It is possible that our youngest readers are unaware of the origin of Marsupilami, a comic book character created by Frenchman André Franquin and popularized by his appearance in Spirou, one of the most popular French publications of the 90s, where a multitude characters appeared, among others, Spirou Buttons himself, another famous protagonist of these cartoons. But Marsupilami made it through those little comics with his incredible personality and potential as a character.
Daddy, this is the best game I ever saw you play
The result is that soon Marsupilami had its own animated series, which was the one that directly crossed borders and made the strange feline popularized around the world, there was even a game for Sega MegaDrive in 1995. But since then, or a server has been aged, or Marsupilami has lost importance in the infancy of the last generations, something Microids hopes to correct with the new Marsupilami: Hoobadventure.
And as such, Hoobadventure is a 2.5D rig that draws inspiration from many other great titles with easily identifiable comparisons, like Donkey Kong Country or the Rayman series among others, but offering its own personality with a SUPER aesthetic. COLORFUL and happy that we loved it, especially for its clear orientation towards the right audience: the smallest in the house.
For this reason, my son and I sat down together to enjoy this Marsupilami: Hoobadventure which above all aims to provide fun for the whole family with a nice packaging, which can be a bit short in duration and difficulty, but in terms of claims, makes it great. In the story, the three Marsupilamis, Punch, Twister and Hope, open a sort of sarcophagus from which emerges an ancestral ghost who seems to want to bring bad luck to Palombia, managing to mentally manipulate all of her creatures except the protagonists, who, of course, they rush to stop it.
Technical section
Time and again we find that this type of game aimed at kids has a certain degree of “sloppiness” in its technical section, which we have seen in cases such as the recent title Peppa Pig, in which all platforms are. increased to 1080p and 30 fps, to be able to stretch this figure quietly to gain a visual quality which with today’s screens is more than pleasant. And in that sense, Marsupilami: Hoobadventure is an example of how things should be done.
Because the truth is that the title enters by the 5 senses. It moves well, sounds great, and looks even cooler, with a clean aesthetic and a great design of what a 3D cartoon should look like in 2021. The increased resolution and 60fps do the job for you. the feeling of the animated film is constant, which is precisely why we missed a fair amount of cinematics with the game engine, since they are virtually nonexistent.
The colorful and well-animated scenarios, a very successful sense of depth, beautiful landscapes of which we wanted more … Marsupilami undoubtedly achieves that “special touch” in which each sound of gathering together the fruits or the elements of the scene the moving protagonist clicks our head and just be … pleasant and satisfying.
Playability
We continue with the good things about the title, as playable it continues to show a smoothness in the controls that are not forgotten, which makes us that going through every corner of every phase is a simple exercise for any player and in particular. , a motivation for the smallest, so that no corner remains unexplored. For this, as we mentioned at the beginning, it pays a lot of attention to the usual large platforms, such as Crash Bandicoot, Donkey Kong or Rayman, but giving it its own adapted touch, which undoubtedly, in a demonstration of mastery, manages to adapt one difficulty for children and one for adults in the same gameplay. Without touching anything.
What could be better than an example in this case: My son, when it was his turn, devoted himself only to going forward to collect the fruits that he saw. Sometimes he fell, sometimes one of the almost harmless enemies managed to take all 3 lives and it was undoubtedly a suitable challenge for him, which gradually forced him to learn the movements of the Marsupilami. In my case, my way of playing was much more “thrifty”, let’s say. Everything seemed simpler to me, with a few phases that were too simple, but with one exception: removing all collectibles from the screen is something Hoobadventure does VERY WELL
The Marsupilami’s very long tail allows them to have incredible mobility around the stage, with skills that we will have fully from the first moment. Make our tail in a circle shape by speeding up like Sonic, hang on to any hoop using it as if it were a whip, tie a knot and hit with it as if it were with a fist and even do some sort of “drill” with it using a down attack. There doesn’t seem to be anything really original that stands out in this repertoire, rather it is the perfect combination of a repertoire, again, adjusted to what they want. There are easy jumps, there are difficult jumps, but there is always motivation for a novice user as well as an experienced user.
And it is that the structure of the mission is distributed as if it were one of the famous paintings of Donkey Kong Country or a Super Mario World of the classics. In each mission we can find some kind of collectible chili peppers, which we will use later to open optional phases, and be careful because there is a subject here. We can only play a few optional tickets with “tickets” that we will get by winning in some mini tests to be unlocked in almost all phases, with a very successful shaded appearance … and these tickets will be used in our turn to play in these optional phases, in which A beautiful reward awaits us, but if we die there, we will have to pay double the tickets! which is almost prohibitive.
Duration
The main virtue of Marsupilami: Hoobadventure works against its short duration, because it makes you want more. Perhaps for the younger ones, all three worlds and more than 20 phases are enough, but while each phase could be replayed in time trial mode after completing it, the 5-6 hours it took us to complete the adventure seem rare. .
We still have to collect each of the collectibles, review each level with the time trial to extend the title, take advantage of the image galleries, but the problem is still there and the price at which it comes out should be accompanied by a little more content.
conclusion
It lacks perhaps a little more ambition to the whole. And is that while it has some really good stuff and great aesthetics, it doesn’t compare to its credentials or other standout crafting titles like the Ori Saga. Marsupilami Hoobadventure remains in a kind of manual conformism. As if the budget did not give more. And that’s a real shame, because with a boost by putting in a few more worlds, cutscenes or an animated story with the realtime graphics engine and nothing else, we could surely also be talking about one of the best platforms. – 2.5D shapes of its kind.
And it is that Marsupilami really conveys that he has ideas – like that little timer in the “peppers” to keep us from catching him without worrying about dying in a fall – that allow us to see this intentional accessibility, this need to offer a way to play for someone with over 20 years of experience in video games and for their own son, who is taking his first steps in this wonderful world of video games. To top it off, the packaging is beautiful. AND Marsupilami: Hoobadventure transmits good vibrations as soon as you turn it on. He is friendly, kind and endearing. The perfect gift for children this Christmas, despite this undeniable summer vacation atmosphere.
* Thanks to Meridiem Games for the review material.
