Paper Monsters Recut is a Wii U port of an iOS sidescrolling platformer, and features cute papercraft scenery and critters. It certainly looks deceptively cute. Let’s grab our markers, construction paper, and glitter glue, and see what we can make of this game.
In Paper Monsters Recut, your job is to restore Paperland to the happy, joyful place it once was, where papercuts were a happy daily occurrence and accidental scissor death didn’t happen. Your character, made of cardboard, has the most amazing power of jumping. That’s it. No super mushrooms, no wrenches, not even a whip. And you need to destroy the Big Bad and his minions to make things right. Easy. Well, to be fair, you DO get stuff later on. There’s an awesome paper submarine, and a jetpack, and even a sled. You also get a laser pistol at some points, but the upgrades only last for one level (or in the case of the jetpack, one world), so they’re nothing that can be counted on. You can trust your jumping though. That never lets you down.
In practice, Paper Monsters Recut looks and plays like one of Little Big Planet’s custom worlds, with Sackboy being replaced by a cardboard fellow. There are even sections of the game that have you flit in and out of the background, Mutant Mudds style. The worlds are beautifully themed and constructed, with plenty of hidden bits to look for, and collectibles to …collect. It’s fun to play, too, in a relaxed sort of way. The game feels aimed for a younger audience, but that’s not to say that the levels don’t have any challenge to them, because while it’s no Dark Souls, a lot of the later levels will definitely be troublesome. What ISN’T troublesome is the battles you’ll have against the bosses. Those you can bank on getting past without blinking. The bosses feel lazy, as if they’ve no real conviction in corrupting Paperland, but perhaps that’s me reading too much into it.
As quaint as the graphics are, they’re offset by the sound design. The music is tuneful without the quality that could make it an earworm, and the sound your character makes when it jumps gets annoying very fast. There’s an art to designing an unobtrusive, inoffensive jumping noise, and sadly, this game has none of it.
The game’s controls are fairly intuitive, and are even displayed on the GamePad for reference. You can configure the game for off-TV play (yay! After Costume Quest, I was happy to have off-TV play back!) or to have the GamePad show a bunch of stats a level-shortcut menu. Other controllers aren’t supported at present, so don’t count on using the Pro Controller.
Overall, it’s a fun game, and while there aren’t many worlds, there’s still enough hidden stuff to keep you busy searching for a while. Some of it is very easy to find, but the majority will take some doing to get hold of. Younger players will get a kick out of the cutesy looks and simple gameplay, so parents with young players should definitely at least take a look at this game.
Final Score: 8 papercraft prawns out of 10
Detailed Information:
Developer: Mobot Studios
Publisher: Crescent Moon Games
Platforms: Wii U (reviewed), Steam, iOS, Android
Age Rating: Not stated
Website: http://www.mobotstudios.com/