Bakeru

From people who also worked on Goemon, Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Yoshi’s Woolly world, comes Bakeru. I didn’t even know this when I installed the game to play it, but it is pretty obvious once you know it. As such, there is nothing visibly bad about the game. The graphics are cute, not amazing, but serviceable for the atmosphere they wanted to create, same with the music and, well… the gameplay. Which is kinda the boring part of this game. It really does not evolve much, the beginning is very much the end and they did cramp over 60 levels in the game. They also try out a lot of different things which is commendable to som extent. From shmup levels to racing to normal jump-‘n-run to boxing, but nothing is ever really deep or difficult. It kinda plays like your child’s first jump-‘n-run. The first levels are so easy it can almost be insulting, the end levels are fun, but other games start there and evolve into much further.

The atmosphere, though, is great. You play Bakeru, a tanuki that can transform into a human and you need to save Japan from an evil dude that wants to throw an eternal party and have Japan transformed into party-land with all humans becoming zombies who want to party. Like, honestly, sounds rad, where can I sign up? Are we the bad guys here? You visit all of Japan and it kinda feels like a nice vacation, especially the first levels which are very chill. Most of the enemies do not even attack you, they are just having the best time of their lives building sand castles and throwing parties and singing and dancing.

Overall I did find it a charming game. It’s sadly too basic with the gameplay to be excellent, but this is chill wholesome and very Japanese in the cliché sense of the world. You’re getting a flying machine that is a teapot that can transform into a huge boxing robot. The game has everything and has been created with a lot of love.