An ode to the pixels of the past, Sigi – a Fart for Melusina is 20 levels of silly, rude, potty humor fun. The loosely-defined story surrounds a knight named Sigi who can’t seem to keep his farts on the inside, who falls in love with a mermaid (apparently) named Melusina. Sigi scares her away with his flatulent feelings, and spends the rest of the game trying to find her and win her back.
I never expected to enjoy Sigi: a Fart for Melusina, but after the first few levels I started really enjoying the game as I jumped over chasms, bounced atop tires and threw swords and chicken drumsticks at zombies, bats, birds, witches and more. I found myself actually laughing at the admittedly stupid jokes, which sometimes involved clever taglines scrolling across the bottom of the screen following certain events. At one point during a mini-boss fight, with no other context, at the bottom of the screen appeared the words, love me, love my dog. These seemingly random and surprising jokes made me sincerely laugh, despite my initial attitude. Sigi holds a shockingly diverse mix of fart jokes, references, and situational humor, which keeps it lighthearted and entertaining without becoming too obvious or tiring.
Graphically, Sigi is similar to the 16(ish) bit games of the past. A side-scroll platformer, the basic mechanics include jumping over obstacles and fighting enemies as you travel your way through the linear levels. The landscapes are interesting, and though pretty much the same backdrop is used on every level, it differs in small ways, like nighttime to daytime, or caves to waterfalls. Each sprite is diverse, with each enemy having not only a different ability but a different appearance. Zombies stagger back and forth while birds “caw!” and swoop toward the ground to deliver a fiery poop package. Sigi himself doesn’t look unlike a certain Italian plumber, had he been wearing a suit of armor, and had his princess being a semi-nude mermaid. But, even with these few similarities, Sigi manages to stay unique.
While there isn’t actually a lot of variety within the soundtrack, you don’t realize until a second play through that the music has been repeating through the levels. There are a few songs that stagger in order depending on the setting of the level, including an intense and upbeat song dedicated to boss fights. The bit-like soundtrack is another callback to past games, with layered “ding” sounds creating a fun and appropriate soundtrack. While not necessarily the most impressive musical composition, the music behind Sigi enhanced the game and made the overall feeling an enjoyable one.
As far as platformers go, it isn’t the most difficult or the easiest I’ve ever played. The obstacles, the enemies, and the secrets all have just enough challenge to keep things entertaining, though I would say it errs on the side of “easy.” Lives are gained a lot more quickly than they are lost (at least in the early levels), save points come up multiple times throughout levels, and the entire game only takes about an hour to beat. That being said, it’s still an hour of stupid (and sometimes infuriating) fun. Enemies and traps can prove surprisingly difficult, and without a little platforming practice, bosses can eat all of your not-so-hard earned lives with a few nasty hits. This combination of easy/hard works surprisingly well, which makes it a solid addition to the platformer family.
Though short, kind of easy, and a little adolescent, Sigi – a Fart for Melusina is a great platformer with fun characters, a few great jokes, and an old-school feel that creates an all-around good time. A couple hours of pure, ridiculous fun is worth such a low price, especially for platformer fans with an affinity for fart jokes (and pixel mermaids).
Sigi - a Fart for Melusina
2.99
Pros
- Great Platforming Setup
- Surprisingly Funny
- Plenty of Secrets and Collectibles
- Fun, Silly Characters
Cons
- Overall Pretty Easy
- Short Playthrough
