Coming from the team behind Sonic Mania, there’s no surprise in the love and feeling of endearment for the early 3D platforming in Penny’s Big Breakaway. The game will bring huge smiles to those who grew up on early PlayStation, SEGA or Nintendo platformers, but those looking for a more modern experience may need to catch up.
Penny begins the game by attempting to perform some yo-yo tricks for the Emperor; however, when her now seemingly sentient yo-yo attacks the Emperor, she’s left on the run. With this backing to each stage, Penny’s Big Breakaway is a game that moves briskly with an optional slowdown to search out secrets and complete some optional tasks.
The yo-yo is the central device for just about everything in Penny’s Big Breakaway. Penny can ride it down hills, use it to attack enemies, grapple grind rails, perform a mid-air swing with it and much more. You can also control the yo-yo with a simple button press or using the right analogue stick to fling it in any direction. I found this a much more exciting way to play the game, especially as it allowed Penny to run past an enemy, and you could fling the yo-yo backwards and hit them.
You’ll also come across different types of items that Penny can use to power up the yo-yo. Everything from a magnet to a pepper so she can ride on it faster than usual. These change up throughout the world and always keep the gameplay feeling fresh.
Although Penny does have a typical health bar, it’s usually only depleted by falling into massive gaps or things like fire or electricity. The primary enemy type in the game is a collection of penguins, which is the Emperor’s personal guard. They’ll jump on Penny, and if you don’t fling them off fast enough, you’ll be captured and brought in to see the Emperor, aka, game over.
I played the levels briskly and cared little about stopping and doing optional areas or tasks. The few I did complete offered bonus areas with more challenging platforming sections where Penny must use all of her yo-yo-ing to come out on top. However, I found that in combination with levels having a timer for a completion time and the narrative backing of wanting to move fast, there was little time to smell the roses, and it just felt like playing the game fast. I have always had the same thoughts about Sonic games — I’m here to go fast and fly through this level, not stop and look for things!
There’s a little story to connect the worlds and stages, but I do not care, as what’s here was forgettable anyway. Penny does meet some interesting designed characters, and each world introduces a colourful new selection of usually one type of enemy and some different terrain things to deal with, be that ice, fire, water, or mystical books.
Penny’s Big Breakaway has an audience it will resonate with, which I’m part of, having grown up on a lot of these types of games. But a couple of things will stop it from being as accessible for younger and new audiences. The lack of camera controls can be hard to get used to if you’ve not had to deal with it before, and the game’s checkpoints, particularly following the first three or four worlds, become instead spread out and, at times, frustrating.
(Review code provided to Explosion Network.
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