Originally posted November 15th 2014 on the Seafoam Gaming forums

Title: Paper Monsters Recut

System: Wii U (eShop)

Price: $7.99

Release date: 10/16/2014

The main game/story

This is a 2.5D platformer, with a lot of emphasis on collecting items. Nothing overly unique or mind-blowing, but still fun nonetheless. As for the story… Well, I couldn’t seem to find one. The game has occasional cutscenes off and on, but there wasn’t any “concrete” story set in place besides “defeat the bad guys”. For a game like this though, it doesn’t matter that much.

Graphics

Being a 2.5D game, it has 3D characters and backgrounds in a 2D plane. Most of the time when games do this, they look ugly and bland. Luckily Paper Monsters Recut does something unique with its art style that prevents this. You see, Paper Monsters Recut takes place in a world full of paper creatures, and they all look very nice, from the end of the stages being performance stages, and the hub world looking nice and colorful, and really helps fit this theme. This way of preventing the usual visual mess that results from a 2.5D game is very creative, and helps add to this game’s charm.

Music and sound effects:

Nothing memorable here. Most of the music is forgettable and generic, same with the sound effects. They aren’t bad or anything, just really, really simple to the point I can’t really describe them that well.

Gameplay

In this game, you take control of the main character as you go through numerous worlds, collecting all of the golden paperclips and buttons that you can find. You do this by moving left or right and using your double jump. Some worlds have special gimmicks, like the space world which makes the game feel like Mega Man for a brief amount of time. It is pretty simple, but also a lot of fun. It’s nice to have a game that instead of focusing on doing so many things at once, lets you go at your own pace, not overwhelming the player. There are a few boss battles included to change the pace of the game, but they don’t last too long, and they rarely feel like much of a threat at all.

It is fun to explore each and every level and collect all of the golden paperclips, and it’s very fun to see what extra goodies you can find and unlock in this game. The only downside with the control is the fact that you can’t use the D-pad to move, only the left analog stick for some odd reason. Besides this minor complaint, however the game succeeds in what it sets out to do.

Conclusion

In the end, Paper Monsters Recut is a bit difficult to describe. It’s a fun 2.5D platformer with a lot of collecting to do, but besides that it doesn’t seem all that unique from other platformers in the gameplay department. However, it nails the graphical art style, and this is one of the prettiest 2.5D games I’ve ever played. If you just want a casual game to sit down and relax with for a few days, pick up Paper Monsters Recut. You won’t be disappointed. I give Paper Monsters Recut a 7 out of 10

Thanks to Crescent Moon Games for the review code.