Overview – NipoBox and published by Eastasiasoft, Kiki – A Vibrant 3D Platformer is a first person platformer, where players must run and jump through 60 stages in a 3D obstacle course style. The stages are split into 6 different worlds, with the challenges increasing in difficulty. This title is available on all available console platforms, with a link to each version of the game at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Eastasiasoft for providing the copy of Kiki – A Vibrant 3D Platformer that was used for this piece. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. There is no plot or story for this game, so I will be skipping that segment and going straight into discussing the gameplay. I will be referring to the game as simply Kiki for the sake of brevity.
Gameplay – Kiki is a first person platformer, where the objective of each stage is to reach the end goal. To do this, players must run and jump across gaps, over hazards, past saws and more to get to the end of the stage. As the player makes their way through the game stages will be broken up into batches of 10 stages, splitting the game into 6 worlds. The difficulty for these stages will increase as the player reaches each new world, introducing new obstacles and mechanics.
At the start of the game the objective is simple, just get to the end and avoid falling off the stage or hitting a hazard. The further the player gets the more hazards and challenges will be introduced, including moving platforms and key gates. To open a key gate, the player will need to pick up a key and take it to the lock that matches the color. When all gates are open, the player will be able to reach the goal gate. But that isn’t all that can be done.
In each stage, there are stars and a trophy that can be collected. The number of stars varies with each world, with the collection of stars being optional for the player. There is also a time trial element to the game too, with the player trying to set the best possible time in each stage. This should be where the game comes into its own, but there are several issues with this release. These problems get in the way of this being perfect for speedrunners.
The first issue that occurs is the platforming itself, as Kiki uses a first person perspective, the player needs to be looking down a little at all times. This is because it is very difficult to judge when to jump to cross gaps, which can often cause players to fall to their deaths. The jumping also feels delayed, with moments inputs can be missed. Then there are the hazards, which can hit the player from the side, as well as issues with depth perception that make it worse.
The problems with the platforming itself are made worse by the lack of a checkpoint system, as any failure sets the player back to the start. This then results in all progress being lost, which is extremely frustrating as some of the stages can take as long as 5 minutes to clear. Unfortunately, as there are no checkpoints, any gates that have been opened with keys will be relocked setting players back further. When this happens, really kills any momentum.
Because there are locked gates and the stages are fairly large, the player must do a lot of back tracking, further slowing the player down. This will make some of the larger and longer stages feel repetitive, which makes the overall game feel boring. There is a lack of real speed and momentum during play, as there is no way to sprint or go faster with a single speed of movement. All of these elements come together to create something that is not very enjoyable to play.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to cover the other elements of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – as mentioned in the gameplay section, the platforming is rough with inputs that feel delayed, which leads to buttons being missed. There is an awkward feel to the movement with the twin sticks, which use the traditional FPS style of character control. The look sensitivity when starting the game, is super low which makes it feel sluggish and unresponsive, but it can be increased. The lack of momentum is made worse by the lack of feedback, as there is no response from the game when playing.
Difficulty – there is an awkward balance of difficulty to this game, with the way that I played were laid out. Some of them were overly difficult and cluttered with hazards, which led to repeated restarts and a lot of frustration. The issues with platforming, inputs and overall lack of momentum make it feel harder than it should be. It feels like the game attempted to make super meat boy in first person, without giving it the balance of its inspiration.
Presentation – from a visual perspective Kiki looks fairly good, with a good use of color and environments that have a spacey look to them. But there are some issues with overall visual performance, which negatively impact the game. The field of view appears to fluctuate when looking up and down, which can be disorienting and there are some issues with frame rate on cluttered stages. The sound is decent, but the music doesn’t seem to fit the game environments.
Final Thoughts – this has been a first for me, when I saw Kiki I was interested as I have seen other first person action platformers that were solid and fun. However, this was not that, as there are numerous issues I had during play, with the biggest one being the overall feel of the game itself. It became frustrating and boring to the point that I gave up, rather than struggling to reach the end of the game. I got about half way through the game before I threw in the towel.
This is not a fun game, I don’t even think it is a good game and it may be the worst that I played this year. There are so many issues, like the input delay, problems with visibility and the overly cluttered mess for each of the stages. This is a budget game and it really feels like it, as there is little in terms of depth or any real momentum. There was a lot of potential here, with the chance for it to be much better if there was a checkpoint system or even a sprint button.
In the end, I don’t think I can even score Kiki – A Vibrant 3D Platformer. This is not a fun game, there is no real momentum or feedback to the action, made worse by the frustrations of the inconsistent jumping, which make it fall short of any potential for it to be a good time. This was the first time I have ever given up halfway through a game, not wanting to push through to the end. If you do want to take a look for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.
Link to PlayStation 4 version (HERE)
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
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