This game has a very, very sweet sentiment, but... it's often just not very fun. I don't think it needed the boldness of Katamari, but the whimsy is lost on a big chunk of this game. I really love elements of it - Giraffe and her song are extremely charming to me for instance - but other elements feel wildly mundane and repetitive to where I question if the targeted younger audience would even enjoy playing it.
The bigger issue that makes it hard to recommend comes from the very clunky navigation, bug issues, and optimization. I had multiple bugs that required me to quit out of the game entirely, and one instance where the game said it saved, but strangely did not save my story progress, just my money and purchases. Navigation in the game prioritizes a cinematic view over one that helps the player get a sense of direction. It was hard to know which way I was facing because the locked camera kept flipping around before crosswalks and in front of large structures. It leads to a game that's pretty to watch, but frustrating to play. Even when you're able to navigate the world, you are mostly greeted with collectable coins and shops rather than a town you can interact with and grow to love. If all the bugs and optimization were suddenly fixed overnight, I don't think that would "fix" the overall experience for me.
It's a shame, I think the reason many people find themselves writing a lot about this game is that there's enough good stuff there for people to SEE the vision, but not enough to really FEEL it. Despite it's issues, I can see the love poured into the game, but the issues are still harder to ignore when it comes to games that lean on player experience.
izigame.me
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