PAGE 34 GAMBIT something with him . He just floats near you and serves as your only voice to the main villain . I would have loved to see him integrated better to scout new areas , do flight challenges , or even be used as a projectile weapon in some fashion . It doesn ’ t kill the experience but when you see a duo in a 3D platformer you expect them to do something together .
Graphically Skylar & Plux looks pretty good . As with so many Unreal Engine games the game suffers from the occasional pop-in when entering new areas , but it ’ s not all that big a deal . There are some minor issues with your characters never really touching the ground on uneven surfaces and angled planks , but again this seems to be a common problem . And while the game is bright and colorful , the main characters feel a little out of focus and washed out texture wise . It ’ s hard to explain , but both Skylar & Plux don ’ t quite feel to blend into the world as well as they should . This is a problem I ’ ve seen with the Unreal Engine when not making something brown and gritty . And the game on PC suffers from some strange graphical stuttering when loading up a game save for a few seconds , but that could just be me .
Controls are very responsive and playing with an Xbox One controller was a smooth experience . The options menu also has support for some sort of eye-tracking option if you are one of the twelve people that own one of those deceives . But one thing that doesn ’ t really work is the camera and how wild it is . It ’ s overly sensitive so you are going to be spinning it around like crazy far too much . It ’ s such a problem that it actually made me sick with headaches on more than one occasion because of the speed . There doesn ’ t seem to be a way to lower the camera sensitivity and if I would recommend one thing for a future patch , camera control sensitivity would be it .
On the audio front things are just tops . The music fits the overall aesthetic and fits each world very well . It ’ s not something you are going to be singing or snag the soundtrack for , but it works well in building the larger game world . Sound effects also have impact and add to the cartoon nature of the experience . But one thing that doesn ’ t come off as well as I would have liked is the voice acting . It ranges from excellent to merely passable . A lot of this comes from a fairly weak script that tries a bit too hard to be funny for its own good . Plux is a neat character , but he will begin to get on your nerves what all his childish chatter .
Skylar & Plux : Adventure On Clover Island will run you $ 15 on Steam which seems like a steal , but the game only offers up a few hours of play within the games three worlds . In this regard the island really does feel like an island . It took me around 4 hours to complete the game and that ’ s with going back to try and track everything down . If you just played through the game without any extra exploration you can probably beat the whole thing in around 2 hours depedning on your skill level . In a way this isn ’ t an entirely bad thing as it keeps the game nice and tight . Since each world revolves around a certain ability you earn within it , the pace feels just right . Still , I can ’ t help but feeling like another few worlds with a few more arm powers would have done the game wonders .
Skylar & Plux : Adventure On Clover Island isn ’ t a perfect game as it comes with a number of issues , but those problems never really take away from the overall fun of the experience . This is a fantastic first effort in what I hope develops into a full-fledged series that breaks away from the types of 3D platformers it ’ s trying to emulate . I have no issues recommending Skylar & Plux : Adventure On Clover Island to anyone who wants to relieve the past in between another utterly broken AAA release .
- Jorge Luis