There are so many options today when it comes to open worlds and endless exploration in gaming. Due to time constraints it is nice to sometimes find a game which allows the player to explore a new world one level at a time.

Penny’s Big Breakaway is a retro-inspired 3D platformer with a few new added features. It is also a brand new IP and the first original title from Christian Whitehead’s (lead Sonic Mania game designer) studio, Evening Star.

Before diving into Penny’s Big Breakaway, let’s revisit Christian’s previous project, Sonic Mania:

Sonic Mania

I grew up a Nintendo kid, so most of my time with Sonic took place outside of my own home on friends’ SEGA consoles. I was never great at controlling the ultra fast-paced blue blur, but I still managed to appreciate the gameplay. Even as a Nintendo kid, Sonic was always an interesting character.

The story of a former Sonic modder getting the chance to create their own “official” Sonic game was enough to make me want to buy this game. That’s why I picked up Sonic Mania on Nintendo Switch. 

I never made it very far into Sonic Mania. I only learned that all of these years later, I’m still terrible at controlling the blue blur, but it did bring back that feeling of playing those old games on friend’s SEGA consoles — and on my one SEGA device, the handheld SEGA Game Gear.

Penny’s Big Breakaway

Penny’s Big Breakaway sort of fuses together the visuals and feel of a retro game with some features of today. On one hand, the game plays and feels like something that could have been created a few decades ago. Still, some mechanics (Penny’s Yo-Yo) use today’s technology while also feeling a bit outdated.

Penny’s main tool — her Yo-Yo — may be used as a swing (in mid-air), as a weapon, to launch her into the air, or to roll around as a vehicle.

The more I played the more I realized how Penny’s Yo-Yo, when being used as a “vehicle,” was the developers way of injecting some classic Sonic into a 3D Mario-style platfomer. When wheeling around on her Yo-Yo, it all starts off with a spinning speed burst — like Sonic before rolling your way through a level. The Yo-Yo can even latch onto certain devices to generate more speed — classic Sonic design.

The Yo-Yo alone with some classic 3D platforming would have been enough for me to enjoy this game. I would have been fine with learning a few new Yo-Yo tactics every few levels and making my way to the end.

Penny’s Big Problems

Penny’s Big Breakaway gets overwhelming at times with so much happening in each level. Instead of slowly introducing new challenges and obstacles over time, everything feels thrown at you all at once.

The game wants players to get from point A to point B, while also discovering some side quests and collecting items, while also being chased by angry penguins, and you cannot really control the camera, so you must do this all with limited depth perception.

Even with the overwhelming challenges in Penny’s Big Breakaway, there were still many interesting platforming moments throughout the game. Some of them just so happened to be hindered by secondary distractions.

When it comes to a game like this I would like to see more of a slow burn in the progression of level difficulty. Start me off thinking, Wow, that was pretty simple, for the first few levels. Then, start slowly ramping it up with a few curve balls. Maybe wait until World Three or Four have everything working against me all at once.

Generic Look & Sound

One thing that didn’t pull my attention from the start was the generic-looking art style for Penny and this world. I know they are going for a retro-look, but I immediately thought of Waldo the 3D effect from Muppet Vision 3D at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios. If you’ve been to that show in the past ten or even twenty years, you’d know that the 3D effects are very outdated. They even make my eyes tear up. Still, I will watch Muppet Vision 3D every time I’m at Hollywood Studios, because I love the Muppets.

It’s a combination of the simple shapes used in the character modeling with the color palette that scream Muppet Vision Waldo to me.

In the first few worlds, the music also felt like generic Disney parade music — I go to Walt Disney World a lot. I’m not talking about one of the big important parades with singing, it’s more of those midday, quick parades that no one pays attention to. The ones that have one repeating music bar over and over again.

The Future of Evening Star

I’m thinking that Evening Star was a little too ambitious with this game. Maybe they were just trying to pack too many ideas into one game. When it came to Sonic Mania, there was already a pre-existing world with its own set of rules and proven mechanics. They knew what Sonic can and cannot do — jump, run, spin.

Using those core mechanics and the classic level design philosophies, Christian was able to create some interesting levels that felt like they could have been made today or years ago. I’m actually know thinking of getting back into Sonic Mania.

Penny’s Big Breakaway does accomplish it’s mission of recreating that feeling of playing an old retro game that you used to be pretty good at, but now are horrible at due to your skill in current games. If you are a primarily retro game player you may have more fun with this one.

I will continue to support Evening Star for following projects. I hope they continue genre jumping with each new title. I don’t think Penny’s Big Breakaway is a failure, it’s just not what I was expecting. I was hoping for something that looked old, but felt new. I still had fun using Penny’s Yo-Yo in interesting ways, it was just those damn angry penguins that really upset me.

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*myVGBC.com was sent a review code for Penny’s Big Breakaway by the publisher.