{"id":71866,"date":"2018-12-28T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/koloro"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T10:00:00","slug":"review-koloro-a-capable-yet-ultimately-forgettable-puzzle-platformer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/12\/28\/review-koloro-a-capable-yet-ultimately-forgettable-puzzle-platformer\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Koloro &#8211; A Capable Yet Ultimately Forgettable Puzzle-Platformer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/koloro\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/koloro\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"\">\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Koloro Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/94376\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/94376\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Koloro Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>With so many titles on eShop \u2013 from tiny mobile curios to triple-A epics \u2013 being \u2018good\u2019 simply isn\u2019t be good enough anymore; you need something unique or <em>dazzling<\/em> to stand out in the crowd. Set in the subconscious dreamworld of a young girl named Kora, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/koloro\">Koloro<\/a><\/strong> is a one-button (or touch) puzzle-platformer. Morphed into a squidgy cube by her imaginary companion, Boo, you guide Kora through hazardous, single-screen levels, wall-jumping towards an exit while seeking her lost sister, Lora. It\u2019s a delicate and supremely competent indie game, but as with most dreams, it\u2019ll likely \u2013 and unfortunately \u2013 be forgotten before long.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Koloro Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/94375\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/94375\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Koloro Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Which makes it sound unfairly slight or inconsequential; no, it\u2019s a polished effort from first-time developer Sk\u00f6ll Studio with hours of satisfying gameplay. Kora\u2019s cube is responsive, sliding automatically (you wall-jump to change direction) and squelching upon landing, with each jump emitting a note in tune with the ambient soundtrack. Tension increases as hazards manifest; creatures begin stalking levels, quakes cause chambers to collapse forcing you to make haste and scattered gems must be collected to make exits appear. Level names on a basic overworld map make the self-reflective dreamscape explicit and multiple exits create branches to explore.<\/p>\n<p>Variations on familiar mechanical themes are competently (if predictably) introduced, including invisible platforms, lasers, darkness, reversed gravity and collectible orbs enabling you to move amongst or even destroy the marauding baddies. Silhouetted platforms and walls carry switches and other interactive elements that can be tricky to spot, especially in the busier later stages. Spikes, sticky walls, fireflies that block routes until you activate a light to draw them away and Deku-like dudes sprouting from the ground when you tickle their leaves are just some of the things you come across.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Koloro Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/94377\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/94377\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Koloro Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>A boss awaits you at the end of each of the four chapters; these encounters involve waiting to \u2018attack\u2019 while negotiating projectiles in an increasingly restrictive and dangerous arena. They\u2019re simple, logical battles, although it may take several attempts to find the pattern you need to succeed. Things get pretty challenging as you progress and it\u2019s easy to lose concentration and mistime a jump. Koloro is all about timing, and often simply waiting is the key: <em>waiting<\/em> that extra fraction of a second while sliding down a wall so your jump arcs <em>over<\/em> the spikes; <em>waiting<\/em> until a bat passes or slug hits a switch and sets up the gauntlet run to the goal. It\u2019s tempting to rush when you know what you\u2019re doing, which inevitably leads to failure and frustration \u2013 patience is key.<\/p>\n<p>Aesthetically, Koloro mashes the Euclidean character design of <strong>Monument Valley<\/strong> with the stark blacks and colourful backgrounds of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/world_of_goo\">World of Goo<\/a><\/strong>. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/super_meat_boy\">Super Meat Boy<\/a><\/strong> is an obvious mechanical touchstone, although in an auto-running guise (indeed, Team Meat\u2019s upcoming sequel is doing away with the D-pad, too). In fact, a catalogue of familiar artistic and mechanical influences from a decade of indie puzzle-platformers provoke a feeling of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, and we spent a long time wondering where we\u2019d seen this or that idea before. Its meditative, self-exploratory narrative, for example, does little to set it apart from a dozen other games where every creeping demon is a <em>personal<\/em> one. That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s bad \u2013 far from it \u2013 but Koloro journeys through well-trodden territory and struggles to make its own mark.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Koloro Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/94379\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/94379\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Koloro Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>By inviting comparisons to indie classics, even the tiniest irritations become magnified. Levels aren\u2019t super long but losing a minute\u2019s progress is annoying in the longer stages and millisecond audio breaks between stages disrupt the flow a little. Each level has a target time to test yourself against, and two-player mode introduces unique levels to work through co-operatively with a second player controlling Lora. The one-button gameplay translates nicely to multiplayer, although the frustrations experienced in solo are doubled here; mistiming a final jump over some spikes after <em>painstakingly<\/em> negotiating a level means restarting and you\u2019ll need <em>double<\/em> the patience to put up with a partner\u2019s failure.<\/p>\n<p>In the course of writing this review, we continually confused the names of both the game and the protagonist (<em>Hang on, is it Korolo? The girl\u2019s called Koro\u2026 no, Kora\u2026<\/em>) and, try as we might, it just <em>would<\/em> <em>not<\/em> stick. While our frazzled end-of-year braincells are most likely to blame, this problem represents a critical obstacle the game fails to overcome: its lack of any unique hook on which to hang an identity. A lot of love clearly went into Koloro, and it\u2019s engaging and beautiful in many ways, but without a standout feature to call its own, it\u2019s slipping from our minds even as we write.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s no shortage of charming, artistic puzzle-platformers on Switch and Koloro is certainly a good one; there\u2019s much to like in its simple mechanics and narrative, and there\u2019s satisfaction to be found in its puzzle-solving. The problem is that you\u2019ve almost certainly seen everything it has to offer somewhere before and, as much as it engages your grey matter while you play, it\u2019s unlikely to stay with you in the same way the games it evokes do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With so many titles on eShop \u2013 from tiny mobile curios to triple-A epics \u2013 being \u2018good\u2019 simply isn\u2019t be good enough anymore; you need something unique or dazzling to stand out in the crowd. Set in the subconscious dreamworld of a young girl named Kora, Koloro is a one-button (or touch) puzzle-platformer. Morphed into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}