Teeto (NS2, NSW, PS5, PC) Review

After this past week's LIFTED review, we take a look at another indie platformer from the month of July. Whereas LIFTED took on a 2.5D approach, we're going full three-dimensions with the cute, charming, and colorful Teeto, available on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Switch 2 (the latter is the version of the game this review is based off).

Saving the world from sinister shadows? It Takes Teeto, baby!

Teeto is a 3D platformer built off the same vibes as exploration-based platformers such as Spyro the Dragon and Banjo-Kazooie. The latter is highly reminiscent of Teeto, as both star a pair of protagonists that work together to run, jump, and otherwise platform their way through levels. Whereas Banjo-Kazooie has a more complicated move-set to it, Teeto utilizes a simpler control setup. Teeto can jump, double jump, glide with the help of Nory, a pink bunny companion, roll, attack, and ground pound. 

A brief pause, a momentary respite to breathe and take in the scenery.

It's with Teeto's special transformative abilities that make what otherwise might be a standard fare platformer into something more intriguing. Teeto can interact with various objects in the levels of the game and take on their properties. For instance, a flower can transform Teeto into a vine form, allowing him to grapple specific faraway points with his vine arms and swing across them. There's also big boulders that Teeto can assume the abilities of, allowing him to ground pound with more force, breaking open floor and ground that otherwise would be impenetrable. 

Teeto looks ready for spring with all of that flower power!

Teeto features four acts within its 5-8 hour runtime, and each act consists of six levels. The first five levels are exploration, platforming-based with different side and main objectives to complete. The sixth is always a boss level of some form. 

There are three types of collectibles to be found within Teeto's levels: powerful purple polygonal vessels of energy known as Vionite, which serves as the game's Power Star equivalent to Super Mario 64, or to bring Banjo-Kazooie back up, that game's Jiggy equivalent. Collecting these is paramount as a certain amount is required to open up future acts in the game. 

Vionite are housed in hidden locations, but other times they're rewarded for completing objectives and tasks for NPCs in levels. Some may have you finding and fetching a lost bone for a dog, destroying a set number of shadow flags in a level, or even reaching the top of a small summit in a literal ode to the popular co-op multiplayer game PEAK. The objectives are varied enough to keep the game from growing stale, if the platforming and creative level design don't do that already.

Give a dog a bone, and you'll be rewarded with some much wanted Vionite!

Other collectibles include tiny, cute, blue, gooey creatures called Michaels. These are small in stature, but have a late-game purpose. While difficult to discover since they are tiny, the telltale sound of their giggling makes sure you won't miss them hanging around. Michaels humorously come in unique styles, such as "Chronically Online Michael" or "Michael Who Just Bought a Drone". 

The other type of collectible fills up a gauge, and that is of stars. Different sized and colored stars bestow more energy in the gauge, and a side goal is to fill the gauge in each level. The stars are also Teeto's form of currency, which is used to purchase new costumes and outfits for Teeto to adorn--from a Lucahdor wrestling costume to a superhero outfit.

I like a game where the collectibles are shown in order. That is, if you're near the level's exit and you pick up a Vionite, it won't be listed as the first Vionite collectible in the level in the UI. This is insanely helpful and welcomed for knowing if you've missed a collectible in a level. Usually you have time and the opportunity to backtrack, but sometimes you're stuck having to replay a level to pick up a missed goodie. Because the objectives and platforming are so enjoyable with tasks being fun and movement feeling great in general, I found myself actively seeking out every collectible and thus, 100% completion.

Teeto is positively energized, ready to [literally] charge into battle.

The levels themselves are full of interesting challenges and locales. While you start in traditional mascot platforming fare, such as caves, forests, and mountains, Teeto quite quickly picks up the pace on originality, having our two heroes enter subway stations, grocery stores, and through electrified backyards of suburbia. Some levels are more open-ended, while others have a more linear design to them. Either way, there is plenty of ways to go off the beaten path, discover a cleverly hidden collectible and find something of value.

Speaking of electricity, an electrified lawn certainly is one way to keep unwanted guests off of the grass!

Teeto is designed not just for solo play, but you can even bring a friend locally to play the game with you via split-screen play. Both players have a surprising amount of freedom, able to move far away from one another and pretty much can split up tasks between them or opt to work together on an objective simultaneously. The only times players are forced together are between areas/rooms or certain story triggers in levels. I was amazed by how well the co-op worked, and really, Teeto truly shines in its co-op and how it executes it.

