Klonoa arrives on Wii, my impressions.

First I would like to say that I missed the launch date for one of my most anticipated games of the year. The original release date for Klonoa was May 5th and suddenly it was showing up on Gamestop's website as an April 30th release date but later got pushed back to May 5th so I thought nothing of it. As it ends up it was indeed released early (At least at Gamestop) on May 1st and I did not find this out until May 4th, in which case I decided to wait until it was released at Best Buy to purchase the game.

First let me explain briefly what Klonoa is all about for those who are unaware. This is a remake to a platformer game which originated on the Playstation 1 back in 1997. It is a 2.5D platformer as people like to refer to it as it is on a two dementional plane however this plane shifts the camera to give the effect of the game moving on three dimensions. The game is filled with cute charm and characters as well as a surprisingly engaging story. The platforming takes on light puzzle solving elements as Klonoa can grab his enemies and use them to give himself double jumps, hit switches, and more.

I have had two nights to spend with the game and I am pleased to say it is exactly what I expected, a faithful remake to one of my favorite games of all time. First I would like to say, for those looking for the most authentic experience possible of the original Klonoa I recommend immediately going into the Options and setting the voices for "Phantomile" and not English. This was the original "gibberish" language spoken in the Playstation original, though if you are not accustomed to the original game you can probably get away with using the English voice acting.

I am on the 8th level and so far I am very impressed with the new presentation of the game. It uses a graphical engine which adds a blur to backgrounds to create an atmospheric effect not possible on the original. The graphics are very bright and colorful, with some nice touches such as the shadows of trees and clouds moving across the bright cheery levels, creating a nice contrast between bright and dark. The original musical score remains intact, which is both good in the sense that it is an amazing soundtrack but also bad for myself only because I own the soundtrack and have listened to it countless times already, so it would have been nice to have seen slight remixes of some sort on some of the tracks to keep things fresh.

Gameplay wise the game remains nearly unchanged except for the fact that Klonoa's life bar is now larger, allowing less deaths during play. There is also an element I have almost completely neglected through my time with the game which is Klonoas new whirlwind ability. With the press of a button Klonoa now has the ability to "stun" the enemies around him by making them go into a dizzy dance. This was not in the original game and I stumbled upon this by mistake and have chosen not to use it much just yet, to keep the original feel of the original for now (maybe on a second play through).

So I am sure if you are reading this the big question you have is if you should buy the game. My answer is a big resounding YES. Not only is this game timeless, but it can be had for only $29.99 in the US, which is a steal considering it is hard to get a copy of the original Playstation version for under $70 on eBay now. Get out there and buy and support this game so we may see a Klonoa 3 on consoles in the future!