or less-skilled players might finish closer to the five or six hour mark. And the game’s light-hearted soundtrack works overtime to keep the mood charming and playful.
Mekazoo can be frustrating at times. Those playing on PC can look forward to shoddy controller support, with the game unable to detect (or re-enable) any gamepad that isn’t connected before it launches and/or goes to sleep while the game is running. Collision detection seems pretty spotty with some creatures. Interacting with some environmental elements can be tough when several are positioned close together. Boss battles aren’t especially fun, nor challenging, and don’t seem to serve much purpose besides visually communicating that another transformation is on the way. And those weren’t the only stretches of the game that struggled to hold my attention, a fact that might be forgivable in a 10-20 hour campaign but becomes much harder to overlook in a game like Mekazoo that could be finished in a single afternoon.
The game may not be charting any new territory from a structural standpoint. But Mekazoo does an excellent job of carving out its own identity, combining a unique aesthetic with mechanics that combine low level puzzle-solving and basic platforming mechanics. While we’ve certainly seen many of the elements on display in Mekazoo , I can’t think of any that managed to repurpose basic aspects of the platforming experience in such a unique manner. Limiting each form to a single skill forces the player to approach each level differently than they would in a traditional platformer with one protagonist. There are even a handful of challenge courses, which demand quick thinking and reflexes, for those hoping to squeeze every last drop of entertainment out of Mekazoo.
It may not be the longest game of 2016, or the most complex, but Mekazoo should be more than enough to scratch your platforming itch. Some may not be willing to pony up $20 for a short platformer but those who do will be rewarded with a colorful and engaging experience. Mekazoo has some rough edges. But it’s an admirable first attempt from a new studio and the sort of project that has me very curious to see what’s next from Good Mood Creators.
Mekazoo is now available on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Full Disclosure: The PC copy of Mekazoo used in the creation of this review was provided by a representative of Good Mood Creators; however, the developer did not retain any editorial oversight/privileges.
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