The resurgence of collectathon 3D platformer is something the gaming community has seen in recent months, with the acclaimed release of Super Mario Odyssey and the high profile releases Yooka-Laylee and A Hat in Time. Even smaller indie titles like Poi have made their mark in this new 3D platforming renaissance. However, Ginger: Beyond the Crystal - made by Drakhar Studio - is a game that deserves to be left behind.
Admittedly the visuals present a decently attractive game... at first glance; this is immediately betrayed upon any close examination. Given that this is a Switch port of a game first released on Xbox One, PS4 and PC, a graphical downgrade may be expected. However, the downgrade this game has received is beyond the pale in an age of impressive ports seen elsewhere, in which demanding games have been moved to Switch from more powerful hardware and perform admirably.
Ginger suffers from a big resolution drop resulting in a blurry, less crisp version; comparing it to the PS4 iteration, for example, makes the Switch port clearly show its faults. Even the loading screen suffers from what was a clear missed opportunity for proper optimization in the porting process. This is compounded by constant framerate drops that, while not making the game unplayable, make Ginger borderline unbearable. Easily over 60% of this reviewer’s playtime was plagued by frame drops that made gameplay beyond frustrating. Not to mention the draw distance downgrade, in certain areas, which removes any artistic appeal to the “open world” areas and replaces any pretty vista with a view that cannot be in any way described as appealing.
A big part of the 3D platforming resurgence is the return of a gameplay model that many find, nostalgically or not, quite pleasant. Hopping from place to place in search of every secret in every nook and cranny can bring out the inner child in everyone who loves to explore a new and interesting world. However, whilst Ginger: Beyond the Crystal may be new, it is anything but interesting. The game begins with an opening narration that provides the most basic premise for the player’s mission: this world’s goddess has turned her back on her worshippers and in some strange turn of events, their sacred crystal has exploded, creating havoc. Now, instead of returning to save her people she instead creates Ginger, an avatar of sorts, that is charged with rescuing the villagers and purifying the crystal shards.
After the opening narration gameplay begins with the player taking control of Ginger, a cute, blue, impish creature (perhaps James Cameron-inspired) capable of many combative feats. Unfortunately, there is zero reason to utilize any of the combat moves except one. Ginger’s dash attack is the only thing needed to progress through 90% of the combat as every enemy can be downed by one or two hits, with no variation. Enemies will change their skin depending on the zone but it is clear that this game is basically copying and pasting the units with no thought put into making any varied or engaging combat.
The platforming aspect is also similarly uninspired and uninteresting. The game features three major open worlds - a term used very loosely - and zones, each with several portals to the missions, the game’s main meat. The open world sections allow Ginger to jump and dash around, collect crystal-shaped coins and building materials, rebuild the village buildings, and perform side quests (which are entirely composed of meaningless fetch quests, bounty missions, or racing minigames). Unfortunately, none of these actions feel in any way satisfying or even fun. The village building mechanic is simply a matter of collecting the right combination of materials, finding the pre-selected building areas, and selecting the building desired. There is no customization whatsoever, which makes this mechanic an unnecessary chore only needed to further unlock missions.
Speaking of which, the missions, which is where the bulk of the game resides, seem to have forgotten that this game is a 3D platformer and instead use a psuedo-2.5D sidescrolling mechanic. While Ginger is technically capable of moving in the third dimension, it only serves to allow Ginger to move up or down a hall in order to access yet another sidescrolling area. Aside from this obvious lack of self-awareness, the rest of any particular mission is composed of performing basic jumps across chasms, defeating enemies in one hit, and collecting key objects that will require backtracking to access earlier locked doors. The occasional mission is punctuated with a minigame or two, but given how nearly every movement or combat mechanic in this game feels clunky, these are more frustrating than fun.
Conclusion
Even more aspects of this game exist to further bother one’s composure, such as the frustrating inability to increase health points, the lack of imagination put into the three boss fights, or the unbalanced platforming mini-missions - but it's a moot point to bring those up now. The main issue is that Ginger: Beyond the Crystal attempts to capitalize on the 3D platforming renaissance and fails in nearly every way. The uninspired visuals, clunky gameplay and vastly inferior porting process to the Switch make Ginger: Beyond the Crystal an easily forgotten adventure; it certainly won’t be missed.
Comments 46
Super hard pass.
Pass.
Ouch! So you're telling us this is the worst Switch Game so far?