Platforming is pretty breezy, as is the game itself. Checkpoints are fair, and falling to Teeto's demise is seldom a huge punishment. You don't lose progress or collectibles nabbed; you simply start at a nearby point in the level. Really, the only sticking point in the level of challenge is that of boss battles. Teeto and Nory only have three hearts between themselves to work with, and while bosses do drop hearts of restorative health when they're attacked, these battles are more challenging than anything else within the game. A certain 2D plane battle in the third act I found more frustrating and difficult than anything else by far in Teeto's adventure, other than the final boss battle itself.

Bosses serve as a modest but noticeable jump in difficulty compared to everything else within Teeto.

If there are any huge gripes other than the difficult jumps that come from the boss battles, it's that the enemy variety is woefully lacking. There's probably just four or five generic enemy types of Shadows to contend with. 

More worrisome and annoying were the crashes, at least on the Nintendo Switch 2 version that I played. These crashes happened twice upon falling into two separate pits in the final act of the game. Further, there were moments where the game completely locked Teeto out of certain actions, like aiming and attacking with his blob blasts, or worse yet in the snowy mountain level, being completely unable to jump after being shot out of a cannon. I either had to return to the hub or better yet, just plummet from the summit to my doom to get the controls and actions working properly again.

Nevertheless, what always worked for me was the presentation of the game. Teeto is a charming and cute game graphically, offering nothing truly amazing visually, but what style it has works and works well. The draw distance is rather lovely, and certain vistas and vantage points, like the top of the aforementioned snowy mountain level, shows off a gorgeous sunset. 

Absolutely breathtaking. Just be sure not to slide off the side, Teeto and Nory!

On the sound side, Teeto doesn't disappoint, but also doesn't overly delight either. The voice acting has a charm to it, but the music I would struggle to say is excellent. It's certain serviceable, but there's nothing truly memorable outside of perhaps the level clear theme. Certain typos in the game, especially during one of the more important scenes in Teeto, made for a less than fantastic impression, as well.

Teeto shines in its simplicity, whether that's its platforming gameplay or its graphical style. Its transforming mechanic, used to solve environmental puzzles and perform platforming, lends itself naturally to the gameplay without feeling shoehorned in. Glitches and bugs aside that will no doubt be cleaned up as time and patches roll on, between the co-op, fun objectives, craftily hidden collectibles, and level of charm, Teeto was a game I enjoyed hitting 100% completion on. While it isn't a title that hits the same highs of Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, or any other 3D platforming titan Teeto might have inspiration from, it's a wonderful game all the same. 

[SPC Says: B-] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review. 

Orbitals (NS2) "Creator's Voice" Video

Nintendo returns with a new entry in its series of videos called "Creator's Voice" with interviews from the designers and creators behind Orbitals, a co-op only action-adventure game which resembles something out of an 1980s era anime. There's good reason for it being co-op only as well as having that '80s anime resemblance, as you'll find out with this video. Orbitals releases exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 on September 3rd.

LIFTED (PC) Review

A pair of indie games is what awaits on the agenda next for SuperPhillip Central. The first is a short romp, but one packed with adventure: LIFTED. Let's check it out with a full, in-depth review!

A game clock-ful of adventure

LIFTED is a 2.5D cinematic action-platformer which follows the tale of high school student Ari and his teacher, mentor, and friend, the Professor. The latter is in love with Ari's history teacher, and thinking that he has no shot with her otherwise, he opts to take Ari on a time-traveling trip (courtesy of his invention, the Anytime Elevator) to acquire a specific tiara. Extra credit for Ari and a potential way for the Professor to successfully woo his crush. A win-win and a "two birds with one stone" situation!

No doubt Ari and the Professor's friendship is meant to draw familiar parallels to the relationship found in Back to the Future's Marty McFly and Doc Brown. After all, it's a time traveling story, and that's not even going into how Ari's voice actor even sounds like he's doing a Michael J. Fox impression. You'll certainly hear a lot of it, as characters within LIFTED are exceptionally chatty. Some players might find this obnoxious, and perhaps I would have, too, if not for the fact that the dialogue throughout the game is abundantly charming and humorous often, as well.

Oh, and let's not forget that the spirited, little chinchilla Julius joins the adventure, as well.

LIFTED is an adventure that takes players through a handful of unique locations throughout time. By the conclusion of the game's short, initial three-hour runtime, Ari and the Professor will pass through Egyptian canyons and temples, a pirate island and caves within Tortuga, swing on vines and infiltrate a temple in the deep jungle, and spend some time on the snowy and incredibly gusty mountaintops, as well.

Starting off in Egypt, you get a sense for the controls and how the game plays. As a 2.5D platformer, you're seldom moving along a strict side-scrolling perspective. Instead, the camera tends to be at different perspectives, sometimes at an angle, sometimes panning into position to create a cinematic flair. 

