Effie is a 3D action-adventure platformer game that completely blew my socks off, from the developers over at Inverge Studios. From the very moment that I struck up this game, I was hit with some pretty intense nostalgia. I was playing something that reminded me so much of playing on the GameCube in the middle of the night… hiding it from my parents. This game captures your attention from the very beginning. No confusing controls, no in-depth tutorial. It is a pretty simple game to pick up and play. This is where the developers completely knock your socks off with the story, graphics, set design, and addictive gameplay.
For starters, Effie is just so fantastically bright and atmospheric. The graphics are wonderfully bright and have a fantastic cartoon style, it is so modern yet there is something so retro about the way all the characters look. The ghosts come in so many different colors and have such a Nintendo vibe to them. I’m honestly genuinely trying to stay away from too many references here, but there’s something so familiar about this game, yet so fresh. The sets remind me of dungeons in Elder Scrolls, the blocks of the castle remind me of Minecraft, and the characters and NPCs have this sweet innocence to them that is soo Nintendo. I love all the little attention to detail they have in the design department. The story seems like something you would read out of a children’s book. Despite this, the game doesn’t seem cliché. It felt like a love letter to video games, with a personal twist from the developers. I must note that occasionally, during cut scenes I did experience some frame stuttering, but I can’t say for sure if that is a testament to how the game runs or if it is my computer.
Not to mention the atmosphere is just crazy. The music is just incredible, and the way the sound design is made you don’t even need to put your headset on to feel immersed. You can literally feel the weight of the objects around you as they crash around—this was done better than I have seen in other huge blockbuster games. It’s simply the best sound design I have ever heard from a video game. The narrator is fantastic, I loved not only his voice but the script itself is epic when it needs to be, and funny when it needs to be. The only thing that bothered me in this department was that occasionally, the subtitles would not match up with the narrator and that bothered me a lot. It was never 100% off, but enough just to bother me a bit. To get 100%, I think this game would do well with a little more polishing on these fronts, especially since I could not find anything in the options to turn this feature off while I was playing.
Lastly, Effie plays super solidly. It is so satisfying to platform in this game, the jumps never feel unfair and the game ramps up difficulty very steadily. When I first began playing, I thought that it was super easy, however as you progress the game ramps up in difficulty. It never seems super difficult, however, and there are no options to adjust gameplay difficulty. Despite what may be a lack of challenge for some, who are looking for the next impossible platformer to play, I found Effie relaxing and fun to play. You really just can’t beat platformers that make you feel good, especially with how smooth main character Galand plays. I just love the intuitiveness of the controls, how Galand always does what you want him to, and how fun it was to just run around, jump around, and especially surf around. This game is constantly putting a smile on your face. Combat is also intuitive and fun to play, I loved fighting all sorts of enemies. And finally, the most addicting part of the game—the collect a thon. Oh, how I love a satisfying collecting mechanic. And somehow, this game has made the most satisfying collect a thon I have ever experienced. Not even Mario coins have anything on this. For some reason, once a saw these little relics from across the room, I knew I just had to grab them.
In general, I think anybody of any age would enjoy Effie. The gameplay is super addicting and satisfying, the world is a treat to experience and the sound design pushes it over the edge in excellence. The developers have a little to work on in terms of general polish, but nothing that seriously takes away from the strong points that this game has to offer.
9.5/10
Check Out the Effie Trailer:
For more information, please visit: https://www.effiegame.com/
Effie is available for $19.99 for PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam.
Steam Review
I am a senior studying History at the University of Michigan. I've been playing video games since I was very young and around age 16 I had become entirely obsessed with the medium. I hope to one day work in the industry in any way I can.
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