Skylar & Plux: Adventure On Clover Island Review

                         A Journalistic Review by DefiantParrot 

                                      Originally Written: 05/08/2020

                             *Spoilers May Be Ahead*

You guys some big boots to fill

 

Developer: Right Nice Games, Grip Digital

Publisher: Grip Digital

Platform: PlayStation 4

Genre: 3D Platformer

Release: May 19, 2017

The 3D platformer is one of my favorite genres in gaming. I love the control you can feel in a good 3D platformer and the worlds you can traverse and explore. Of course we've spoken on a few of my favorite 3D platforming series' Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper and even the gift from god itself Jak II. 

Today we look at a game that looks to pay tribute to some of my favorite games of all time. This is Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island.

Developed by Grip Digital and Right Nice Games Skylar & Plux is an indie game that seeks to give nostalgic fans a taste of a by gone genre. 

The 3D platformer has seen a bit of a comeback in recent days with Yooka-Laylee and A Hat in Time and Mario Odyssey of course but the times where a couple of pals traversed a big beautiful world together does seem to be in the past. 

So can Skylar & Plux do what others failed to do? Can it capture what made Jak and Daxter and Ratchet & Clank so amazing? Let's take a look and find out.

The game begins with some exposition before we show an alien cat creature strapped to a table and being spoken to by what appears to be a talking television. 

A sign of things to come

This is Skylar one of our titular protaganists and the speaking tube TV is our villain, CRT. 

Apparently Skylar was attempting to steal something from the flippant flatscreen so to teach her a lesson he straps a powerful mechanical arm to her... Yeah that'll show her. 

He seemingly wants to turn her into a living weapon and has started erasing her memories because... Well I'm not sure why. Probably because we have to check that box somewhere. 

Adorable mascots - Check

Ancient Civilization that starts with a 'P' - Check

Amnesia - Check

Silent Protaganist - Big Fat Fuck You

Anyway Skylars new robotic appendage begins speaking to her and unlocks her shackles allowing her to escape. 

Why did he put this on her again?

A LITERAL Idiot Box

Anyway after a tutorial Skylar and Clank er I mean Arm end up escaping from CRT's station and crash landing on Clover Island. 

This is where we are introduced to a bag of cold cum covered in feathers known as Plux. Listen I hate ragging on a fellow avian I really do but this little bastard can go straight to hell. Plux here embodies so many things I cannot stand about this game. But one thing at a time. 

Anyway after meeting cumsack the fucknugget here we're told by armclank that we need to find something called the Siphon to get back our lost memories. 

That's really the meat of the plot here pretty simple just like the original Jak and Daxter. So no complaints there. 

The controls here feel pretty good for the most part. But there are little things that annoy me here and there. 

Skylars basic controls work just fine running jumping and double jumping to reach higher areas all feel pretty good. Skylar has a basic punch that you can chain together three times and a spin attack with her arm that is just Jaks spin kick. 

But the combo punch is basically worthless. The range on this massive fist is pitiful and so many times I took cheap shots from enemies because the hitbox on the giant fuck off robot arm sucked. 

The combat is either fun or annoying and it is constantly jumping between both extremes

The spin attack is a much better option but there's a cool down on the thing and it is just long enough for you to take a cheap shot before being able to do it again. Something I never had a problem with as Jak. 

Yeah maybe it is not fair to compare this game to the ones it takes inspiration from but I just can't help it, if I see something that wasn't a problem in those games I have to bring it up. 

There are certain rings that Skylar can use to swing to other platforms throught the use of her Swingshot er I mean arm. It can also activate some platforms too. 

Maybe it could have been implemented somewhere else? Like in combat use an electric whip thing to throw and harass enemies. Y'know like Sonic Boom except not terrible?

Graphically the game looks pretty good. It's bright and colorful and is lovely to see in motion. Sure the water effects look pretty, well lame. But I can forgive some things, the environments are quite gorgeous. 

