Scarygirl - Demo impressions

Scarygirl is 2D action platformer that puts you in the role of the orphaned Scarygirl. I originally played Scarygirl on my Playstation 3 as a Minis title. I even reviewed that title on one of my other sites. The demo version is the arcade/console title which i played on my Xbox 360. To make a long story short the console arcade version is much different than the Minis and handheld versions. Scarygirl was developed by TikGames and published by Square Enix. Scarygirl is available on XBLIG and PSN. It has a TBA Q1 release date for the PC.

The Menus in Scarygirl included Start Trial, Look at Collection and  Onion Bowl. Onion Bowl is a combat tutorial section which was effective at teaching me Scarygirl's abilities. The controls via the Xbox 360 gamepad: D-pad-change hook attachment, LS-move, LB-scary mode, LT-block, RT-grapple, Y-heavy attack, X-light attack, B-roll and A-jump/glide. The controls were solid. In combat grabbing and juggling enemies with Scarygirl's whip and hook was precise. Using the grapple and glide abilities to traverse the 2D levels was seamless.

Scarygirl's story is told at the beginning of the demo. Scarygirl was abandoned at sea but rescued one day Blister the octopus. The cutscene is told through comicbook cutouts and voiced narration. One night, Scarygirl had a dream about a mysterious man who hunted her. Soon the nightmare she meets a mysterious guru-like Rabbit who says he can help her find out who the man is. From there the gameplay starts nears Scarygirl's home in a haunted island setting. If you need a visual of how Scarygirl looks and the world this game is played on think Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas.

The gameplay is pretty good in this arcade game. You have to use combat which is done primarily through Scarygirl's hook. You can modify her hook by collecting gems and fish from slain enemies. Gems are this game's currency. The stores are creatures who inhabit the levels. There is also a creature who can fill up Scarygirl's heart containers for a price. As far as modifying her hook goes those are done with attachments. Some attachments for sale were Anchor, Fan, Feather and Fish. Scarygirl also has a special Rage meter that fills up overtime while defeating enemies. When activated Scarymode kicks in and she dishes out the final judgement like the grim reaper.

Her attacks morph into a giant dark shadow that looks like a monster.The platforming is decent. You have to use Scarygirl's whip/hook to grapple illuminated objects on poles and other places. She can glide pretty far too. However most of the time your just hitting hedgehog enemies with her hook. There are areas where the path splits which was neat for a 2D game. There were two levels in the demo one being a dark haunted forest and the other Old Man's Mountains which is a bright sunny canyon/mountain setting.

As far as Scarygirl's presentation goes its good for a arcade style 2D platformer. The visuals are lead by a really good art design. I want to play Scarygirl on Halloween for its art design alone. The music and sound design was decent enough. The combat was good along with its platforming. The demo doesn't seem to have any real glaring weaknesses. I guess that just about does it. Thanks for reading.