Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Reviews

Played this fresh off of Pirate's Curse, and changes are definitely prevalent. Still a game full of cute girls. Exactly what was expected, and exactly what was wanted. *This is thoughts after a normal mode play-through* Game play is similar to that of Pirate's Curse, in the sense of combat and basic movement. The similarities then end there. While Pirate's Curse allowed for many different movement options thanks to the pirate weapons/items, the movement in 1/2 Genie Hero is severely limited when compared. You have simple and basic running and jumping, with other movement options unlocked throughout the game, in the form of dance transformations. While yes, some of these are great, such as the monkey and the harpy, some of them (such as the harpy) are unlocked so late in the game that they more or less become obsolete and have little to no use. If you want a game with fantastic and satisfying movement, play Pirate's Curse instead. Combat was only a little bit of a downgrade from Pirate's Curse, in the difficulty sense. In PC, bosses get progressively more difficult (as in most games) and require faster reactions and reflexes in addition to coordinating different types of attacks. In 1/2 Genie Hero, you kind of just stand there and whip, with the exception of Giga Mermaid. Some jumping, yes, but due to the lack of an easily accessible double jump or hat glide, bosses don't move around much and aren't very difficult. If you want a challenge, I suppose you could try and beat every boss with a quarter of a heart left, but even then it still isn't super hard. If you want truly difficult, but not Souls-like bosses, play Pirate's Curse instead. Next thing: upgrades. I love the idea of the magic meter; it's fun and very useful. The only thing is, I didn't even realize what it was for until about 75% of the way through the game. You aren't taught about it, and due to the way items worked in PC, I didn't know that it was meant to activate things such as the pike ball or bubble shield. In addition, the game is already easy enough that you can surely beat the entire thing without activating a relic once. Sure, the scimitar was incredibly useful once I used it, but I could have easily beat the game without it. It is cool, however, that you can upgrade items to more powerful forms, such as the fireball to the flamethrower, or the bubble shield to the invincibility shield. The only letdown is that these awesome items are almost useless. If you want a game where you absolutely need to use items, play Pirate's Curse instead. Next, health. You can have up to 14 hearts in 1/2 Genie Hero, in contrast to the maximum 10 in PC. In PC, you more or less found Zelda Heart Pieces in the shape of [living] squids that you then melt down (smash together into a mush) to create what is essentially a new heart container. Now, the cool thing in PC was that you didn't automatically create a new heart container when four are collected, rather you had to take them to be melted down. In 1/2 Genie Hero, you can easily find these "Heart Holders" which give you a full container on the spot. Health more or less becomes of little concern once only a mere 6 hearts are collected, combined with the Bikini Armor (still funny no matter what), allows you to tank just about every attack several times over. I only healed a few times during the final boss because I kind of just stood there to take all of the different attacks. Conclusion: it is far too easy to find extra health, and health items are dropped far too frequently. If you want a game where health is very difficult to find and you'll often be on the verge of death, play Pirate's Curse instead. Finally, the story and music. The story is quite simple, takes nothing from the previous games, and therefore this works as a standalone game. I'm not too invested in the story, much less the lore, but I may dabble in it in the future. The soundtrack is great. I love it. As a music theory teacher and pianist, I can say that this soundtrack is very well written, and brings back modern renditions of classic Shantae tracks. I can't say I like the Scuttletown theme nearly as much as in PC, but I still bop to it when it plays. If you want a game where you tap your foot or nod to the beat without realizing, any Shantae game will do. This one especially. You may notice that I've recommended this, but keep referring to Pirate's Curse instead. This isn't a bad game. I've yet to play the DLC, or Hero Mode, so I can't say my opinion is final. These are simply my initial thoughts after completing the game on Normal difficulty, right after grinding Pirate's Curse. I still loved this game. The art style is cute, the girls are cute, SQUID BARON IS MY MAN, and the game play was overall a lot of fun. Can't wait to play Seven Sirens... as soon as it goes on sale. Shantae is best girl! CAN I GET AN AMEN FOR SQUID BARON!?

10/10 Best game EVER! i'm Always RET-2-GO When booting this up. The DLC's are fun to play, My favs being the Risky one and the friends till the end. truly inspiring game, and will be getting more hours on this! :3