Developed By: Wayforward
Published By: Wayforward
Date of Release: April 19, 2016
Price: $19.99
Yarrrr mateys, here we are once again in the magical shivery-timbery world of Piratey/Genie based metroidvanias. Shantae is back again in pixel-perfect PS4 form, in Shantae and the Pirate's Curse! Evil is once again casting a shadow over Sequin land, and it's up to Shantae, who is unfortunately now powerless, to once again save the day! As usual we are treated to stunning pixel art courtesy of the prodigious Matt Bozon, who seems to be able to turn anything he draws into solid gold. Or at least pretty pictures.
Thankfully this time around the source material is widescreen, so those of us on a modern TV don't have to deal with ugly aspect ratio snafus. It was slightly jarring to see the last entry in the series upscaled from the tiny DSi screen to widescreen TVs. This time around though we're coming from the much more pixel-rich 3DS, and the extra resolution makes such a difference. Improvements are also noted on the audio front, as the soundtrack features much richer samples this time around. A lot of familiar and welcome tracks abound here, and the new offerings are just as sweet to the ears.
As for the gameplay? We have typical Shantae gaming on offer here, though with a few neat twists and turns as Shantae replaces her lost genie powers with piratey ones. We also see the return of the series' awesomely weirdass and offbeat humor, with an epic plot weaved in for good measure. The only downside that I found (which honestly is a very minor one) is that you cannot remap the controls, which could cause a lot of trouble for people that are used to one preferred control style or the other. However I had no problem playing with the Dualshock 4, the controls are mapped out pretty much the same as the 3DS version layout wise. All in all a fine PS4 port! I highly recommend that you shake your booty over to the PSN and buy Shantae and the Pirate's curse right now!
