When a good game shows up with little fanfare or hype, that sometimes works against it. In attempting to discuss The Adventures of Shuggy with others, I repeatedly hit the same barrier of them having no clue what it was beforehand. That’s a shame, since it has some rough spots but is otherwise a very good platformer that merges the difficulty of games like Super Meat Boy with a variety of puzzles like one might find in Braid, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, or The Lost Vikings. Controlling the titular Shuggy through dozens upon dozens of stages, players will start off with a very basic game that quickly adds a lot of depth and creative puzzles.
At its core, Shuggy is very easy to play since your controls are mostly limited to the analog stick or d-pad to move, a jump button, and an ’action’ button that does different things depending on the level; it might rotate the stage, or switch control from one one of your characters to another on a different part of the stage, and more. What starts as just running and jumping to collect gems on a linear path quickly gets more complex, and you’ll soon be timing stage rotations to make otherwise impossible jumps, avoiding hitting a ’time clone’ of yourself that duplicates your previous moves (which you’ll also have to guide to certain switches to open the rest of the level), guiding little creatures to special areas, plus avoiding enemies and traps as you go. The variety in stage design is easily Shuggy’s best aspect, and one that makes up for all the little problems along the way.
In an unusual (not unheard of, just rare) move for a ’puzzle platformer’, Shuggy offers some co-op levels as well as competitive online play. I’m unable to comment on the online play since I couldn’t find anyone to play with, but the local co-op mode features several levels that you must work with another player to beat in addition to various challenge/versus stages. It’s a great idea, one that adds some social elements to what is otherwise primarily a single-player affair. It is nonetheless a nice bonus, simply not the main reason to play this game.
There are a few unfortunate problems worth bringing up, however. The most significant of them are the controls, as Shuggy’s movement is extremely ’loose’ and floaty plus it is hard to tell when you’re going to clearly get over a ledge or bump against it before getting on top. This is made worse by a few jumps requiring absolutely perfect aim and timing, and there will be times where you slam into enemies and obstacles that you simply couldn’t avoid with such twitchy controls. This is made worse by most stages resetting themselves to square one if you do hit any such obstacles, and some of them take several minutes to complete even on a perfect run. A far lesser issue, and perhaps not a problem at all if you buy the game with the understanding that this is so, is that the difficulty curve is steep. You have a few gentle tutorial stages, then a few reasonable ones, and things get much harder not long after that. This is actually fine if you’re actively looking for a difficult game, but potential players should know about it all the same.
Despite those flaws, The Adventures of Shuggy is a good blend of two platforming sub-genres. While it sometimes demands perfect reflexes and positioning, most stages instead focus on a creative gimmick and an attention to detail that makes it satisfying to figure out each puzzle. If you’re willing to overlook a few rough spots, Shuggy easily earns its $10 USD/800 Microsoft Point price and comes recommended to anyone who would enjoy a notably difficult ’puzzle platformer.’
