I can’t stop playing Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams!
The Giana Sisters has an understandable reputation of being a Mario copycat with the Commodore 64 version. The DS version was trying to differentiate itself from Mario, but the game was very pedestrian. Because of its reputation, I can see why everyone is ignoring the game. Even the bountiful and courageous Malstrom was ignoring it. And then I began to play it…
I’m not sure when it clicked that I became aware I was playing a great game. Perhaps it was the tight, tight controls. Perhaps it was beautiful graphics. Perhaps it was the duality between the personalities as the stages change. Perhaps it was the desire to replay levels to find gems I missed. Perhaps it was the incredible music and how the tracks *morph* with the stages (WTF!!??? hahahah).
But I think the moment was last night at 2 AM when I looked at the time, gasped, and realized I had been playing the game five hours straight. Just now, I had been playing it for three hours. “If its so good, why aren’t you playing it now?” snarls a cynical reader. It is because my hand hurts. I got the NES cramp. You guys know what that is. You would be playing your NES too much and your hands or thumbs would cramp up. You have to take a break to relax them.
Just listen to the music…
Above: 3:03 is where the rock version starts.
The game plays more like Donkey Kong Country than Super Mario Brothers. If you are a fan of Donkey Kong Country type gameplay, including finding hidden stuff in stages, you will find Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams right up your alley.
There are several things this game does I really, really like. The first is the personality change (duality system). At a press of a button, you switch from a blonde to a punk. The blonde personality can jump and slow descending twirl exactly like Dixie Kong in Donkey Kong Country 2 (!). The punk personality does a twirling fireball move that seems like out of Sonic the Hedgehog. In addition, the stage changes when you switch between the characters both aesthetically and walls, spikes, and gems vanish or appear.
But one thing that really drew my attention is how the music changes when you switch personalities. I’ve never seen that before in a game! Sure, there are times like in Mario when you are underwater when the music gets a ‘water effect’, but that is not what is going on here. When you are the blonde, the music is straight up. When you become the punk, the music changes to a type of heavy metal. But it doesn’t restart the track. It is like two tracks running simultaneous and when you switch, it changes it where it is and picks up at that point. They didn’t have to include two tracks per level like this, but I’m glad they did. I think it is a gaming first.
Another thing Twisted Dreams does I really, really like is how it did away entirely with the lives. There are no lives to ‘get’ in the game. “Sounds like the game is really easy, Malstrom, with no lives. Ho! Ho! Ho!” Far from it. I’m not even halfway done with the game, and I’ve died like 200 times (hahahha). How it is done is that you get a checkpoint (represented by some chest) and whenever you die, you immediately start at the checkpoint. The levels are filled with checkpoints which is good because the levels are massive in size. You will die a ton in the game. However, it doesn’t feel frustrating because you immediately reappear at that checkpoint. There is no map screen, no special ditty of a Mario or Koopa icon flying at the screen, it gets you back in the game FAST, and I like that.
I also LOVE a 2d platformer that has great graphics and great music. It’s something you’ll never see Nintendo make since they think 2d platformers are beneath them. The game’s graphics probably are up there with Trine 2.
Total Biscuit did a video on the game. Since he was playing with the keyboard, he kept dying all the time on the early stages hahaha. He seems impressed with it.
I recommend the game for experienced platformer fans. I think this is the best PC platformer by far. I would keep an eye on it and certainly pick it up if it goes on sale.
I can’t imagine playing this game without a controller though. It picked up my Wii Classic Pro controller via Mayflash instantly (not all games do this). The controls are as solid as as a classic Mario or Mega Man game (in many ways, the platforming does remind me of Mega Man. It must be the spikes).
Anyway, my hand is now relaxed, and it is time to play more Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. Expect a full review later.
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