From an initial first glance at Funk of Titans, you wouldn’t be blamed in thinking that it was a 2D platformer similar to Rayman Legends or recent indie hit Never Alone. While the game appears to be a light-hearted and humorous experience, it offers little more than mild moments of satisfaction and uninspiring gameplay mechanics. The most important thing in any platformer is how you feel when you’re defeating enemies or avoiding obstacles and how, sometimes, your patience is pushed to the limits. Funk of Titans never feels like a challenge in the slightest and, although this will sound very damning, it’s little more than something which seems better suited to a mobile device where games have been done just as well, if not better.
The gameplay mechanics never fully allow you to play the game as you wish because it flows like an endless runner which you would normally find on the smaller screen. There are no ways to move your character in any way except from jumping off of walls to change direction. Funk of Titans can be played by simply using two buttons: “A” which is jump and “X” to attack. It could be played with one hand and, in doing so; it sacrifices the freedom which games such as Rayman, Super Mario and Velocity 2X provide.
You begin Funk of Titans by simply avoiding oncoming objects such as fires, boxes and enemies who merely dance every time you see them. While your ‘foes’ may look dangerous to begin with, they do nothing more than dance and they’re objects which you can destroy much like the large vases or wooden barricades which you sometimes have to destroy. An amusing part of the game is that you can jump onto the heads of enemies and this will, more often than not, set you on the correct path to gaining your beloved coins or even hidden secrets. Once a few levels have been completed, Perseus must then begin to jump off walls and chain together these jumps to climb higher. You are provided with swings, of sorts, later in the campaign, but these aren’t tricky to overcome.
Before delving into Funk of Titans, I thought that the name and premise of the game meant that it was full of catchy songs or, at the very least, some wonderful instrumentals, but the game features nothing of the sort. Aside from occasionally changing the music on boss battles, the basic level music remains the same throughout and it’s been overplayed after around the third time you hear it. For something which bases its name so heavily on music and the characters throughout are based on real musicians, there are no inspiring tracks that you’ll enjoy hearing again and again. Speaking of ‘inspiring tracks’, the game’s boss battles could do with some re-recording.
Funk of Titans provides a preview of the end enemy in each of the three worlds whenever you play a level. These three worlds are Pop, Rap and Rock and the bosses are heavily based on Lady Gaga, Pitbull and a member of Steel Panther and the battles against them happen in the exact same fashion. It’s a battle of rhythm and timing as you go head-to-head in a dance off which goes well with the theme of the game, but these are dull and boring. Once you have the beat in your head, all you have to do is keep your eye on which button to press and the game basically spells it out for you. There are also mini-bosses in each world called Grunts, where you have to challenge them to a fight, but they end up being a rhythm mini-game too.
If there’s something the game does well, it’s the items that you unlock with the more gold records you collect and these have an effect on the world, in one way or another. You can change Perseus’ face mask and weapon, but these are quite expensive. You can purchase masks so that you look like a Storm Trooper, Optimus Prime and Jason from Friday the 13th. They do add some humour to the occasion and as an avid Transformers fan, I couldn’t avoid the lure to buy the Optimus Prime mask and the weapons provide a bit more use in different levels.
Although each weapon does the exact same damage to each enemy in that they are defeated by one hit, weapons can be used to reach certain areas of the map. As well as collecting gold discs throughout the levels, you can collect Pegasus, who is a stick horse that you can use in a special mini-game if you find the horse during the level. Weapons like the flaming sword can set fire to TNT and open up some levels to hidden areas where Pegasus can be found. The main thing which this adds to the experience is replay value, because if you are a completionist, then you will have to replay some levels again using different weapons if you wish to complete each level 100%.
The aforementioned Pegasus mini-game is little more than a clone of the popular mobile games Flappy Bird and Jetpack Joyride. You ride Pegasus through the clouds as you aim to collect more gold discs as you get faster. You hold in “A” to go higher and release the button to drop. There are objects which get in your way throughout the levels, but it only finishes when you crash into something. Again this feels as though it has been copied from another game in an attempt to satisfy some players, but it’s little more than a tiresome reproduction.
Funk of Titans definitely doesn’t set the world alight. Although it looks vibrant enough, the game doesn’t belong on the Xbox One and should instead be on a mobile or tablet device. Even at that, the game doesn’t flow as well as Rayman Fiesta Run or Jetpack Joyride and overall feels lacking in content. The combat is far simplistic and the boss battles are uninspiring. Hopefully A Crowd of Monsters can learn from this experience to help make their next title a success. For something which should have made you hit the dance floor, Funk of Titans can only make you shake your head.
Funk of Titans is available to download now on Xbox One for £9.99.