Floogen

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

.

Review:

Floogen is a Platformer released on PC in 2021 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2022. This game has players controlling various clay-people fighting various enemies in a world made of clay and cardboard.

The presentation here has to be one of Floogen’s most noteworthy qualities, with everything about this game exuding a look and feel that brings to mind stop-motion animation. Despite that all of the individual objects and bits of scenery in the game are in 2D, they’re given a depth and realistic feel due to good use of shadow that makes it feel like you could almost be looking at a stop-motion animated work. This is further enhanced by the game’s excellent sounds that have all of the game’s people and critters mumbling incoherently in a manner similar to how a lot of stop-motion animation is voiced. The soundtrack, meanwhile, is not nearly as delightful, but nevertheless still fits the overall odd feel of this game quite well.

Unfortunately, the gameplay isn’t quite as delightful as the presentation. Floogen is mostly a pretty typical Platformer, although the level design is fairly good, with some nice secrets hidden away here and there. Unfortunately, movement and platforming here isn’t very fun or fluid, and hit detection is iffy at best. The result is a game that looks adorable, but isn’t very fun to play, and is actually a bit too difficult for its otherwise kid-friendly presentation.

I really wish Floogen’s gameplay lived up to its presentation, because this game taps into a wellspring of nostalgia in a really delightful way, but the Platformer underneath all that just isn’t very fun. I suppose you may find some enjoyment in this game if the presentation appeals to you and you get it on sale, but otherwise, you’re probably better off sticking to the likes of Yoshi’s Crafted World.

tl;dr – Floogen is a Platformer with a really adorable presentation that mirrors the look and sound of stop-motion animation. Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn’t elicit the same sort of joy, with sub-par platforming and poor hit detection.

Grade: C

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, Exlene, Johannes, Homer Simpin, Ilya Zverev, Eli Goodman, Kristoffer Wulff, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Francis Obst, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}