It seems as though that there have been a high number of mobile and tablet based games making their way onto Steam recently. With Steam being such an easy-access point for mobile and tablet games, there has recently been another title which has been relatively successful on the mobile market and found its way onto the PC super-power. The title in question is Shiny the Firefly, which was developed by Stage Clear Studios and produced by HeadUp Games.
Shiny the Firefly sees you taking on the role of a firefly named Shiny. The main aim of the game is to retrieve as many baby fireflies as you can and safely deliver them through harrowing garden environments as dangers come in all shapes and sizes. Some of these hazards come in the shape of water, wasps, spiders and mosquitoes. Each level lasts around two-to-three minutes and awards the player a maximum of 3 stars if you rescue all fireflies, coins and complete the level before the allotted time.
At first glance Shiny the Firefly is reminiscent of a vibrant and upbeat Disney cartoon, which has been quoted in their build-up to the release on PC and it’s easy to see why. The environment captures a wonderful array of colour and the objects you can interact with move freely and almost pops out of the screen.
Water is a perfect example of this as it can appear in droplets or in huge water flows and although it’s not the best thing I’ve ever seen, it complements the world very well and is a very pretty place to be. Eventually the game does steer away from the vibrant colours of the opening levels and instead displays dullest tones that feature subtle glowing colours, which again fit the game very well. Another great aspect of the environment is the sound design. Although there isn’t much in terms of music, the sound of the wildlife makes the game feel as if you are playing it outdoors with the sound of the wildlife.
However good the feel and sound of the game are, the game’s main downfall is when it comes to its control. Having originally thought that this was a platformer in a similar ilk to that of Rayman, I was disappointed to see that I couldn’t use my Xbox controller to control Shiny and avoid the hazards freely. I instead had to use my mouse to click on where I wanted Shiny to go to which is frustrating at the best of times. With the speed that certain hazards move at and by the time you reach your next destination, it takes a split second for the firefly to change direction or progress. You get the feeling that this is a game which was ported straight over to the PC from the mobile and tablet version which used touch screen controls.
Rather than having a free flowing experience, you often find yourself having a stop-start journey through the wonderful locations. For something which almost looks as though you can fly through every level by narrowly avoiding hazards, it turns out to be a frustrating and cheap experience at times.
The enemies themselves are well designed and offer a decent challenge. Spiders are often in the way or move in packs, while wasps have vision cones which means you have to hide behind flowers as they pass or out-run their vision cones. The mechanics when facing a wasp certainly increase the pressure as once they spot you; they end up being far quicker.
One of the ways to remove the threat of the enemies is to throw glowing purple seeds from plants which regenerate every 5 seconds or so. You can carry a few at a time and these seeds disintegrate the spiders and stun the wasps. This adds a risk-reward feature to proceedings as you can take more time to get around the hazards by stunning or destroying them or you can try to quickly sneak your way past and making the experience a lot more fun.
The bosses offer interesting encounters as well. Unlike many other games recently the boss battles are relatively well designed but, much like the rest of the game, the controls on the PC version make it a difficult task most of the time. As previously mentioned, the seeds come in handy when fighting enemies head-on but unfortunately there isn’t more to say about the boss battles without spoiling them.
Shiny the Firefly is a frustrating and difficult game set in a simple and beautiful world. The aesthetics of the game demanded so much more than the gameplay that accompanied it. It’s a huge shame to see something which is inexpensive and available on multi-platforms to be frustrating all because of its control system. The promotion trailer does state: “Full controller support” but after searching through the menus after connecting my controller, I was only able to use the mouse and it feels numb at times. Shiny the Firefly is proof that one aspect of a game can ruin the entire experience.
Shiny the Firefly is available now on Steam, iOS and Android devices.