Platypus is the other game in Mumbo Jumbo’s two-pronged assault on the handheld gaming market, and much like Luxor: The Wrath of Set it’s a very simple game. A traditional old-school shooter in every sense, Platypus unfortunately lacks the variety or longevity to rank among the genre’s elite.
As I mentioned, Platypus is a traditional shooter in every way. Each level scrolls automatically from left to right, with the game throwing wave after wave of enemies at you. Much like the Gradius series each level is broken up into areas, with a simple stats screen and short break between each area. The game starts you off with two continues and four lives, with an extra life awarded after each area and an extra continue after each of the game’s six levels is completed.
Gameplay is as simple as can be, with only the directional pad (or analog stick) used for movement and the X button for firing. That’s all there is to it from a gameplay perspective, with no secondary weaponry, morphing ships, or anything else you may find elsewhere. Enemies move in predictable patterns, but the sheer number of them and occasional surprises from behind or above you will keep things challenging. That means your default gun won’t get the job done alone, so of course the game spices things up with several different power-ups. This includes a wide shot (spread gun), auto fire that essentially makes the normal gun shoot continuously, a sonic pulse that emanates from your ship in a wave and destroys most things in its path, rockets that are great against bosses, a lightning gun that shoots a solid bolt across the screen, and finally weapon pods that circle around your ship giving you extra firepower.
What’s interesting about the weapon system is not the rather unimaginative choices, but rather how the game handles it. Weapon upgrades only last for 20 seconds at a time, and come in the form of stars. Stars are almost always awarded when defeating certain ship formations, and they all start out yellow, which grants the wide shot power-up. Shooting the star will change it to the next color in line, allowing the player to pick and choose which weapon to use (except in certain instances, such as boss fights that force you to use the rockets). Shooting a star also moves it slightly to the right, which can allow the player to “juggle” it and move it further in the level a considerable distance before picking it up…thus maximizing its usefulness against later enemies.
Unfortunately, even an interesting weapon system can’t change the fact that Platypus is incredibly short. I played through the entire single-player Story mode (which, like Luxor, really has no story at all) in one night, taking roughly two and a half hours to compete. When that’s virtually all your game offers to go along with simple gameplay, it’s hard to justify a $30 price tag when so many other games (even on services like Xbox Live Arcade) offer the same (or more) at a much cheaper price. There’s also a Survival mode (which by its nature is extremely short), and wireless Ad Hoc co-op play for two provided you can find someone else locally that has or will buy a copy.
The primary selling point of Platypus is supposed to be the claymation visuals, which were originally built by hand and then transformed into sprites. While somewhat unique, they’re just not that impressive on the PSP’s small screen, and in fact remind me of rendered SNES games like Super Mario RPG or Donkey Kong Country. I can imagine that building things in clay first would be a time-consuming process, which may explain why the scenery repeats often throughout each level too, with the same basic clouds, trees, castles, buildings, etc. showing up time and time again. The soundtrack is awesome however and fitting for an old-school shooter, featuring the work of several Commodore 64 veterans and including techno and rock remixes from some of their classic games.
Bottom Line:
Platypus is too short, simple, and easy to recommend at $30, even despite some quality old-school shooter gameplay and excellent soundtrack. Gradius Collection is a much better value for shooter fans, but Platypus is certainly worth a rental once you’ve grown tired of that series.
After reviewing this and Luxor: The Wrath of Set, my unsolicited and likely inconsequential advice to Mumbo Jumbo is to release future console titles of this nature through the PS Store and/or Xbox Live Arcade instead of retail. They’d make excellent downloadables, and could be offered for a cheaper price better suited to the company’s lineup of casual titles.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 5.2 |
Posted: 2007-01-03 15:51:56 PST