The character models on the other hand look pretty dreadful. Neither Skylar nor Plux look like they wanna be here, something I really empathize with I must say. 

Well I don't empathize with Plux. Because Fuck Plux. 

Plux, kill yourself

Anyway after meeting the elder of these.... cotton candy looking motherfuckers she tasks Plux with joining us on our journey across the island. 

Though Plux says he must get back soon in case his father shows up for him. Put a pin in that folks we'll come back to it. 

What would a 3D platformer be without some collectibles? you may have noticed these orange crystal things floating around. These are your currency basically see the Elder Laffy Taffy thing says that several of her fellow creatures are trapped in cages and these gems are needed to free them. 

The game can look gorgeous at times

Because I guess it's a literal paywall or something. Anyway there's alot of these damn gems and I never came across a cage and wasn't able to open it. Freeing enough of these things does get The Elder Swirl to upgrade your health though, so it is worth it.

This game attempts and I stress attempts to have the same kind of charm and quality to it that say Ratchet & Clank had. The way CRT and the fuckball Plux speaks it is so obvious that they are wanting me to find these characters as quirky and loveable as say Captain Qwark or Daxter and it is just not happening. 

It is downright painful at times listening to them try and fail miserably to get a laugh it's like watching a comedian bomb on stage but it goes on for three pissing hours.

It's like a child hearing a curse word for the first time and saying it over and over again expecting the word itself to get a laugh without adding any context or surrunding setup behind it, it is just awful. 

Now I know humor is subjective and I don't mean to come off as mean to these developers I'm sure they're great people but I'm just saying Daxter never had to make a Miley freakin' Cyrus reference to make me laugh. 

I seriously wish this whip-thing could be used in different ways

The voice acting doesn't help any. The writing is awful but the delivery is also downright terrible. Good delivery can make a bad joke better but there's none of that talent here. And again I don't mean to be cruel, voice acting is not easy I am aware but the amount of times I set my controller down to rub my temples because a joke actively annoyed me became almost comedic in of itself.

Anyway upon finding the Siphon the Elder of these race of bubblegum bastards called the Lo'a explains that three fuses are needed to activate it. 

There are three main areas to explore to collect these fuses and oddly enough there's also only three types of enemies. 

That is pretty lame guys just saying. 

Anyway in these three areas are where you'll also collect the different upgrades which obviously grant Skylar some new abilities. Unfortunately none of them involve shoving Plux up an Elephants rectum. 

The first one is a jetpack and I gotta admit I like this upgrade. It allows for a rocket jump and hovering like you'd expect but it also allows for a long jump that is right out of Jak and Daxter. Like that is the exact same move Skylar just needs rockets to make her go forward while my boy Jak clearly never skips on leg day. 

This is my favorite upgrade although I have one small drawback, that rolling jump I love so much? It can be a bit finicky to control. Like once you've done the roll jump there's no control wherever you're aiming you're going straight forward and I don't get this. 

This is the best area in the game

This led to a few imprecise jumps and that's fine I didn't line it up properly but and I'm also sick of saying this by now, in Jak and Daxter if you long jumped and didn't have it properly lined up you had a chance to save yourself if you were skilled enough to do it. You don't have that chance here and I don't know why. 

Of course I must admit I thought the hovering abilites would be handled by Plux, but he doesn't really do anything here. He doesn't help in combat or platforming he just flies next to Skylar and speaks when I really don't want him to. Like ever. Stop it. You fucking nothing. 

The next power up is the Time Orb. It allows Skylar to slow down time and activate certain pedastals for some light puzzle solving. I wish this thing was used more honestly, solving the few puzzles that it had was pretty fun. In my opinion it is the go to way of taking care of those annoying rocket and machinegun enemies. Also it has one funky tune when you're using it. 

Actually let's address that real quick. The music in this game is actually pretty nice. It's well composed and a joy to the ear. No it's nothing mindblowing or is it going to be added to any playlist of mine anytime soon but nonetheless the music gets a big thumbs up from me. 

