Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara

Short fun 3D platformer that leans on the easier, more kids friendly side. Nothing to write home about, but still quite enjoyable for someone experienced in the genre and a fun 100%. Ultimately, yes I do recommend Koa, but on a generous sale.

If you're looking for a very beginner-friendly or relaxing platformer, this is a good option.

I feel a little bad for Koa because it's good game, but the current landscape leads to it feeling underwhelming. If this had came out in 2010 this would be a certified 3D platformer classic. Most of Koa's qualities are good, but none are exceptional. The movement is fluid and engaging but it lacks any advanced techniques or real schmoovement, which is something a game with a focus on speed should consider a priority in my opinion. The levels and settings are fun, but never reach more than one standard deviation from the most normal Mario fare. My biggest criticism of Koa would be that it has a disappointing level of non-levels. A stunning portion of the alternate levels are freebies but they receive no distinction on the menu and you still get equal rewards for completing them, which left me feeling cheated. Unsurprisingly for an island-themed game there are a lot of water levels, which also feel like getting cheated of an opportunity to engage in the platforming engine. Overall I would recommend Koa only to enthusiasts of the 3D platforming genre. If you've burned through all the Mario games, bounced through Pseudoregalia, zoomed through Yellow Taxi and gotten through as much of Hat in Time's DLC as you can then this is a good "another" 3D platformer you will certainly have fun with. If you're not looking to lick the plate of this genre clean though there are more compelling experiences you can enjoy. We live in a glorious 3D platformer renaissance, and only because there are so many excellent games does this good one now feel a little subpar.

Got this in a bundle from one of their other games I wanted to buy, but this was a fun 7hr to 100% platforming/collectathon game for sure. Runs great on Proton and didn't face any technical issues at all. The negative reviews about simplicity, meh, a few levels took several retries to get gold time-wise, it's never boring though.

Looks cute – but that's about the only positive thing I've to say about this! The game requires you to hold down the run button for pretty much the entirety (!) of its playtime. You won't unlock any new abilities. The gameplay never meaningfully evolves. The difficulty is all over the place and checkpoints can be frustratingly sparse. And don't get me started on the "story"... It's ultra uninspired and WAY too wordy for that!

This is one of the best modern 3D platformers I've really enjoyed, and unfortunately for me there's not many of them besides New Super Lucky's Tale. Just about everything in this game is exactly what I want in a modern 3D platformer. Game kinda grew on me from good to pretty good to great to awesome. It's simple, fun to play, easy to understand, doesn't throw a bunch of other crap at you, excellent hitboxes, fun level design, changes to the gameplay like 2d sidescolling either left or right or down and up, nice catchy soundtrack, fun collectibles (between 1-3 in each stage), a great set of fun progression based achievements, collectibles that aren't hidden in a stupid corner most people would never see (although there's some that are grrrrr), colorful graphics with nice themes to each world, a really great camera that does surprisingly well most of the time, on rail sections that are simple like the Ratchet and Clank games but have the speed of modern Sonic the Hedgehog games (while playing and feeling better than most modern 3d Sonic games could ever dream of, beautiful particle effect ending which a sequel should double or triple down on, and possibly anything else I forgot that makes the game fun to play without having to memorize a bunch of moves or terrible music or boring level design, etc. The only thing I didn't like- and it's a very minor thing, is the dialogue. Too much. A lot of it is scrolling through "..." text boxes and other times where characters add unnecessary banter I absolutely can't stand. So apart from the beginning, some here and there and during cutscenes, and the ending I skipped the dialogue. Again, very minor issue. If the game had a "simplified get to it" text option would be a giant welcome addition. Maybe the sequel. Hope there's on coming! Oh some more minor stuff i disliked but would make some qol improvements: -you cant keep the hud on at all times and it's also kinda blah. -needs more achievements for getting gold medals. -dont like how there's a timer in each level and can't hide it. I'm into into speed running. It's fine for some people but I didn't like how a gold, silver or bronze level is determined by how fast you complete the level. -Cant bind one button to 2 on the gamepad. Would've like to have run as both X and RT just for some ease of comfort. - No upgrades!!! Just cosmetics which are fine (with many achievements to add to which is fantastic). But nothing like have more hit points per level or spawning an invincible power up in each level or anything....ugh this game is so close to being perfect. So I'm gonna stop there. Just buy it already. 9.5/10

Koa is a very competent platformer, a notch above the licensed-movie pablum sold to kids, but definitely not reaching the heights of Nintendo fare. Think of this as a cozy platformer. There’s enough challenge and variety here for this to be engaging for adults, but it’s definitely not difficult for anyone who is used to platformers. Getting the best time on the levels was fun and balances the low difficulty for me. Movement feels great, which also lets me forgive the low difficulty. It’s colorful and vibrant, and the levels are designed well with plenty of variety in gameplay. If you want a palette cleanser between games, this is perfect for an evening or two.

Cuteness: 7/10 Coziness: 8/10 (easy to get into, sweet/caring story) Difficulty: 2/10 (your 4 year sister old can win this game) Sound/music: 5/10 (not annoying but not memorable) Graphics: 6/10 (meh, just okay) Fun: 7/10 (but best in small doses, like maybe play for a half hour then put it away for a couple of days before you come back to it.) Length: maybe 20 hours Age-appropriateness: I'd say 4 - 104 This is a sequel to "My Summer at Mara." But it is NOTHING like the first game, which was an open-world RPG where you befriended pirates to fight against alien industrialists who were polluting your world. SOME of the location names from the first game are reused here. And most of the characters have the same faces and names... but everything else is completely different. The pirates (who you befriended in the first game) have attacked the ONLY town on your planet, stealing everyone's stuff! And 2/3 of the characters you met in the first game are just not at home. And the beach tourists have all left, apparently. So the town feels quite stale and lonely. Not "alive" like it was in the previous game. But you have your trusty boat, so you head out to go get everyone's stuff back from the pirates. There are several islands you can explore, and as you find more maps there will be even more. Each island will have a series of foot-races that each last LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES. Win races to unlock more maps. Meanwhile, each race has "hidden loot" that you can find (don't worry it's pretty obvious when you see it, not hidden super secretly or anything)... but the only thing the loot and money does in this game is lets you buy new shirts and backpacks, or upgrades for your ship that unlock some additional minigames. In the first game, there was quite a bit of mining and farming... but there is NONE in this game. Just drive your boat from island to island, running obstacle-course style races at each one. This world is much more "on rails" and contained than the previous game. But it is also less buggy, better optimized. Less of an RPG and more of a platformer adventure. Suitable for ALL AGES as long as you have both of your thumbs. It is fun. Not a bad game at all. Just be advised if you played the first game, this is VERY different from that. Even most of the "lore" is different.

Basically "We got Mario at home", for your wife or girlfriend, whom likes to play bottle sorting games on her smartphone. Made to keep her busy when she's not cooking or cleaning, and sits on the couch, next to you watching telly.

La verdad, volver a Mara en un juego de plataformas, ha sido muy cuco. Se nota que está orientado para los que quieran empezar a jugar videojuegos y se nota un montón la inspiración a los juegos de la gran N. Y es un juego perfecto para pasártelo en verano.