Poi

i suck at platformers, but i still had a good time :3

Honestly? I was pretty surprised by the quality of this game. Hive it a try if you're nostalgic of Mario64

as a mario 64 hater my hands are tied here

Lovely game.

An excellent 3D plateformer that has a huge Mario 64 vibe. I had such a good time with it that after 100%ing the game i will do a new game plus to platinum it.

So, this review is going to be different from my previous ones because I am mainly going to be focusing on the “Gameplay” and “Story” aspects of “Poi (2017).” Like the “Kao the Kangaroo” games, I took down some notes to help me remember what I encountered while playing this game, because I honestly did not want to play this game again. Also, if I sound cynical in this review, I apologize in advance. Anyway, let’s get started. Gameplay Now, if you played or watched YouTube videos of “Poi,” you’d probably think that it plays like “SM64,” “Sunshine,” and/or “Galaxy,” or think that it feels like a “3D Mario” clone. I mean, if you thought it was a “3D Mario” clone, I would’ve believed you. The characters you control even have a flipping triple jump just like Mario for Pete’s sake! However, the devs also added a double jump in your arsenal of moves, which feels odd. I mean, if you have a double jump then what’s the point of adding an SM64-style triple jump? I mean the game would be fine without it and players can choose not to use it if they don’t feel like it. I get that the devs wanted to pay homage to the “fifth gen” era, but I felt like they took too much inspiration from the “Mario” games. If you’re inspired by something, you can incorporate those ideas into your projects, but you have to make your game’s mechanics unique from what your game is inspired by. Otherwise, people are just going to look at it and see it as a carbon copy of that popular thing. “Hat in Time” took inspiration from “Mario” and “Banjo” but it incorporated its own ideas that made it unique. Heck, one YouTuber I follow, “Jiggylookback” is making their own platformer inspired by “Banjo” and “DK64.” I’m sorry if I’m coming across as harsh here but I just wanted to give context as best as I can because if someone is making their own game, I am more than happy to play it as long as they have their own uniqueness. I was critical towards “Mighty No. 9” and “40 Winks” because of the frustrating flaws and questionable design choices they had, but in the end, I felt like “MN9” had some potential and I enjoyed some aspects of “40 Winks” like its costume system. Heck, I was even somewhat fair towards “Kao: Round 2” despite its flaws. Anyway, enough with the tangent, let’s move on. So, much like “SM64” and “Banjo,” you have a hub area in the form of the sky. However, the more you progress through the game, the hub zone adds new areas where you can talk to more NPCs and do optional missions, but I’ll get to that later. Much like other collect-a-thon platformers, you collect this game’s main collectible, the explorer medallions. Now I did mention that this game and “Sunshine” have some similarities, and the reason I said that is because “Poi’s” missions remind me of “Sunshine’s” mission structure in the way the camera shows where the medallion location is. Aside from the missions differentiating themselves, the seventh mission in the four main worlds can get repetitive because you have to collect 100 coins and give them to the raccoon merchant. Oh my goodness, the coins. Say what you want about “SM64,” “Banjo,” and “DK64” but at least the coins, music notes, and colored bananas served a purpose. In this game however, I had more money than what I knew what to do with it. Once you buy everything from the old man, that’s it; there is nothing else you can buy from him. No extra hearts, no maps (even though the compass was helpful), no nothing. Jeez Louise, even “Ocarina of Time” and “Wind Waker” gave you options of what you want to buy better. However, if you still have coins left over, you can buy challenges from the merchant with the red bandana and beat those challenges to get extra medallions. However, once you beat all of them, you get to do them the second time but instead you have to find a certain number of keys in each challenge to get the extra medallions. Okay, that sounds interesting, doing the levels the second time and getting more rewards. However, if you are a new player, you’re going to have to keep those traps and hazards in mind as you are playing. The medallions are not the only collectibles you can find while exploring. You can also find fossils for the archaeologist and golden gears for the pilot lady who has her aircraft broken down. So, I guess this game also reminds me of “Battle for Bikini Bottom.” Speaking of “BfBB,” if you have ever played that game, you’d know how there are checkpoints placed in certain parts of levels. Well, guess what? “Poi” does that same concept as well, and thank goodness for that, because I cannot imagine playing the game “normally” without those. Keep the word, “normally” at the back of your mind because we will get to it. For the most part, the characters control okay. Yes, “characters” because you can play as either a male or female. It doesn’t matter which character you choose because they play exactly the same. Man, this is like “40 Winks” but more boring. The game gives you a roll attack but I honestly do not recommend using it because half the time it works but half the time it doesn’t and it can lead you to taking damage and losing coins. No, the coins do not give you health back. Instead, you grab hearts to get health back. So, I recommend jumping on them instead of rolling. If you hold the roll button while moving, you can sprint. It’s useless though since you run at the same speed. Once you collect a certain amount of medallions, you then unlock the final world. Once you beat the game, there’s nothing much to do besides collecting costumes and 100%ing or 101%ing the game which are optional. Speaking of the costumes, they are just palette swaps. Look, I understand that the devs had a limited budget, but this just feels lazy. I don’t want to spoil the ending if you have never played “Poi.” However, one thing I can say is that after 101%ing “Poi,” I was more than disappointed. You’ll understand once you play this game. Remember when I said “normally?” Well, after beating the game, there is a New Game + mode where you can play the game again. However, you CANNOT screw ANYTHING up and you HAVE to play PERFECTLY, because you only have ONE heart. So, what did I do? I said, “Heck no, 101%ing this game is more than enough for me.” However, if you have the willpower, then more power to you. Story This game has a story, but it doesn't even matter because it’s poorly written and it completely drops everything about the old man’s origin. I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but not all platformers need to have a complex/in-depth story. Sure, “Galaxy 1” had a story but at least Nintendo focused more on making the gameplay fun, and at least the story was well-written. Even reading the lore was optional. Sorry for sounding harsh here but when you have a story written like this people will notice inconsistencies and plot-holes within it. Anyway, let’s wrap everything up. Final Verdict You do not hear me saying this much, but I really wish Steam would add a “Mixed” option and change the recommendation options to “Like” or “Dislike.” I’m saying this because even though I have been criticizing this game a lot, I do think this game has some potential. But do you want to know what the sad part is? PolyKid, if you are reading this, I want you to know that I believe you guys have a lot of potential and I see the passion you have for the platformer genre. Heck, “Poi” shows a lot of charm and heart, much like other platformers I played. But I can’t bring myself to play it more. It really sucks because I enjoy a lot of platformers like “Banjo,” “DK64,” and “Rayman 2” for example. However, when I notice these problems, it turns me off from playing. If you guys ever make another game, I hope you guys make it the best it can be. So, in the meantime, I wish you all the best and thank you for what you have done for this game.

This fun 3D platformer was one that I got during its early access but only finished now because an update bricked it on my old PC. It is an entertaining little game, but it’s also rather unoriginal. For such a small team though, this is a very impressive effort!