Oozi: Earth Adventure Ep. 1 Review
While casually flying around the galaxy, Oozi’s spaceship ran out of fuel and crash-landed on Earth. Oozi is now on a mission to retrieve his high-tech attire that was lost upon impact in order to escape the planet. Being stripped naked (apart from his underwear) means that Oozi starts off in this platformer with none of his abilities. Likewise, the game feels very bare at first. The first two levels introduce you to the jumping mechanics, which are fairly standard except that changing direction is far too slow and disruptive to flow. Fortunately the visuals are very crisp and a treat to look at in Oozi, and the music and sounds are certainly promising enough early on to keep you playing to see if the game will ripen.
Oddly enough, this platformer does not initially rely on split second timing or precise jumping. The game initially seems to intend to relax the player. The levels are filled with charming green scenery, and the snails and worms that act as enemies are colourful and jumping on their head results in a satisfying pop. Around each level are clusters of stars that can be collected for extra health, but the best part is the way the sound effects blend in with the beautiful background music and provide a sense of calm. It seems odd at first to make a relaxing platformer but it works to start off with. As you can gather, this soon becomes a little boring by the end of the second level, but just as luck would have it, Oozi finds his shoes.
This ends up being the saviour for a game that was becoming old at a rapid pace. The shoes allow Oozi to double jump and the stomp ability adds a decent variety in the gameplay. Knocking down boxes to get to higher areas, bouncing off branches and breaking through weak floors makes this platformer a bit more entertaining after the slow start. As you progress new enemies such as jumping fish, spiders, hedgehogs and flies are added. Fatal water is also introduced for further danger and jumping off bubbles is certainly a fun addition. Soon you are climbing vines, jumping over floating boxes, riding moving platforms and performing all the usual antics of many classic platformers.
In a bizarre turn around, the relaxing gameplay and music that at first seemed to be the positives of the game; becomes very dull, very quickly. In the end this relaxing style of gameplay becomes a negative. When the game adds a bunch of gameplay variants as well as a little more peril and pace, the game is a lot more enjoyable. The music does not change throughout the 5 levels of the game and this proves to be a very bad decision. The last level is a boss battle and having that relaxing music is very out of place and feels very unnatural. To put it plain and simply, it doesn’t work. Let’s not forget about those luscious green environments that impressed us at the start as well. They also feel overused a few levels in and once again, are out of place in the battle against the giant spider considering it is apparently taking place in a cave. A cave with trees, bushes and open sky all around, that is.
The game has this slightly unfinished feel to it by the end. Not because of the last few levels, but because of the first two. Being so bare at the beginning is not a good way to start a game like this, and it honestly does not feel like a finished game until you hit level three and get the boots. Aside from these few problems, the game really outshines other similar indie titles by adding an Arcade and Challenge mode. The Arcade mode seems a little pointless in fairness as you go through each level trying to get as many stars as possible. The Challenge mode on the other hand is quite addictive. There are a few different types of level such as collecting an amount of stars in a given time, and escaping a rising level of water. Anyone into their more frantic platformer should certainly spend a decent amount of time completing these levels.
Oozi is about as classic platformer as you can get, and if you ignore the first two levels, the game is actually very enjoyable. It’s charming title character is portrayed well through the short comic-book strip cutscenes, and the game is visually pleasing. The movement could do with a little tweaking to make this platformer feel a little more modern in that regard, but the overall variety in the fairly long levels keeps up the player’s interest. By the end of the game we have a decent platformer in our hands and one that can only get better. It is clear that the developers are dedicated to give the player as much content as possible for their small donation, by adding extra game modes. Episode 2 will hopefully be along shortly and if some vital changes are made, it should be a charming experience. Oozi is worth a try for anyone into their platformers, but do not judge the game until you play past the slow start. The quality of the game escalates as it progresses, which gives the game a kind of ‘developers journey’ feel – as if they worked things out as they went. If the level of gameplay by the end of Oozi is anything to go by, Episode 2 will certainly be worth playing as the developers and their game come into fruition.
