Corn Kidz 64

Diplodocus Games have a pretty solid library of 3D platformers on the Switch. Whether it’s the Toree series, or one-off games like Knight’s Try, most of them turn out to be pretty solid titles.

As such, when they announced that Corn Kidz 64 was coming to the e-shop, I was excited to see what they next had in store for us. I had heard good things about the title from its Steam release, but still knew very little about it going in.

Will this game turn out to be a-maize-ing, or will it leave you corn-fused? Let’s find out!

Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDIN ME
Having found himself stuck in a recurring nightmare, Seve’s only chance of escape is from the help of his friend Alexis. who has somehow entered his dreamworld for the sole purpose of trying to get him out. This nacho loving goat is having his corn powers slowly drained away, so needs to work fast in order to save himself.

The plot itself serves very little purpose other than allowing for some rather unusual visuals and gameplay elements. None of this is really real, so you can excuse the existence of portals and some rather questionable manoeuvres that Seve is able to pull off. Despite the lack of any real cohesive narrative to tie everything together, the characters are still quite likeable and found myself drawn to them. Whilst they can be a little bit too talkative at times, which can make you want to skip through their dialogue before the tutorial even has a chance to finish, it’s still endearing enough to help make them appealing as main characters.

As a 3D collectathon, it should be of no surprise that the game features large open environments with plenty of things to collect. What sets Corn Kidz 64 apart. however, is that there’s only really one big world to explore – with a large tutorial stage and final gauntlet bookending the main game.

Don’t be put off by that small number of stages though, as even the tutorial area is a challenging and massive stage chock full of areas to explore and EXP cubes to find. These cubes are the main source of collectible, and finding enough will result in you levelling up enough to be able to access a new area. Despite acting like some type of RPG system, it’s functionally the same as every other game in the genre: find enough things and you can progress.

This tutorial also introduces you to your main movement mechanic, that of your horn; with it, you’re able to screw things open, slam into the ground, and even stick into and scale walls with it. It may not seem like anything particularly innovative, but the sheer force Seve uses when he headbutts makes it extremely satisfying to use – especially as the game introduces many new ways to put your platforming skills to the test.

After spending a long time finishing the tutorial, hopefully you’ll be ready enough for the main challenge as you’re thrown into the large main world. With your main traversal mechanic and your fists of fury, Seve will explore the world for enough cubes to help him reach the final tower where his biggest challenge awaits. The challenges here are far more difficult than the tutorial, but there’s a degree of fairness too. Alexia will help provide checkpoints for you and key points, and there are also plenty of soda machines scattered around to help refill your health. Even though the level design can be brutal, it’s also mostly fair too.

The only real issue with these platforming challenges comes in the form of the game’s camera, which is pretty hard to control. It doesn’t seem anywhere near as fluid as you’d want for a game like this, and it can make some of the more difficult sections even harder. This is even more evident in the portals that lead to some of the game’s toughest challenges, and are made infinitely more frustrating by the fact that you’re thrown out of the portal after messing up, making you less incentivised to want to retry due to the time it takes for the animation to play out as you re-enter. It’s a real annoyance, and puts a serious blemish on what is otherwise a great platformer.

Because really there is just so much polish here. The visuals and animations are spot on, making it look the N64 games you remember whilst also being substantially better. The fuzzy filter helps add that CRT feeling too, even though it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The best part though, without a doubt, is the game’s soundtrack which is jam-packed full of catchy tunes recorded with N64 sound quality. Those nostalgic for that era of gaming will no doubt instantly fall in love with the game before they even start taking control of the character. It’s wonderfully done and shows off the best of modern retro gaming.

VERDICT
Diplodocus Games have put out yet another fantastic 3D platformer that evokes the 64 bit era perfectly, with some great platforming and charming visuals. The camera may be a little too unwieldly, which can result in some unfair deaths as you struggle to judge some difficult jumps under less-than-ideal circumstances, but provided you can forgive those issues then you’re in for a great time.