Whoa Dave: PS Vita, Review

Whoa Dave is a game that goes a very long way to prove that complexity is not required for a game to be fun. Awesome graphics, massive settings, a wide array of weapons, a large skill tree and comprehensive controls… you will find none of these things here. Instead you will find a platformer that is visually blocky, and features only three control actions: run, jump and throw. You will find simplified platformer levels that only change when the mandatory lava rises or falls. You will find simple enemies and few options.

And yet, if you dig into Whoa Dave, you will also discover a game that, in its absolute simplicity, is excellent. Sure, this is a game that won’t appeal to everyone, bu those that it sinks it’s pixelated hooks into will be stuck on it for ages. It’s fast paced and strategically far more complex that you might assume, but it still leaves the player enough room to construct strategies on the fly and approach levels as they see fit.

Whoa Dave can be extremely frustrating because, particularly in later levels, it gets pretty tough. The forced interaction that the game delivers, in the way that running past something automatically picks it up, and things carried for too long explode, adds an even deeper level of strategy to a game that certainly shouldn’t be judged purely by appearances.

In a world where fancy graphics and complex settings have all but supplanted great game dynamics, Whoa Dave breaks all kinds of moulds, and delivers an experience that feels very classic, yet manages to have a modern edge in its frantic dynamics. Give it a try, at very least…

8/10

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