This can be challenging to contend with at times, because while the camera can move around in a three-dimensional orientation, your character is stuck on a strict, 2D path. This means that you can be holding right to move in that direction, and then the camera changes position, altering the direction you're supposed to hold. This never resulted in cheap deaths or anything like that, just some very occasional befuddlement with knowing which way to move the stick to, in turn, move Ari.

Ari must have misunderstood and taken it literally when he read about "cliff notes".

Through the initial Egyptian chapter of LIFTED, you learn how to move, jump, double jump, climb cliff faces a la Nathan Drake in Uncharted (Ari certainly did not skip gym class with the amazing acrobatics and miraculous-level of mobility he affords and offers to players), and also the ability to use a grappling hook to latch onto specific points in levels, swing across chasms, and pull himself up to reach new heights. 

There's seldom any enemies to concern yourself with in LIFTED. The only real danger is missing jumps and having Ari plummet to his doom. The Professor would definitely take some points off his extra credit for doing that. There is no "live" system or health to worry about in LIFTED. You fail, you simply retry from a nearby checkpoint, which are generally generous in location. 

In Tortuga, Ari learns how to leap between and slide down walls.

Though I do have a minor issue with the checkpoint system in LIFTED. That issue being that checkpoints are not marked, nor does the game give an indication when you're reached one. Not only does this make you not know if an unintended death might make you have to redo a potentially frustrating potion of a level, but LIFTED also contains plenty of collectibles. It can be quite easy to miss them, as a lot of them are located in crafty and clever areas. There are lots of "points of no return" in levels, where if you pass a certain section, you're locked out of backtracking. This means that you have to back out to the main menu and redo the entire level all over again just to get another chance at a given collectible. 

Levels aren't too terribly long, but it can feel obnoxious, especially when going for certain achievements where you have to do a flawless run, for instance, through a section of level. Most of these are deep within levels, meaning that it's not just annoying to have to reach these sections, but if you fail the achievement's requirement, you have to redo the level and make it back to that section. Frustrating. 

Regardless, it's not just all about platforming in LIFTED, either. Various environmental puzzles are thrown in for good measure, as well, to keep the gameplay feeling fresh. One early puzzle in the Tortuga Island chapter features block-pushing onto specially colored pressure plates. When a certain plate is held down, the complimentary colored gate or door opens. The puzzle is essentially figuring out which plates to hold down in a specific order to access new areas which house new blocks to utilize. 

Mirror, mirror on the slate, can Ari help the Professor with his desire for a date?

A lot of the puzzles are simply trial and error or aren't too tricky to solve, but some of them did actually cause me to need to step back and ponder over them some. I definitely appreciated that they weren't all thoughtless brain teasers, and instead were quite smartly thought out in execution.

LIFTED is a quick romp. The beautiful and well made cut-scenes, although entertaining and often humorous, take up about a third of the initial playtime. Everything else is split up between running, jumping, and puzzle solving. However, there is an appropriate amount of extra content to sink your adventuring teeth into, from the previously mentioned collectibles which unlock various unique outfits for Ari to wear, to nearly 70 different achievements. These achievements range from perfect runs through sections of levels, interacting with the environments in specific, not-always-obvious ways, and collectible hunting. 

Some of the vistas seen in LIFTED are just jaw-dropping spectacles.

Gorgeous and impressive are two words that come to mind when I think of LIFTED's presentation. The game offers an abundance of eye candy through its expansive vistas, cinematic camera angles, and visual splendor. I particularly like the Rayman-esque character designs, where each character in the game lacks appendages like arms and legs, but possesses disconnected hands and feet. It's a cute and charming art style that works, and I imagine helped to make animating the given characters less of a workload. 

"Snow" time to hang around, Ari--adventure awaits!

Meanwhile, the sound design is stellar, too. The voice work is exceptionally well done with great comedic timing and delivery by the actors, and the music especially packs a powerful punch, particularly in more dramatic and action-oriented sections of the game.

LIFTED is indeed a short adventure that some may balk at the $20 asking price, but I find there's plenty to like and even love about this charming cinematic journey that Ari and the Professor set on. Some checkpoint-ing quirks do annoy, and some camera angle issues do less than delight. However, in the end, the overall package is one that I am glad I had the opportunity to check out. I might even go back and complete the final six achievements that I'm missing, which is something I seldom have the motivation to do nowadays, so that certainly speaks to LIFTED's quality. 

Like an action-packed epic you'd watch in a movie theater, LIFTED is a game you can finish in an afternoon and feel like your time was spent well. The only difference is that with LIFTED, you need not worry about stepping around on some nasty, sticky floor to do so.

[SPC Says: B-] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.