Let’s talk about Banzai Pecan-chan, shall we?
I’ve sort of avoided doing a proper review on the game since a friend of mine developed it, and I’d been plugging it pre release so it might come off like I was kind of predisposed to liking it if I was too positive about it. I didn’t want to be too harsh and give the guy bad press either. So I sort of took a “Hey, check out my buddy’s work, hope you enjoy it” stance and played a while, got my ass kicked, and wound up moving on to stuff I could produce content off of with the intent of coming back to it when I had the time to really hone my skills in it and give it a good shake. Well, I still have a pile of reviewables to do, but I’ve been having a hell of a time focusing on any one thing recently. But what really got me to fire it back up again was the talk I’ve run into lately regarding Steam’s apparent severe dips in QC, and Pecan’s early failure to get on via Greenlight.
It was aggravating to watch, and I can only imagine how much it bugged Kyo. There was this weird sentiment that formed that Pecan was going to be some kind of psuedo hentai game, and an aversity to its anime-ish graphics and mostly-female cast. The game’s gone on to do alright on Indievania, Desura, and been included in the Humble Bundle since then, but Steam could have given it a pretty good boost out of the gate. I guess it’s not impossible for it to be added later. But when you look at things that have made it through Greenlight lately, like the infamous Air Control: Do You Know What Does It Mean, the combination of a harsh welcome on the first attempt to get it up there, along with seeing things that *have* gotten on there sort of inspired me to pick it up again.
Recent patches added an easy mode to the game, which makes the first/tutorial boss’s taunt of “There is no easy mode in this game” kind of unintentionally funny now. I blazed through it on said easy mode a week ago and started normal this morning, finding it a lot more manageable than it was at launch. I still loathe the blonde jackrabbit girls with a passion- Easy mode not having them was so nice. It’s got a pretty good sense of humor, and you can kill people with a Vespa that shoots pink stars. That oughta count for something. If I were to sum the thing up overall, it’s kind of like Kung Fu meets Godhand, a 2-D beat-em-up where enemies like to come in droves. The patches have also improved enemy variety with the addition of ninjas and punk trolls who fight- by trolling. My biggest gripe with the game are the times where it pretty much floods you with overlapping enemies who just pound the ever-loving, blue-eyed shit out of you, dealing multiple synchronized hits where you should be taking one. It’s still fun though, I bet it would be awesome for parties or livestreams where people could laugh at you getting your ass kicked and be rewarded with little comical intermissions when you finally do succeed. It’s got a heart to it, and I gotta say I kept involuntarily throwing up metal horns after clearing each stage, which not even Metal Gear Rising: REVENGEANCE really inspired me to do. I’d probably recommend Banzai Pecan to people who have really fast mashing fingers, a decent amount of patience, and a sense of humor. Prepare to have your ass kicked, and to groan when the pink succubus floats in and just casually murders you with a fireball while you’re already surrounded by mooks. Bosses are actually pretty tolerable seeing as how there aren’t like five of them at a time, trying to hit you from front and back at once. Most of them have a counterable super attack in their final phase that can finish things off in a flash or knock you on your ass.
Most significantly, the game works unlike most of the shit slipping in under the banner of early access. What I’m really trying to get at is there are projects that the creators plainly put a lot of time and passion behind, and then there are people who spend about 20 minutes in Unity with stolen assets who can make $5.99 a pop off the result. As someone who would like to put out a game too one day, (it’s on my bucket list and I have a lot of ideas to use up) it’s kind of aggravating to see what some people can get away with.
Even though the game calls her “Brave but Buxom,” Pecan’s bottom is a better asset.
Also, Bitter Almond is best pony.
I’m gonna go draw now.