Actually before addressing the third power up let's talk about something else. Now the first two worlds were really short but were fine colorful nice and in fact the second world is my favorite. The sandy almost egyptian area was really pleasing on the eyes. 

But the third world Gol & Maia's er I mean CRTs Citadel. While it gave me some Bajo-Kazooie vibes of all things the biggest issue with this world is the framerate. 

I mean seriously look at this!

Up to this point the framerate was pretty stable without any noticeable drops but in this world the framerate dipped constantly. To the point it began to annoy me not on the same level as say Plux annoyed me but was still pretty bad. 

Anyway the last power up is the Magnetic Glove. It can be used to magnetically move any metal object such as a giant metal ball or enemies. It can be a bit finicky but it's also alot of fun to screw around with. Catching a missile to throw it back or picking up one of the machinegun bots and watching it spray its fellow allies was alot of fun. 

Although its primary use is for solving some more very simple puzzles. Also this is the ability that sparks up Pluxs Miley Cyrus line and if it was possible to murder a fictitious bird I would've done so right then and there. 

It's also in the final area of the Citadel where the resolution of Pluxs daddy issues happens. See off and on throughout the adventure Plux has brought up how he's waiting on his father to return. 

At no point do we get context on where he went, why he went, why he left Plux behind (though I can hazard a guess) so I never really cared. But maybe that's for the best because it is resolved during a line of dialogue with CRT. Where Plux says he knows now that his father isn't coming back and he's moving on.

WHEN THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN?!

At no point does Skylar, Robot Arm, CRT or even FUCKING BOB talk to Plux about this or tries to get him to see that maybe he's been abandoned so what brought this on? WHAT IS THE POINT OF HAVING A SUBPLOT IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO EITHER FLESH IT OUT OR ADEQUATELY RESOLVE IT!?!?!!?

This is probably one of the moments that pissed me off the most. As someone who is a fan of the unique storytelling a video game can tell this, this right here is stupid, lackluster, anticlimatic and just plain lazy. I have read fanfictions with better resolutions than this. This is bad writing and there is no excuse for that plain and simple. 

FUCK THIS GODDAMN BIRD

Anyway after returning all three fuses to the Siphon the bastardization of a boob tube shows up in a cutscene and activates the Siphon ready to utilize it as an ultimate weapon. 

This leads to the final level of the game which in itself leads to the final and only boss of the game the not-so-terrifying telly himself. 

This boss fight is pretty easy but also kinda cool. Maybe it's just cuz I was starving for a boss fight by this point but this made me wish there were more in the game. It was a pretty fun fight even if I didn't get hit once. 

I did like this fight though

Anyway after defeating him it is revealed that he is a Wamster a space hamster fucking thing and they become friends or whatever and the morale of the story blah blah fucking blah I'm done here. 

Look I'm all for indie developers trying their best to pay homage to the games and genres they grew up playing but this is not how you do it. 

I can see the glimmers of a really good game in here the music, basic platforming and the utility of some gadgets, and the colorful areas show that there is promise here. 

But the game doesn't utilize some of its ideas enough as they should, the writing is just plain bad, some design choices baffle the mind and when it comes down to it this game is not worth $20. And no it's not because of the length it's because of the substance within those three hours. 

Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island receives my Bronze Seal of Acceptance

For when you're dreams 'almost' comes true

For very, very little kids I can see this game being a pretty good way of introducing them to the 3D platformer genre. Let them try this and if they like it and can handle it then let them play Jak and Daxter or Ratchet & Clank. 

But for veterans of this style I don't think it's going to wet that appetite we all have for a proper follow up to the series' we loved so much as kids. 

I've seen some people clamoring for a sequel to this and I will be interested to see how that goes maybe the next game will knock it right out of the park and I'd love to see that, I really would. But for now goodbye Clover Island and Go Fuck Yourself Plux.

I hope you enjoyed this review folks and I hope you all have a fantastic and safe Christmas. Happy Holidays from all of us here at The Parrot's Nest... which is just me, but still.