Review: Raccoo Venture

The nineties are calling me back, back to the days where 3D Platform games were fun and whimsical. But wait… what’s this? My nostalgic itch has been scratched by a modern game??? What witchcraft is this.

Raccoo Venture is one of those games that might fly under your radar when it comes to choosing a new adventure to play, but I would highly recommend checking it out as you will be pleasantly surprised. Now I realise there are other 3D Platformers out there like Spyro and Banjo etc. but Raccoo Venture is it’s own game, the look, the feel, the overall playability of the game makes this one that will last you a good while.

If you are looking for a hardcore action adventure game look elsewhere, but if you want a whimsical 3D Platformer that will keep you coming back for more to discover all the little secrets, then Raccoo Venture might just be that game for you.

Things I liked!

The overall difficulty | Raccoo Venture doesn’t have the option to change the difficulty level, but then    it doesn’t need it as you can always figure out what to do and how to improve as you play, the game keeps things just the right side of tricky while also allowing you to learn quickly from any mistakes you make. Normally I get very frustrated with platform games but this one felt like every failure was a pathway to an achievement. You also don’t have a life counter in the game but rather a death counter, keeping track of how many times you lose your lives. Oh and lives are not really a thing, if you want to keep going you have to collect coins which can revive you, This isn’t too much of a hassle though as the coins are plentiful.

The graphics | The entire world just works well, is it anything groundbreaking graphically? No. But then it doesn’t need to be, it is what it is and that is a delightful tale of whimsy and delight which comes across exceedingly well in the way the characters and backgrounds are designed. I feel that this game will appeal not only to those of us who appreciate how much time and effort is put into character design but to those budding artists out there who enjoy creating fan art of their favourite characters.

The outfits | Yes you read that correctly, there are outfits in which you can dress up Raccoo and the great thing is that each outfit has it’s own little secrets to discover, such as the red Dinosaur costume…No spoilers but check around the tree house while wearing it. Other outfits can be found throughout the game and it is worth looking as some of them can even help unlock secret areas and help find even cooler items as you play through. Each outfit is unique and gorgeous so please do try them all out.

The level design | Each level is simple in of themselves but each time you play through them you might just discover little secret areas you may have missed before. Especially when you utilise the outfits as I mentioned. While not exactly a Metroidvania experience it does add replay value to the completionists among us. I actually found myself playing the first few levels a good few times hunting for secret coins and treasures. My advice for those of you playing this game would be to take your time and enjoy the levels instead of barrelling your way through.

Neither good nor bad

• Still a 3D Platformer | Ok so there will always be those people out there who are not a fan of the genre but then sometimes there are games that are not designed to be loved by everyone. Raccoo Venture doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is, keeping itself to it’s own lane and thriving while it does so. So many games out there try to be too many things and that is why they fail a lot of the time, but this one is just perfect as it is. Now I don’t use the word perfect meaning the game isn’t without its flaws because there are things I would change personally, such as the lack of camera movement and the lack of a punch or kick ability, The enemies are beaten by either jumping on their heads or by using projectiles, now while I respect the mechanic I can’t help but feel that even a weak punch to stun enemies would have improved it just a little. In saying that though it is not the be all and end all of the game, like I mentioned it is a very solid Platformer with a lot to offer and if given the chance I believe it could become one of the greats.

Things I disliked!

• Can’t think of anything | It’s not often I can say that about a game, but while yes there were some frustrating moments I didn’t feel like the game was ever being unfair. So yes I really enjoyed this one.