Penny’s Big Breakaway

The kinda game where you start off thinking "These controls are kinda awkward" to "This is better than most AAA games"

The soundtrack and visuals are the star of the show here. Tee Lopes is incapable of making a bad music track, this much is fact, and the visual team did a really great job translating the geometric and almost crystalline aesthetic of Sonic CD into 3D with this one. The hazing filter for the environment in the far distance was a great small touch. I had a lot of small annoyances with how it feels play, though. Most of the time you'll be riding the yoyo, which has a really poor turning radius. In repositioning to your new desired angle, you lose a lot of momentum. It's possible to get a really great flow state going, but it's not trivial to do so. The bosses, save the last one, felt like a letdown and weren't particularly interesting. I also feel like there should've been more mechanics? I was expecting a wider array of yo yo maneuvers, but as far I can tell you only have a handful. If you enjoy platformers, this one has great window dressing that will probably make you overlook some of its hiccups

I really wanted to like this game because it has everything that I could ever want from a game like this, but I can't help but suffer through how clunky the controls and movement are. For a game that is all about movement (and that's like, the entire game), it has to be tight and responsive, which this is not. Otherwise, I think the characters and world are great, but I can't recommend this due to the gameplay and movement.

This is the honestly the most fun platformer I've played in years. The art style (ESPECIALLY the UI! Everything looks so cute!), the M O V E M E N T, and the INCREDIBLE OST (Tee Lopes & Sean Bialo are unbelievably good, oh my god their compositions hit like crack) makes this game an EASY 10 out of 10!

Pretty decent game with some cool movement techniques, encountered some bugs and glitches here and there but didn't detract from the experience too much.

Penny is a game I like that I wish I loved. Luckily the disappointment largely comes from being so close to greatness rather than actually being bad. It plays great, it usually looks good and it mostly sounds fantastic, but there's always the feeling that it could have been more as you encounter a physics glitch or get your ears blasted by awful sound-mixing. It ultimately comes down to the little things, if you're fine with cutting a small dev team some slack for a rather obvious lack of polish, then Penny makes a great addition to your collection of charming indie platformers.

The game is sugar-coated platforming wonkiness on a carefree Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the vibes do not always match the janky, unrefined controls. The demo pretty much shows all the game has to offer, so go by that experience for your purchasing decision. A mediocre Sideways Thumb at best.