When it comes to 3D platformers, what instantly comes to mind? Could it be the main character of the tale? Is it the jumping to make sure you make that landing? What about the colorful worlds? Maybe it’s the enemies and bosses you encounter? All of this helps make a well-rounded 3D platformer to play. But does developer, Playful, bring their 3D platformer into the mix of fun and enjoyment to the world of Virtual Reality? Let’s find out with Lucky’s Tale for the Quest 2.
Lucky’s Tale is a 3D platformer where you control a fox named Lucky Swiftail as you try to run, jump, and climb your way through a colorful world, meet a variety of different characters along with some boss battles and save your best friend named Piggy from the monstrously tentacled Glorp. So before you go in trying to be the hero, there are a few things you will want to make sure of. First, grab your favorite place to sit and be comfortable. Second, make sure your Touch controllers are charged as you don’t want to attempt to make that jump for the umpteenth time only to have one of Lucky’s life gone and you are full of regret. And finally, just get ready to have some fun. With that said, let’s continue…
When you first start the game, there is just something that really is wholesome about being inside Lucky’s place and seeing him and Piggy playing and hearing this voice from the Gramophone Speaker, and smoke coming from the pipe in the room (that really works well in VR), and the overall innocence of the atmosphere. But all that changes when you first see Glorp come and take Piggy because he is hungry and see the change of emotion that Lucky is going through from happiness to determination of getting his friend back. But it’s when you really get to see Lucky up close and interact with him, seeing the signs of how to perform some of the actions like jumping and diving, and really just getting out and moving along that shows how awesome this fox really is.
Of course, the object of Lucky’s Tale is going through each page of a book that houses a different world where Lucky must try to make the jumps without falling or missing that spot to land (which can move or disappear depending on the world), come across enemies where you need to hit with your tale, find an object to throw, or do the Lucky dive to hopefully get rid of them, as well as coming across coins, where if you collect 100 of them, you receive an extra life and other objects such as diamonds and secret presents to try and find, all while getting the front row seat close to Lucky and the action. After you beat a world you do have the option to go try additional modes other than the Story Mode and that is Time Trial and Red Coin Hunt. In Time Trial the name of the game is speed, so you will need to see how fast you can get through each level. While Red Coin Hunt will have you looking for red coins throughout the level.
The pages of the book will help tell the story of Lucky’s Tale. You will need to complete the level in order to unlock the next page/world. And one of the things I like here is that when you enter a new page, you actually see that smaller version of that world in front of you so you can get an idea of what is to come. So going from model scale to immersive scale of being in the world is done very nicely. When you add in the urge of wanting to go off the path to collect those coins all with the hope of either not losing a life, come across enemies where you hope you don’t lose any of the three hearts, or seeing the sad look on Lucky’s face when you knew you had that jump only to misjudge, I honestly started to feel bad myself. And even if you lose all your lives, it’s not game over, but just keep trying again and it just wanted me to keep going and playing more to help Lucky.
One of my favorite worlds is called ‘Danger in the Darkness‘. It allows you, the player, to basically be the light for Lucky as you move your head. From the start of the level and seeing Lucky wave to you letting you know he is ok to just see the darkness of the cave with enemies such as beetles and frogs live, which they are not scary, but even though you can see somewhat, it’s when you are moving Lucky and turn to shine a light and you don’t see really what may pop up until it’s right in front of you.
Let’s look at the sound and the graphics. For those trying to see what may be different with the Quest 2 remastered version of Lucky’s Tale, there are some differences from the 2016 version that launched with the Oculus Rift. These differences include updated lighting, performance optimizations, and a remix of the audio along with a new character model for Lucky to enjoy. So even though this is a remastered version from the original 2016 version, the graphics on the Quest 2 do look good. Even Chapter 3: ‘Trench Troubles‘, where Lucky is under the water and you can see the sun’s rays piercing from above down into the depths of the water, it really just shows how well the developers worked on this remastered version.
With the sound, I always like to hear the balance of the game with the music and listening to the audio, hearing Lucky sounding like he is full of energy with his youth as he makes those jumps or the sounds of breaking the boxes really is a nice blend of both the sounds from the game and the music that is at just the right levels that really compliment the experience.
There are a few things that I hope can be adjusted or added in an update. For one, the camera. As I mentioned you are close to Lucky and the action, which works very effectively, but having the option to maybe have you a little further apart might be good for some. Second, I wish there was a way to adjust the camera angle just a tad. It’s not in any way an immersion breaker, but some of the jumps would have been easier to make and not see Lucky die with his eyes closed wondering if you would have just helped Lucky more and believed in your own jumping gaming skills just a little more. And lastly, leaderboards. I know this will never happen, but having leaderboards for the Time Trial Mode and seeing who could get through the quickest would be a welcomed addition to the game.
Lucky’s Tale gives us the ability to play a game that is not only fun but allows us to escape into different worlds while showing us what truly matters with the power of friendship. We sometimes have that one friend that we will do anything for and that sometimes can feel more like family than sometimes our own and would do anything for. It’s that friendship that really counts. And when you have the power of true friendship, wouldn’t you do whatever you could to save them regardless of the great lengths it may take to get there?
Lucky’s Tale is out now for the Quest 2 on the Oculus Store and Steam and coming soon to PlayStation VR and Viveport. A review code was provided.
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In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have some more hidden presents to find.
