Flyhunter Origins (PS Vita) Review

By Luna Eriksson 30.12.2014

Review for Flyhunter Origins on PS Vita

Flyhunter Origins is one of the newest additions to the library of 2D platformer games on PlayStation Vita. In this title the main character and janitor Zak accidently release all the insects that were supposed to be delivered to the Investors and must charge up to become a flyhunter and recapture them in this small-scale adventure.

The story begins when janitor Zak accidently releases bugs from the spaceship that would deliver them to the Investors. Now he has to become a bug hunter and return the insects back to the ship. Things are overdue, though, and the Investors' patience is short. He now has to travel through five worlds to find and return the insects in this 2D platform title.

Screenshot for Flyhunter Origins on PS Vita

The story in Flyhunter Origins serves as nothing more than to show off the great cut-scenes. With bad jokes solely based around shallow sarcasm and very one-dimensional characters, it is not memorable at all. However, as stated, those cut-scenes look really good, as do the rest of the graphics. Everything is very well animated and the world within is beautifully crafted with nice decorations and level design made of things like mushrooms and shoes. The graphic designers definitely show how impressive their skills are! The point of view of being a small creature on Earth looking for insects really enhances and shows off the extremely well-detailed surroundings. Sadly, though, it is all downhill from there.

While there is not much to complain about when it comes to the physics, the controls and mechanics are extremely shallow and the gameplay too easy. There are four different commands: run, jump, hit things with the flyswatter or shoot enemies with a stun laser. There is not much more than that, to be honest. It is easy to learn and even easier to execute, which would not be a problem if the game offered fun mechanics. Sadly, nothing of this is seen.

Screenshot for Flyhunter Origins on PS Vita

Other than going from A-to-B to complete a level, Zak can go around and look for rare bug eggs and find secret costumes. These eggs are spread all around the map in places that vary, being easy to reach at times and much harder at others. This adds incentive to look around the map to find them and explore the beautifully crafted environment. Sadly, however, these do not serve any purpose after a short while.

The eggs are used to get upgrades that are so inexpensive that most likely halfway through the game everything will have been bought already, even if not choosing to search the levels for every single egg. This turns the egg collecting into nothing more than bragging rights, which leaves only the costumes left. These are only a cosmetic colour-shift of the original suit, though, which is very boring and leaves no real reason to do anything else other than go from start to finish, which seems rather like wasted potential.

Screenshot for Flyhunter Origins on PS Vita

These things are all forgivable and do not ruin the experience too much, and this could still be a good game for kids - the targeted demographic. This is, after all, no Mario or Rayman. What is completely unforgiveable, though, is the horrible lag that is experienced throughout. At times it is so horrible that the screen might freeze for several seconds before resuming again, although for the most part it just slows down a lot and the sound effects might stop playing. This gives Flyhunter Origins a very cheap feel and makes it seem like an incomplete product.

Another flaw in Flyhunter Origins is that the game is pretty short. There are five worlds, usually with four levels in each. The problem is that each stage is too brief and everything can easily be beaten in less than two hours. If looking for a 100% score, this might be tripled, bringing it to a maximum of nearly six hours. This, along with the terrible replay value, makes Flyhunter Origins a short-lived experience that most players will only play for a couple of hours before feeling tired of it. Although it may look like a good package, the more it is played, the more obvious its flaws become.

Screenshot for Flyhunter Origins on PS Vita

Cubed3 Rating

6/10
Rated 6 out of 10

Good

Flyhunter Origins could have been a great game if it wasn't for the lag and the short length. The concept is impressive and the level and graphics are superb. However, the level design feels uninspired, from a gameplay mechanics standpoint, and more mixing up of styles would have been better. There are some stages with a different approach, but these are few and far between. Flyhunter Origins would have also definitely benefited a lot from being developed a little longer to get rid of the frame-rate drop, as well as the other issues mentioned. What is left is a decent title in a genre that is already saturated with several superior releases.

Developer

Steel Wool

Publisher

Ripstone

Genre

Adventure

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  6/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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