Parents' Guide to Shiny

This platformer should have better controls and fewer bugs. On the surface, Shiny looks like it should be a pretty fun game. It's not bad on the eyes, the music is wonderful, and the setup is interesting enough. Checkpoints are also frequent enough that you'd think you wouldn't need to worry too much about losing your progress. The problem is that everything just sort of falls apart.

The biggest issue plaguing the game is that it has more bugs than a Florida campsite on a summer night. For example, although the music ties in beautifully with the emotion of the game, it keeps cutting out sporadically for no reason. Another major issue is the game's controls. Sure, it's simple to learn how to play, but the controls just aren't responsive. In a platform game like this, that's a huge problem. There's nothing more infuriating than jumping off a platform to collect some batteries, only to miss them all in freefall and have to climb all the way back up to try again. It doesn't take long before you just decide it's not even worth the effort. It's a shame, too, because Shiny has all the right parts to make for a pretty fun game, but none of them fit together and you can't help but just walk away feeling sorry for it.