When I received my copy of Putty Squad, I was skeptical – apparently this game had actually been released back in the day as a classic platformer with a somewhat sordid development history. So strange, then, that it should attempt to gain traction as an updated PlayStation 4 release. On one hand, you have the inevitable slow period that accompanies any console launch, during which you could release nearly any game and find reasonable success. On the other, this is a niche platformer from the ‘90s that didn’t really need a reboot, but was graced with a budget update anyway.
The PlayStation 4 remake is serviceable, but as you might expect, it doesn’t exactly dazzle.
The premise couldn’t be any simpler: you’re a jovial blue ball of putty whose only job is to collect all of the red splotches of goo-like substance and head through the green door that appears once you’ve done so. Bizarre chubby-cheeked soldiers and a cavalcade of other psychedelic enemies stand in the way of victory, but they’re easy enough to fell. You can use the L1 and R1 buttons to whip out some moves left and right to thin out the unusually high amount of enemies that occasionally gang up on you, but your real enemy in Putty Squad is actually how your little blue blob controls. Sometimes it just doesn’t want to cooperate, like when you need it to the most. When you have a platformer that requires split-second decisions like when you need to jump and where you need to position yourself, this can become endlessly annoying, even in a game where time isn’t too much of a factor.
Stretching to reach platforms above you or pulling off special moves occasionally breaks the monotony, but this is very much a game that is content to go through the motions at every turn with little regard for what could be done on a new console like this. There isn’t any real kind of rhyme or reason to the levels themselves and how they’re built, nor the placement of enemies or the path they take. Often, they’re so busy it can be difficult to follow exactly where you are, and with missiles flying around on-screen and so much of a rigmarole going on around you, it can be a bit of overload. That, combined with the overall slog of each area, makes playing Putty Squad feel like homework rather than a snappy platformer.
Each level is open for exploration, but there just isn’t much to see, with each area strongly resembling the last — there’s a flatness to the visuals that isn’t very appealing, and it doesn’t especially put the PS4 through its paces. Not that I expected it to, but all that power deserves an outlet or at least to be utilized, right? Luckily, the retro-inspired soundtrack is fantastic throwback and does a great job of sticking around in your head long after you turn off the console for greener pastures, but there’s a bland shadow cast upon nearly everything else.
I understand the desire to create an updated platformer when there’s a landscape and timeframe where it could flourish, but this updated Putty Squad isn’t cutting it. It’s too mired in archaic convention, a slow burn that is best left to the bargain bin. There’s a bit of fun to be had here, but it would have worked best (and most logically) as a digital download rather than a physical copy, for less money and for less losses overall since I can’t imagine it being a smash hit. It could certainly have used a little more time in the oven — this putty has yet to be fully formed into something worthwhile.
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03/11/2014
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E10+
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Maximum Games
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