New Super Lucky's Tale

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New Super Lucky's Tale
NewSuperLuckysTale.png
Developer(s)Playful Studios
Publisher(s)Playful Studios
Composer(s)Aaron Brown, Romain Gauthier
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
ReleaseNintendo Switch
  • WW: November 8, 2019
Microsoft Windows, Xbox One
  • WW: August 21, 2020
PlayStation 4
  • NA: August 21, 2020
  • EU: August 21, 2020
  • JP: September 27, 2020
Xbox Series X/S
  • WW: November 10, 2020
PlayStation 5
  • NA: November 12, 2020
  • JP: November 12, 2020
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

New Super Lucky's Tale is a 3D platform game developed and published by Playful Studios. It is an enhanced remake of 2017's Super Lucky's Tale, also developed by Playful Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. Initially released for Nintendo Switch on November 8, 2019, it was later released for Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and PlayStation 4 between August and September 2020, and for the ninth generation of video game consoles in November 2020. The game received a generally positive reception.

Gameplay[]

See also: Super Lucky's Tale § Gameplay

New Super Lucky's Tale is a platform game in which players control Lucky as he travels across many different worlds contained within an artifact known as the Book of Ages. Each world is presented with its own hub which could be explored and traversed within a 3D space in a non-linear manner.[1][2] Each world feature levels where Lucky clears various objectives and searches for secrets in order to collect pages which contain a clover emblem, which grant access to a boss fight involving a member of the game's villainous faction, the Kitty Litter, and allow players to progress to the next world at its conclusion.[3] Certain levels place Lucky in a 2D side-scrolling environment, and occasionally these levels have Lucky moving in one constant direction, with a focus on quick reflexes through dodging obstacles which appear on screen through jumping or burrowing.[3] Other levels feature sliding puzzles, and marble puzzles where Lucky is shrunk down and contained in a marble ball; the player must tilt the stage and successfully navigate Lucky in order to progress.[3] Lucky may dispatch enemies by swiping them with his tail or jump on them.[4] Players may dress Lucky in a variety of outfits purchased using coins collected in each level.[3]

New features[]

New Super Lucky's Tale features a reworked story, along with an expanded cast of characters for players to interact with; a fully rotatable camera which can be zoomed in or out by pushing up and down on the right analog stick; and levels designed around the implementation of tighter controls.[3] The running order of the worlds that players encounter throughout the course of the narrative have been changed with the integration of Gilly’s Island downloadable content (DLC) as one of the game’s five core worlds;[5] the player is tasked with the goal of destroying speaker systems set up by Lady Meowmalade, a member of the Kitty Litter, to liberate non player characters from their trance-like dancing.[6] The hub worlds of Holiday Canyon and Spookington are renamed as Wrestful Retreat and Hauntingham respectively, while the aesthetics and contents of several levels have been altered, or redesigned in its entirety.[2][7] Foxington is an unlockable post-credit world which offers a series of more challenging stages with a 1980's theme.[3]

Plot[]

See also: Super Lucky's Tale § Plot

The plot outline of New Super Lucky's Tale is loosely based on the original Super Lucky's Tale, where Lucky Swiftail embarks on a quest to help his sister Lyra, a member of the Guardian Order, to protect the Book of Ages, inside of which exist entire worlds and characters. New Super Lucky's Tale includes additional backstory about other members of Lucky's family, which include his parents and brother, who all belong to the Guardian Order. Jinx is a former Guardian and close friend of Lucky's father Liam; a sorcerer and a master of magical illusion, he betrays the other Guardians to claim the Book of Ages for himself after his world inexplicably vanished, which left Jinx and his children as its lone survivors, now known as the Kitty Litter. Lyra along with her brother and the few remaining Guardians flee, avoiding the Kitty Litter for years until they are finally cornered in the world of Foxington. But the Book of Ages reacts to Jinx's magic by pulling the villains and Lucky into the book. With assistance and guidance offered by his newfound golem friends, Lucky collects the pages of the book to reopen the portals to the other worlds within the book as he faces off against members of the Kitty Litter such as Tess, General Buttons and Lt. Fluffinstuff, making new friends along the way.

When Lucky enters Jinx's Castle at Hauntingham, he encounters Lyra who asks him to hand over the book, but this is revealed to be an illusion by Jinx who steals the book, revealing that he allowed Lucky to gather the pages on his behalf and that he intends to use it to rewrite history. Lucky emerges victorious after a battle with Jinx, and in the post-game levels, undertakes the trials to become a guardian, earning a statue made in his honor following his formal induction into the order. In a post-credit cutscene, one of Jinx's children, Mittens, is revealed to have evaded capture. He jailbreaks the rest of Kitty Litter with assistance from Lucas, the missing brother of Lucky and Lyra.

