Review for Giga Wrecker Alt.. Game for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 30/04/2019 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 02/05/2019 The version for Xbox One came out on 03/05/2019
When you create a monumental brand like Pokémon, you end up being associated with it by definition. Game Freak means Pokémon, in the world of video games. However, the company has had some weak attempts to create different titles that break away from the brand they are famous for and the genre they now master. Giga Wrecker Alt, re-edition of the Giga Wrecker title, released on Steam in 2017, is one of these rare but present opportunities for Game Freak to expand its portfolio. A title that, thanks to the commercial power of Pokémon, was able to risk a lot in its formula, offering an original game ... but with serious problems to limit its immense potential.
Let's discover together, traveling through yet another videogame apocalypse, the lights and shadows of this particular experiment marked Game Freak
Giga Wrecker Alt is a title that, as said by the director Masayuki Onoue himself, combines genres that are usually incompatible. The game stands as a single union of the Metroidvania and Puzzle game genres, exploring an almost unexplored section of game design. Although combining such different genres can result in enormous failures, being able to find the spark of inspiration can lead to discovering hidden potentials; and this is what happens, at least partially, in Giga Wrecker Alt. The game puts us in the shoes of Reika Rekkeji, a girl who survived the apocalypse brought by a robotic race called Ajeet. After an attempted murder escaped in the prologue, the protagonist acquires the powers of manipulation of magnetic fields, and a mechanical arm, with which she begins her journey towards revenge and the search for the girl who tried to kill her.
Reika has the classic moveset as the protagonist of modern metroidvania, it starts with the only possibility of jumping, moving and directional attack; and then gradually acquire new skills. Where Giga Wrecker Alt breaks away from the canons of the genre, to take on the connotations of a puzzle game, it is precisely in the powers that will be obtained and how these will affect the game world. Normally in metroidvania, the new powers are used to access previously unreachable areas; for example, a double jump can overcome a slightly higher wall than usual, swimming unlocks the underwater areas etc… Giga Wrecker Alt approaches this concept differently. Instead of being able to access a new area thanks to a "double jump", you will get powers that will allow you to find a different solution to the environmental puzzles, unlocking new areas previously blocked.
On paper, this concept alone would justify the purchase of Giga Wrecker Alt, especially for fans of metroidvania. Unfortunately, however, the title of Game Freak brings with it enormous flaws, sometimes even unforgivable. What bothered us most during our gameplay was the poor management of narrative pacing.
The Giga Wrecker Alt map is divided into huge rooms, separated by doors that can be reached by solving the proposed environmental puzzles, in classic Metroidvania style. However, the pacing of the gameplay is constantly interrupted by sudden dialogues that force the character to stop, with even 3 different stops within each single sector.
Although the characters are not badly written, and their dialogues can sometimes be pleasant, constantly interrupting the gameplay of a title based on it leads to wanting to skip all the proposed dialogues. This problem is flanked by constant loading every time you change rooms or reset a puzzle, and a generally fairly sterile narrative, which worsens the already annoying situation. We've also seen occasional dishonest enemy placements, leading to undeserved damage, but in this case it's a trifle in an overall picture of a generally promoted game ... but one that could pass with flying colors with some extra attention to detail.
On an aesthetic level we are on a level of sufficiency, no setting seemed particularly original or particularly interesting. However, they are all well done and accompanied by character designs that we promote instead. A similar argument can be proposed by talking about the soundtrack: excellent accompaniment for the gameplay, but never truly memorable. A note of great merit to the boss fights of the game, fun, original and with a not high challenge, but still stimulating. Too bad that, even in this case, the dialogues can ruin the experience. Very often following a game over against a boss, there will be dialogues that will explain how to solve the puzzles within the battle. These dialogues cannot be skipped, and they explain puzzles that are already very intuitive.
Giga Wrecker Alt is an original title, which we would like to recommend… but only if you want to go through some big flaws. Constant interruptions due to inopportune dialogue and inexplicable uploads can ruin the experience. However, looking beyond these flaws, there is a good title, which has the uniqueness of its concept on its side, which goes beyond the competition with some masterpieces of the genre, in particular Hollow Knight.
► Giga Wrecker Alt. Is a Puzzle-Platform type game developed by Game Freak and published by Rising Star Games for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 30/04/2019 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 02/05/2019 The version for Xbox One came out on 03/05/2019
