Shu Review – A Great Beginning to a Possible Classic

<p>Are you a gamer that likes to speed run through the game to get the fastest time&quest; Are you a completionist gamer that has to collect everything&quest; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;coatsink&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Coatsink Games<&sol;a> have created <em>Shu<&sol;em>&comma; an all new platformer that offers something to players of both play-styles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Shu<&sol;em> puts players in the role of a bird named Shu&comma; who has to flee his village after a great storm destroys it&period; Shu embarks on a desperate journey to survive and must rescue and work with other stranded villagers in order to figure out how to stop the storm&period; Each of the villagers gives Shu different capabilities and skills with which to progress further through the game&period; While <em>Shu<&sol;em> only has 15 levels&comma; there are all sorts of collectibles to find and secrets to explore&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114040" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114040" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114040 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;06023137&sol;Light-Beams-1024x554&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;Shu&comma; Coatsink&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"541" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114040" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Shu<&sol;em>&comma; Coatsink&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Each of the five &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;worlds” in <em>Shu<&sol;em> has three levels&period; In those three levels&comma; there are six baby birds to be found&comma; as well as butterflies to collect and a secret artifact piece hidden throughout the level&period; Each level is rendered as a side-scrolling level fully in 3 dimensions&period; Movement is only left to right&comma; up and down&comma; with no movement into the foreground or background&period; Despite this&comma; the game<em> <&sol;em>also has a <em>Paper Mario<&sol;em>-esque aesthetic&comma; with the main characters &lpar;Shu and the villagers he befriends along the way&rpar; being hand drawn with each of their animations rather than rendered in 3D like the levels&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Each world has variety&comma; both in a visual sense and in terms of mechanics&period; The first world&comma; for example&comma; features a ground pound mechanic and the capability to control certain platforms&period; Each world is different&comma; providing a double jump&comma; taking advantage of updrafts&comma; walking on water&comma; and more&period; Each of these constantly makes you look at the skill-set you currently have in order to progress and find secret areas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In some of the levels&comma; there is a running segment where you need to outrun the storm that is chasing you&period; These areas are somewhat difficult and take precision platforming to a new level&period; Skilled players will likely have no trouble with those segments&period; They can be trying and difficult for players who aren’t great at platforming&comma; though&comma; and will almost always require a few deaths in order to figure out the most efficient path to the goal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114041" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114041" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114041 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;06023252&sol;Hungry-Storm-1024x565&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;Shu&comma; Coatsink&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"552" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114041" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Shu<&sol;em>&comma; Coatsink&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>There is also a Time Trial Mode for the speed runners that want to find the fastest route through a level&period; With the built-in leaderboard&comma; you can compete with friends or people around the world to achieve the fastest time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Shu<&sol;em> is gorgeous&comma; and the gameplay is smooth&period; There are a few issues with<em> Shu<&sol;em> that should be noted&comma; however&period; The gamepad support can be somewhat erratic at times&comma; but more often than not they are smooth and easy to use&period; Additionally&comma; there is a problem concerning the tutorial segments for each character&comma; namely in the fact that they never give information on what buttons utilize the new skills you obtain&period; Because of this sometimes it takes trial and error to learn how to use your new abilities&comma; which can be frustrating&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While <em>Shu <&sol;em>has no dialogue&comma; the music is peaceful and provides an interesting atmosphere that works perfectly with the events of the game&period; All of the tutorial text is done in picture form&comma; and even the bits of story detail are done in a hand-drawn aesthetic that is enticing and pleasing to the eye&period; It is strange&comma; but as I played <em>Shu<&sol;em>&comma; I knew that it had the same whimsical flair and substance that other classic platformers have had&period; There was something about the experience that felt fresh and addictive&comma; and I truthfully hope other people see it the same way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other than that&comma; <em>Shu<&sol;em> is a fun&comma; addictive experience&period; It is interesting to see a story with no dialogue that still has meat and substance to it&comma; though there are more questions left than answers&period; All in all&comma; <em>Shu<&sol;em> feels like the beginning of what could be a franchise that could also become a classic&period; If Coatsink tighten up the controls a little and expand upon things a little more&semi; I would greatly love to see a <em>Shu <&sol;em>2 release sometime in the future&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PC Review Code for <em>Shu<&sol;em> was provided by Coatsink for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;