Bakeru’s story takes place in fairy tale Japan and begins with our hero, Bakeru, saving his friend Sun from danger. After saving his tiny friend, I battled festival-themed enemies in a 3D platforming stage. During this stage, I learned to control Bakeru, including fighting, jumping, blocking, and gaining my first special ability/transformation known as a henge. The controls were simple, and I quickly picked them up and moved to explore this strange and wonderful world, discovering collectables such as souvenirs and little bits of trivia.
The game’s story was odd and interesting, taking me all over this fantasy of Japan’s multiple prefectures. After the first level, I discovered Japan had been taken over by a festival-loving madman known only as Oracle Saitaro. Embarking on the journey to defeat him, I soon found myself exploring the forty-seven prefectures and sixty-two stages. The game spanned the map quite deftly and made for multiple different level types to adapt to. The game started quite linearly. However, after acquiring the other three henge licences and a flying ship, it later opened for better exploration via the map. This meant I could approach the new levels as they opened in whichever order I deemed fit. The levels varied greatly, including some flying, racing, skiing, platforming, and even Mech-style battles, and each had its difficulties and ways to play; it was a fun and rewarding way to break up the gameplay.
The game’s combat system was great; focusing more on combat and less on defence, I could comb through most basic enemy types. In later stages, I had to readapt my combat techniques to ensure I survived to the end of the stage. Early enemies came in lanterns and partiers, while later ones had attack and defence patterns to overcome and came in various designs. There were samurai, Oni, watermelons, and Octopi, to name just a few, and each of these had vastly different attacks and defences to overcome. During the game, I also unlocked some charged attacks and henge abilities that allowed me to easily defeat foes or attack a larger number of enemies in one swift go. Using these abilities came at a cost that was measured with a gauge in the bottom corner, filling slowly and releasing fast when the henge abilities were in use.
The game’s graphics were phenomenal, and I loved the artistic design of the game, the enemies, the levels, and the world. The exceptional use of colours made the stages feel alive and full of festival cheer. The accompanying music and sounds reinforced those feelings and made me want to visit Japan. The scattered bits of trivia allowed me to learn many random and interesting facts about Japanese culture and added to the game’s overall appeal.
The game transported me back to the era of N64 classics such as Mario, Star Fox, and Kirby with its familiar controls, gameplay, and movement mechanics. I enjoyed the challenge and loved the way the game was designed. The story was easy to follow and was full of some fun moments. The game was about ten hours long if played without exploration. I am currently sitting at fourteen hours, and I could easily see getting to twenty by searching out and collecting the remaining collectables I had missed during my playthrough.
(Review code provided to Explosion Network.
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