Development and release[]

New Super Lucky's Tale is a remake of the original Super Lucky's Tale.[8][9][5] Playful Studios said Super Lucky's Tale was "rebuilt from the ground up", with improvements introduced to most aspects of the original game.[2] [10] Playful Studios maintained that as a result, New Super Lucky's Tale is a "essentially a new game" as opposed to a remaster.[9] Previous DLC released for Super Lucky's Tale is fully incorporated into the narrative of New Super Lucky's Tale.[10]

In the original Super Lucky's Tale, Lucky runs on all fours. The developers changed Lucky's running animation for New Super Lucky's Tale, and explained that while they appreciated the original aesthetic, Lucky's movement as a bipedal character was found to be more precise and pleasant to handle due to the reworked game controls.[11]

The game's creative director Dan Hurd said the developers are open to the idea of a sequel and expressed an interest in implementing unused ideas should such a project be pursued: for example, there were early prototypes where Lucky had a companion character.[12] Hurd indicated that a potential sequel should offer experiences which are fundamentally new, instead of more of the same.[12]

Reception[]

New Super Lucky's Tale received "generally favorable" reviews on all console platforms, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[15][14][13]

In his review for Nintendo World Report, John Rairdin considered the Nintendo Switch to be a more appropriate platform for a game he considered to be "Xbox One's strangest exclusive". For Rairdin, the existing content had been improved upon and felt new. He listed the game's presentation, 3D platforming, and additional story content as its strengths, while its few weaknesses include control schemes for the 2D stages and mild performance issues.[4]

Chris Scullion from Nintendo Life summarized that New Super Lucky’s Tale is a "solid port of an underrated platformer with a greatly improved camera. It's a little on the short side and may not provide much of a challenge to more hardened gamers – and if you already own it on Xbox One there really isn't enough 'new' here to warrant a second purchase – but what makes it worth a look is its uncanny ability to make you smile, and this is something that can't be overlooked, especially in modern times".[3]

John Cal McCormick gave a positive review: he found the game to be "relentlessly jolly" at "just the right length", and is amused by the option of dressing Lucky up like Indiana Jones, but disapproved of the excessive loading screens as well as cutscenes which cannot be skipped when replaying levels.[1]

Gamespew gave the Switch version an average review, while the Xbox One version was reviewed more favorably, with reviewer Kim Snaith noting that the latter port lacked the "occasional performance hiccup" of the Switch release.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c McCormick, John Cal (August 21, 2020). "Mini Review: New Super Lucky's Tale - Short and Sweet Platformer Charms Throughout". Push Square. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Nintendo Life (November 10, 2019). "Behind the Tale: A Look Inside New Super Lucky's Tale & Playful Studios". YouTube. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Scullion, Chris (November 8, 2019). "New Super Lucky's Tale Review (Switch)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Rairdin, John (November 7, 2019). "New Super Lucky's Tale (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Dobson, Richard (August 26, 2020). "New Super Lucky's Tale is so much better than the original". Xbox Hub. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Kim Snaith (August 21, 2020). "New Super Lucky's Tale Review (Xbox One)". Gamespew. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  7. ^ Pitt, Rob (December 2, 2019). "New Super Lucky's Tale (Switch) Review". Game Pitt. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  8. ^ Kim Snaith (August 21, 2020). "What's New in New Super Lucky's Tale?". Gamespew. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  9. ^ a b New Super Lucky's Tale (July 29, 2020). "New Super Lucky's Tale is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on Friday, August 21!". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-08-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ a b "Lucky Takes on His Biggest Adventure Yet – The Nintendo Switch". Playful Studios. June 12, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  11. ^ Playful Studios (June 28, 2019). "New Super Lucky's Tale". Twitter. Retrieved March 18, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ a b Doolan, Liam (November 10, 2019). "New Super Lucky's Tale Dev Open To A Sequel, Still Has Some Unused Ideas". Nintendo Life. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  13. ^ a b "New Super Lucky's Tale for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  14. ^ a b "New Super Lucky's Tale for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  15. ^ a b "New Super Lucky's Tale for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  16. ^ "New Super Lucky's Tale Review". PlayStation Official Magazine – UK. No. 180. Ziff Davis Media. September 18, 2020. p. 80.
  17. ^ Scott Baird (November 12, 2019). "New Super Lucky's Tale Switch Review: A Throwback To The Mascot Era". Screen Rant. Retrieved March 18, 2021.


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