The moment I saw Penny’s Big Breakaway, I knew I had to have it. Something that looked so creative, fun to play, and by the team that made Sonic Mania? I didn’t just need to play it. I needed it injected into my veins. I had been waiting patiently for this high-swinging, Yo-Yo-based platformer, so I was ecstatic when Evening Star decided to surprise drop it after the February Nintendo Partner Direct.
However, that rapid drop may have been a bit of a double-edged sword. There’s a lot to like about Penny’s Big Breakaway, but there’s also a bit that makes me question whether or not it needed a few more months in the oven to cook all the way through.
Penny’s Big Breakaway starts with the titular Penny heading to a grand busking contest to perform with her Yo-Yo for the chance to partner up with Emperor Eddie—the ruler of the world of Macaroon. However, on her way there, she encounters a strange item known as the “Cosmic String,” which transforms her Yo-yo and brings it to life.
Trouble ensues when, during the performance, her newly sentient Yo-Yo devours Emperor Eddie’s clothes and embarrasses him in front of the whole audience. Penny is labelled a felon and beset upon by Eddie’s army of Penguin Guards. Penny must go on the lam, escaping to the far ends of Macaroon and maybe learning the truth about the Cosmic String and much more.
“At its most basic, Penny’s Big Breakaway plays really well—once you get a feel for the controls.”
It’s a silly, lighthearted plot that not only sets up elements of the story—with truths about Emperor Eddie’s once kindhearted nature needing to be discovered—but also perfectly establishes the functions of gameplay that will be experienced by the player. Penny isn’t some super acrobat just because the game needs to be a platformer; it’s baked into the narrative, and so much of the game’s narrative elements are built around that—though simple, it was well-thought-out.
But the true star of the show is the gameplay, even though, like I said at the start, I am a bit conflicted on. Penny’s Big Breakaway plays like a true classic of 90s-era 3D platformers—the kinds of games you would get on the Dreamcast or PSX. Each level is essentially an obstacle course for players to jump, swing and platform through and while every new level presents something a little new, they’re built in such a way that puts Penny’s unique movement to the test.
That was the thing that initially hooked me on Penny’s Big Breakaway, as I’ve recently come to appreciate fluid movement in games. Penny’s Yo-Yo allows her to zip, swing and roll through each level, allowing for a lot of creative freedom and mobility. And while there are some limits to what she can do—players can only zip and swing once per jump, like a more restricted Spider-Man—there is a lot of room for experimentation and freestyling.
“Penny’s Big Breakaway plays like a true classic of 90s era 3D platformers—the kinds of games you would get on the Dreamcast or PSX.”
This incentive to experiment is reflected in the objectives of levels as well since each level not only keeps track of your time but rewards you with points for every zip, swing and roll—building a combo for every move done in succession. Furthermore, each level has three Macaroonian citizens to help for bonus points, as well as three special tokens to find that unlock bonus stages, so the game is constantly encouraging players to explore each level, tinker with the movement and get a good sense of how the game plays.
At its most basic, Penny’s Big Breakaway plays really well—once you get a feel for the controls. But the game’s biggest strength is also kind of its weakness, namely how much is centred around momentum. It’s not that movement momentum is bad—like I said, once you get used to it, it really works—but it feels a bit too committed to realistic momentum that it sucks some of the fun out of the movement.
This is most apparent when using the Yo-Yo to roll around. You’d think this would put you in a sort of boost state, where you can zip around the level at a higher speed. But instead, it operates with real wheel logic, so you need to build up speed in order to move. Furthermore, controlling the wheel doesn’t really adhere to the control like you’d think—instead of moving wherever the stick is pointing, you kind of roll and use the stick to rotate. It turned what should debatably be the most fun part of the movement into a bit of an awkward challenge.
Once you notice this, the way momentum is handled starts to creep into all facets of movement. Penny doesn’t really just run normally, instead starting slow and building up a bit of momentum. Boosting into a swing will cause Penny to loop around her Yo-Yo, but where you release needs to be very precise otherwise you might launch yourself straight into the air or smash into the ground.
I couldn’t help but feel like if the movement—while still factoring in momentum and physics—had a bit more of a fluid, arcadey feel, it would’ve been much more fun. Like, where you move the stick is just where you should go in every scenario. However, like I said, this is never really a dealbreaker for Penny’s Big Breakaway, and once you get used to the controls, it’s still a lot of fun. I just wish it was less something I had to get used to and more something that was just satisfying from the start.
But as fun as the game is, like I said at the start, there are a few ways Penny’s Big Breakaway feels a bit rushed. That isn’t to say the game lacks polish because you can see the care that went into making it in so many ways, but it does feel a bit like there was a bit of rushing through the QA phase. This is present in small ways, like how some cutscenes are animated in 3D while others are in still-image animatics, or how each world has a somewhat inconsistent number of levels—W1 has four levels plus a boss, while W2 has two levels and a boss.
“Penny’s Big Breakaway is a fantastic, albeit undercooked game.”
Then, the rush is present in bigger ways, namely how Penny’s Big Breakaway has a handful of technical issues. More than a few times, some frantic zipping caused Penny to clip into the geometry or a moment where entering a bonus area caused me to fall through the floor, and another sequence that locked Penny to a moving platform, and she once again got caught on a piece of the level and was thrown into a pool of lava.
It’s not exactly a dealbreaker, but it does make me wish this game had a few more months to really iron out the kinks. With a game that’s so centred around movement and precise, high-speed platforming, you really want to make sure everything works just right because as soon as it doesn’t, the game becomes somewhat frustrating to play.
Penny’s Big Breakaway makes up for some of these shortcomings with an abundance of style and charm. Visually, as I said above, it has an incredible, simple 3D style, evocative of Dreamcast-era games. It utilizes a bright, colourful aesthetic that brings every level to life and makes every element stand out. Despite its simplistic design, there is an abundance of detail that may cause you to try to explore the linear levels.
The visuals are backed by an AMAZING soundtrack that perfectly compliments the high-flying nature of the gameplay. From Vanillatown’s peppy, silly soundtrack that feels thematically like a circus to Moltobene’s scythe-jazz that not only fits its hot setting but sounds like something ripped straight from Sonic Adventure.
Penny’s Big Breakaway is a fantastic, albeit undercooked, game. Its main gameplay hook, stylized worlds and addicting—though sometimes frustrating—gameplay consistently kept me playing. Even when I would get annoyed and shut it off, I’d find myself picking it back up moments later. I really hope some future patches can really tighten the experience, but for what it is, it’s another in a long list of my “must-play” indies.
