Sackboy: A Big Adventure Review

Introduction

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a 3D platforming adventure, developed by Sumo Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released in November of 2020, for PlayStation 4 and 5.

Review

Sackboy and all the other Sack-people are living their lives in Craftworld when disaster strikes! The evil being known as Vex comes to town and steals all the sack people, and their dreamer orbs, to help power his invention known as “The Topsy Turver”. But Sackboy won’t let this happen to his world or his friends. With the help of Scarlet, who is part of an organization known as “The Knitted Knights”, it’s time for Sackboy to defeat Vex, and save the world!

The story here is barebones but it’s so lovely in its own rights. There’s no big betrayals, or emotional scenes. It’s just silliness every time you get a cutscene, which only really happens when you beat a world. Sometimes there’s one now and again, but the story isn’t really the focus here. It’s definitely a fun little adventure, but it’s not something you’ll remember once you finish it.

Now the awesome level design is where the game strives! From the rolling hills of The Soaring Summit, to the space station of The Interstellar Junction, I wanted to explore every nook and cranny the levels had to offer. From finding new costume pieces to put on my Sackboy, to finding dreamer orbs that help you unlock your path through the world’s. Sure you only need them at the end, but if you don’t have enough, you’ll find yourself unable to progress. It was always fun finding these orbs. You either found hidden doors that turned into little minigames, or you got them by going off the beaten path a little bit. It was exciting.

The controls of the game are all very tight as well. From having a shadow beneath you so you know where you’re going to land, to using the Whirltool, which is basically just a boomerang, to hit enemies or activate switches. The only real issue I had with the controls is the little flutter than Sackboy has. Sure in a few instances I could save myself by holding the jump button to stay in the air for the slightest of seconds, but for the most part it felt like it was more situational than anything. So it wasn’t until I was doing the toughest challenges of the game, that I found myself using it now and again. Now if Sackboy was like Yoshi, and it held you up for longer, maybe it would’ve had more of a benefit.

Unfortunately in the grand scheme of things, the levels themselves, though beautifully crafted and a decent length if you take your time, are very short if you just run right to the end. Most only take a minute or two at most. Obviously this isn’t the best way to play the game, but it makes beating every level with no deaths a little easier, it was a shame that they weren’t more grandiose. I hope if we ever see a sequel, they make them bigger, with more mechanics! At the end of every world, there are boss fights to tend to as well. Unfortunately, besides two of them, the rest are the exact same kind of fight. Which when I was doing them, made me a little bored honestly, as I had already done the exact fight many times before. So doing more than one run on each level was just terrible.

The worst part is that some levels are locked behind co-op. So if you don’t have a partner, whether it’s on the couch with you, or online, you can’t play these levels unless you matchmake them. I tried it once and instantly regretted it. Either the other player would run ahead and pull the camera away so I’d die, or they’d die constantly, when all I wanted to do was explore the little level that we were given.

Rating

Pros:

Great Level Design
Tons Of Costumes
Tight Controls

Cons:

Levels Too Short
Repetitive Boss Fights
Levels Locked Behind Co-op

Summary

I loved this game. I was bright, colourful, and silly. The level design kept me in awe, even if they were extremely short sometimes. The challenge levels were a fun time and kept me on my toes and were rewarding to beat. I can’t recommend this enough.

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