Push Square: "As fun as often as it is frustrating, Poncho is a hard game to recommend, even to 16-bit platformer super fans. You may be able to get some enjoyment out of it, and it certainly has an oddball charm, but ultimately, it fails to impress where it counts. The parallax layer hopping is neat and at times can be fun. Unfortunately, the game falters too often and descends into maddening tedium. Retro platformers may be stylish these days, but sadly, Poncho hasn't quite pulled it off."
Indie platformer Poncho is a great concept marred by poor puzzle design.
There is no shortage of puzzle-platformers on the downloadable scene, each one with their own retro hook, so standing out from the rest of the scenery can be a daunting task. With one simple push of a button, however, the mechanized titular protagonist of Poncho, just released for the Wii U, can change his position within the pixellated, parallaxing world. Is this clever gameplay mechanic enough to bring himself (and hopefully his game) to the indie foreground?
EB: This is more than likely going to be a week of working through your video game backlog, because there really aren’t many “must-play” games releasing this week. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find a gem in this week’s new video game release lineup, so head on down below to see what’s cooking.
