Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

You guys, I figured out why Shantae has such a rabid cult following.

It’s because the game is filled with nearly naked hot girls who are usually dancing. Shantae is hot. Risky is hot. There’s a zombie girl who is also hot. Even the statues are hot! And it’s a fun hot, very much in the innocent anime style where everybody is impossibly cute. Not one of those “I’ve Just Been To Hot Topic” sweaty gothic hots like we got with the characters of Dante’s Inferno, Darksiders, or the God of War games. And I mean female AND male.

Turns out, the gameplay is pretty damn good. It’s not the second coming of gaming that you’d expect after reading all the breathless genuflection afforded the overlooked Game Boy Color original, but this new DSiWare release is perhaps one of the downloadable service’s first actual games.

Because this game is solid. Beautiful details. Tons of sprite work. Once I got past the story setup (which included a downright fantastic looking boss fight), in half an hour I was surprised at how large the first swath of gameworld is. Given how many treasure chests I saw that I could not reach, I’m guessing future ability upgrades will give reason to run around the map again, Metroid-style.

One thing that Risky’s Revenge is doing a spectacular job at is providing depth to the levels. Imagine five 2D platformers arranged one behind the other, and you can jump between them… in and out of the screen. That’s what the forest is like. Even while standing in one area, you can see several reachable levels behind you, including the wandering baddies. This title is begging for a 3DS version.

I’m disappointed in the presence of Save Rooms on the map… what is this, 1993? Also, there’s no belly dancing yet. I’m going to assume I’ll be unlocking that stuff shortly. I BETTER BE.

Shantae: Risky’s Revenge sells for 1200 points on the DSiWare storefront. It was intended to be three episodes, so maybe WayForward was planning on selling them for 400 points each? The theoretical breaking points for these episodes seems pretty obvious to me: Shantae is combing the countryside looking for three magic seals.

So we’ll see if the full experience lives up to the full price. After all, it’s not like Nintendo would ever put this stuff on sale, ha ha.