{"id":24917,"date":"2024-09-27T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T00:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=24917"},"modified":"2024-08-28T01:44:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T01:44:44","slug":"bakeru-switch-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/27\/bakeru-switch-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"Bakeru (Switch, PC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Well this game certainly took me by surprise, as it\u2019s one of the best games I\u2019ve played this year so far!\u00a0 Bakeru is set in an alternate version of Japan, where fairy tale heroes are real.\u00a0 You play as Bakeru, a shape-shifting tanuki who attacks enemies with taiko drumsticks in his human form.\u00a0 You\u2019ll travel around this cartoony version of Japan in a 3D platformer style adventure. The Japanese themes remind me a lot of games like Okami and the Goemon games (Mystical Ninja in the US).\u00a0 In fact, Good Feel made Bakeru, and one of the guys who founded that company used to work for Konami and made a lot of the Goemon games.\u00a0 So many people say that Bakeru is like a spiritual successor to those.\u00a0 Good Feel also made many games for Nintendo, some of which include Wario Land: Shake it, Kirby\u2019s Epic Yarn, and Yoshi\u2019s Woolly World.\u00a0 And Bakeru is just as good as anything Nintendo has produced this year so far, and it\u2019s available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.<\/p>\n

As Bakeru, you can run and jump and do a lot of the moves that Mario in 3D can do, even a side flip.\u00a0 Pressing the L and R buttons will make Bakeru attack with the taiko drumsticks in his left and right hands.\u00a0 You can perform all sorts of combos and charged moves this way, and it\u2019s a lot of fun.\u00a0 As you play, you\u2019ll be able to transform into other Japanese fairy tale heroes.\u00a0 One lets you shrink down to fit into small spaces, while the others change up your attacks like a stronger Sumo style fighter, or long distance blows with fishing rods!\u00a0 While in these transformations, a meter will go down and if it is empty, you\u2019ll change back into your original form.\u00a0 But you can refill the meter by collecting special glowing objects from defeated enemies.\u00a0 Bakeru can also use a taiko drum as a shield, and if you time it right, you can even deflect shots back at foes.\u00a0 Coins can also be collected to buy items and upgrades from a shopkeeper tanuki you\u2019ll meet in the stages.<\/p>\n

Most of the stages are 3D platforming affairs with more of a focus on combat.\u00a0 Your goal in each area is to find three special lanterns and destroy them, which will unlock a giant Taiko drum at the end of the stage for you to pound on to finish it.\u00a0 There are lots of hidden collectables for you to find, too.\u00a0 In each stage are three prize balls you can open to get a souvenir you can view later in your giant flying tea kettle.\u00a0 Touring Japan and getting those souvenir items makes this game feel like you\u2019re on a vacation.\u00a0 Granted you\u2019re touring a very cartoony, unrealistic version of Japan, but it\u2019s still very fun.\u00a0 There is also this little guy named Scoop, who looks like one of those cartoony poop icons, who you can find in five different places throughout the levels, and he\u2019ll give you a useless fact (mostly about Japan) if you talk to him.\u00a0 Later on in the game you can try and find some really well hidden tanukis, too!\u00a0 Some stages mix things up with racing and shooting sections, as well as giant robot boss battles where your flying tea kettle transforms into a huge battle mech!<\/p>\n

Bakeru does have a few minor problems.\u00a0 There are around 60 or so stages, which is a lot for a 3D platformer.\u00a0 But they went for quantity over quality here as many of the stages repeat themes and assets.\u00a0 But there are still lots of standout fun ones like on the deck of a cruise ship, on the rooftops of a Japanese pagoda castle, or a town that\u2019s actually a giant pachinko machine!\u00a0 And in order to get all the collectables, you might have to do a bit of backtracking which can be a pain for some people.\u00a0 And since the game is more focused on combat, sometimes the platform jumping sections aren\u2019t quite as good.\u00a0 But these problems didn\u2019t deter the fun I had with this game.\u00a0 If you enjoy colorful 3D platformers from the GameCube era, you definitely want to try this one out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing too violent or objectionable here.\u00a0 You do bonk silly enemies with drumsticks and fishing poles but they just disappear in a sparkly explosion when defeated.\u00a0 There is a bit of crude humor with the poop jokes, but the game could be considered slightly educational since you go around Japan (geography) learning trivia and facts and such.\u00a0 Reading skill is needed, though.\u00a0 Bakeru is rated E for Everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well this game certainly took me by surprise, as it\u2019s one of the best games I\u2019ve played this year so far!\u00a0 Bakeru is set in an alternate version of Japan, where fairy tale heroes are real.\u00a0 You play as Bakeru, a shape-shifting tanuki who attacks enemies with taiko drumsticks in his human form.\u00a0 You\u2019ll travel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24917"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24919,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24917\/revisions\/24919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}