Scarygirl: Where Burton Meets Schafer

The classic, yet touching, tale of an abandoned girl taken in
by a giant, nearly extinct, octopus. 

Scarygirl
PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Developed by Tikgames and published by Square Enix, Scarygirl is something else. Scarygirl is an old-school styled action-platform game, with graphics and storyline based on Nathan Jurevicius's comic and figures of the same name. Playing as a little girl with a tentacle arm and a hook, and dressed "stylishly" by Blister, her octopus guardian, Scarygirl feels like a mashup meeting of Tim Burton and Tim Schafer. And that's far from a bad thing. 

Scarygirl and Bunniguru versus a robot dragon with a detached head.
This was surprisingly one of the least strange battles in the game. 

Scarygirl's graphics set the mood of the game perfectly, but while they are good, they're definitely not great. The resolution options for the PC version are somewhat disappointing, not currently supporting any widescreen or high-res options, and neither the PC or console versions have any sort of anti-aliasing. Despite jagged edges and lack of high-res graphics though the graphics do get the feeling of the game across very well. With diverse levels, such as scary woods, underground sewers, big cities, and even casino styled bars, the variety and detail of the designs are impressive. Every level, whether bright or dark, is very colorful and mood setting, bringing out the creepiness of a cave filled with spiders, or the open air beauty of tree filled mountain tops. Though what really stands out in Scarygirl is the character designs. From owls to yeti, toy cats to teddy bears, every character is beautifully done, and each level has its own enemy sets, giving Scarygirl a much welcomed diversity throughout the game.

The next time I see somebody with one arm I am now going to mistakenly 
assume they can fly using one arm as a helicopter-like attachment. 

The music in Scarygirl is superb, and the sound effects well done. Throughout the game the music and sound effects really draw the player in, and make up for where the graphics let me down. Although I haven't seen an option to purchase the soundtrack to this game, it wouldn't surprise me if there was one soon. In the vein of contemporary classical movie scores, the soundtrack reminds me of Tim Burton films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas or The Corpse Bride, hence my previous reference to Mr. Burton. This is one soundtrack I know I'll be coming back to if given the opportunity.

A yeti with a log. That is such a fantastic boss
that I have nothing else to say about it.

The controls in Scarygirl are some of the most intuitive I have ever picked up, in regards to platforming, but the directional control when aiming thrown objects, and using the unlockable special moves needs improvement. It was a little frustrating when I needed to throw a rock into a target to open a gate, or even toss an enemy, and I missed two or three times in a row. I found myself in the same situation with the special moves; I was excited to try out my new moves, only to be forced to attempt the required button combos multiple times to get them to work correctly. While a couple of the moves worked like a charm every time, about half of them needed repeated attempts to work. To make sure I wasn't alone in this I made my roommate try the same moves, and he found them just as difficult to pull off. When in the thick of multiple-enemy battles this can be a real bummer. Overall though I was mostly able to breeze through the levels, without a tutorial being necessary. When the tutorial sections did pop up, they were well done, however I found it annoying that when entered they couldn't be skipped, and I already knew much of what was being covered. Also while battling certain bosses and enemies I felt like I needed some explanation on how to defeat them, that however was a rare event, and it never reached the point of frustration. One last note is being able to remap the controls would have been a nice option, though not really necessary. The default, and only, button layout seems very natural, and players should pick up on the control scheme quickly. All in all I'd say the controls are adequate, but far from superb.

Men in ski masks, never trust them.   

One other thing that may be a point of frustration though, is the sharp increase in difficulty about halfway through the game. While this wasn't too bad when playing two player, it was fairly noticeable playing alone. I never found the difficulty level frustrating, but Scarygirl doesn't adjust its difficulty well. A good but challenging game, and a game that suddenly becomes challenging over the span of two levels are two different things. This really wasn't much of a bother, but it was a bit of a surprise. I went from getting "Perfection" on every level, never losing a life and gathering every gem, to losing lives over and over, and missing lots of gems in a very short span. As I said, it wasn't frustrating, but it was quite surprising, and had me very thankful for the infinite lives supplied.

Ah, the classic hordes-of-spiders-which-ravenously-eat-you-alive-if-you-
don't-outrun-them level. The upshot is even your ghost is cutesy!

Speaking on the two player mode, it had some interesting mechanics. The second player must keep up to Scarygirl at all times, if they don't they're instantly transported to her location, sometimes leading to cheap deaths of the second player. Fortunately the second player will respawn at the next checkpoint. On the other hand should Scarygirl die at any point, both players are taken back to the previous checkpoint. While the two player mode is fun, and makes certain areas much easier, it felt like it was tacked on last minute, and not given much thought. I think that given a little more thought, and a lot better implementation, Scarygirl's two player mode could have really excelled; as is though, it's really more of a way to get through levels easier, or get in game trophies quicker.

This looks strangely similar to my old neighborhood.

Replay wise I found myself going through a few levels multiple times, and really enjoying certain areas. With three different endings, and multiple unlockable moves and extras, Scarygirl had me playing through it several times, despite its flaws. Admittedly though unlockable content won't keep me coming back for more terribly often, and replaying the same levels over and over will eventually get old, not to mention all three endings left me wanting more, and not in a good way. Despite that I can still see myself coming back to this one down the road, especially if a proper sequel is made that fixes the flaws found in Scarygirl; something I'd really like to see.

Despite looking like a horrible monster Blister is actually father-of-the-year material;
other than sending his adopted daughter on a life-threatening quest to discover
where those darned "mystery leaves" were coming from that is.

Overall I'd say Scarygirl is a good game that could have been great. Scarygirl had absolutely everything it needed to make it an "Instant Classic", but falls short in areas that could have been easily corrected. However with it's moody excellence, and great overall feel, I'd still recommend a purchase if you see it on sale. That being said I give Scarygirl 3.75 out of 5 Stars, and hope to see a sequel down the road.

Until next time, game on.