Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

So what was I doing instead of watching Melodifestivalen? I played Shantae and the Pirate's Curse on the 3DS. You might not believe it, but I think I made the right choice. It was a really fun game, but I mostly picked it up since I had the two first games (also on the 3DS if you were curious) and I'm a OCD on collecting sets. Which mostly was the reason I got it for the 3DS instead of the Wii U. Other things was that I had more room on the 3DS as well. Bonus was that the 3D is amazing, the depth is fantastic although, I can't help notice that they seemed to put some real work into a certain area of the character portraits in story segments. Especially around the chest area.... I'm talking about their bre... How old is Shantae again? No one knows, but appears to be 15-16? Alright I'm staying out of this one. What about Rottytops? Age unknown? But then she is a rotting zombie which makes this rather awkward. Alright, Risky Boots then? Unknown age, but much older than Shantae? I can go with that. Of course, besides the sexy fanservice the environments looks awesome in 3D and if you want some dis-fanserive you can always go talk to the mayor of Scuttle Town. His stomach really pops out in 3D I tell you.

The story then, it continues from where the last game ended. Shantae has lost her genie powers, but still try to protect Scuttle Town from invaders. This time it's the Ammo Baron, but for some reason you get summoned to the palace where they will cut your hair. At the same time Risky comes by and need your help in finding her crew and weapons to stop the Pirate Master from re-awakening. So you set out looking for the den of evils to find maps to the Pirate Master's grave, at the same time finding Risky's crew members and capture the dark magic that cursed them.

Which brings us to the gameplay, it's basically a metroidvania game where you go to a den of evil, look around until you get a pirate weapon like a cutlass, pistol or cannon which gives you a way to reach new places in the dungeons and the overworld. For example the cutlass gives Shantae a down-thrust so that she can destroy blocks below her, the pistol makes it possible to hit switches far away and the cannon gives you three extra jumps. And these weapons can also work as... weapons. Which makes the game easier and more fun than the original games. There you had very limited long range weapon meaning every enemy was close up with your hair whip, here I can stand and shoot them with the pistol or jump on them with the cannon or cutlass, making it easier to dispose of hard enemies. Great plus in my book... what brings it down a bit is that I can't shake the feeling that it is the same game over again. It's the same enemies, the same environments... but done better I guess. Instead of getting lost running back and forth on a singular overworld map you go to Risky's Ship and go to a special island. The boss fights are fun... although maybe a bit easy when you get the pattern down. Still, fun platformer that is worth a shot. Maybe more for you who have played the first games to see these characters again. Best news is that the forth game can't be that far behind.