Cloudberry Kingdom (Wii U) Review

Looking at many of the 2D platformers currently available on not just the Wii U, but all platforms, it's clear that developers are striving to offer something different to stand out from the crowd. This can even be seen in the numerous Kickstarter drives that are being funded by interested fans. Cloudberry Kingdom is one of those successful campaigns, fuelled by its procedurally-generated levels concept that adapts to each player's skill. With this in mind, potentially, it grants an infinitely ever-changing game.

Each stage is a short one, that naturally gets more difficult with every one completed, adding larger pits, less platforms and more hazards. Customisable main character Bob starts out as only a classic platform hero, with a typical classic platform hero ability - jumping. With every ten levels completed in the Story mode, though, Bob is forced to deal with a new ability that replaces the previous one and must be adapted to in order to clear the next bunch. These range from the more familiar double jump to the obscure - such as a jetpack, becoming tiny or fat, or using a constantly bouncing pogo stick.

In a game that is very bright and colourful, with its Flash look very apparent Cloudberry Kingdom is actually quite a bland and boring affair; the latter term applying to the stages themselves, as well. Since each level is over within a few seconds before going straight into the next randomly-made area, and with platforms and the same generic-looking obstacles appearing frequently, running and jumping through each one does become rather repetitive. Once the difficulty does up itself, however, it doesn't so much become boring as it does annoying.

More obstacles and fewer platforms pave the way for stages that require a painful degree of memorisation, luck and perfectly-timed presses of the right, left and jump buttons. In fact, in plenty of the insanely difficult levels that are thrown out there, the only way to the goal is to literally hold the right directional button down, whilst jumping precisely and hoping for the best. The amount of attempts needed can grow massive, and with essentially a strict single-line segment that must be followed almost bang on in order to get through tougher levels, there quickly becomes a real lack of fun in a game that otherwise had some bigger potential.