And i thought Vroom in the Night Sky was the worst of the worst.
Ouch. Glad I didn’t buy this. I’m on a 3D platformer kick lately, but I’ll stick with Odyssey and Poi until Yooka Laylee arrives.
Ouch! That review almost hurt to read.
Super hyped for this one.
Bham! Game of the Year
Pass! Ouch! Wow!
I didn't expect much, but this is super low!
Wait what?!
Damn!!
Yep, no thanks
Yuck! Beyond the crystal? More like under expectation! ......I'll be quiet now.
This is a fine example for why I don't trust reviews. They don't seem to know how to rate them well.
I played this game. Although it's not fantastic, it's not a terrible game. So a 5/10 for me. I haven't actually gone far, but the game lacks the adventure to explore and camera control is not that great at times. However, I feel like the game was created for a 10 year olds.
This is obviously Nintendo's fault. I am selling my Switch
Is it really worse than Vroom in the Night Sky?
@Gerald Go ahead. Give up some of the greatest games (let alone Mario and Zelda series) and loads of great Indies and other Nintendo titles alike all because of how some team ported one particular game poorly. That sure sounds plausible!
@Zeargo "This is a fine example for why I don't trust reviews. They don't seem to know how to rate them well."
Just a heads up - "the reviewer doesn't know how to rate something well" is not the same as "the reviewer disagreed with me," which appears to be your actual problem with the review.
I'm glad you liked it more than the reviewer, but that doesn't mean the reviewer is incorrect.
A 2? Did RCMADIAX make this?
Now I'm tempted to play it as I played Yooka-Laylee on PS4 and thought that was awful.
So what's the price on this catastrophe and is it digital only?
I wonder if they gave this to Shin'en for a few moths they could get it to work properly and if it would become a good game then? Shin'en are magical.
Wow, considering the NL review curve, that's, what, like a -1/10? f I didn't think it was possible for NL to go so low. This thing must be truly painful to play. And it has a publisher! That's the really amazing thing, it's not even a self published indie game.
@RyanSilberman did you honestly just read his comment and think he was being serious ? What’s wrong with you ?
Could I say that this game called ginger...
Has no soul to it...
Ginger has no soul confirmed.
@Nagi_Nagisa I think it’s still the worst😆
2/10
What ?!
@PorllM Considering all that has been said and done on the Internet? Yes I believe it.
Day one
@RyanSilberman I know there are people out there who say stuff like that, but I don’t think many of them do it in a clear sarcastic tone, or have 4 years of posts on a nintendo site, most of which are jokes haha
Brutal even on NL standards. Which is disheartening since I expected it to be AT LEAST on the level of Poi (okay and functional), but this sounds like it did not even have the love that their own trailer had.
@Anti-Matter Sounds right up your alley! Lol 👊
Wow that is bad, sometimes I wonder if developers knew that we aren't in the PS2 era anymore. Those graphics look terrible even by Switch standard. I had seen Wii games (Muramasa, Klonoa, Okami, etc.) that look better than this and those weren't even in HD.
I'll still pick up the physical when it's released 😂
Yet another poor attempt like RIME where you take a game and find the most inconceivably stupid ways to foul up something as much as possible so that the frame rate is unplayable and much around it doesn't inspire you to bother unless it really really well matches your taste. Fools. Learn fast, shovelware doesn't fly especially on Nintendo stuff. Budget games can move mountains for small developers as others have shown, but this one deserves a mountain dropped on it instead burying it for all time.
Man, that's a bummer. Although I must say I don't think the visuals are that bad at all, at least from screenshots.
@RyanSilberman I think his sarcasm went waaaay over your head.
Uninspired visuals? I think it looks quite a bit more appealing visually than many other games that receive favorable reviews around here.
But if it's a bad game, it's a bad game.
@AG_Awesome then there should be a clearer indication of sarcasm.
I mean, looking at the images provided, the visuals don’t look bad at all... I’m guessing this game must be terrible, but considering it’s mentioned how bad the visuals were I’m surprised to the see the open world screenshots looking quite good!?
Lmao I've not seen a "terrible" review on here before
It's £4 on PS4 and whilst I agree not the greatest game. It certainly gives platform fans a challenge. I obviously can"t speak for the switch version but I can say that the actual game mechanics do actually work. Yes there are fetch quests but there is a fair bit of variance with environments, different gameplay styles and dare I say it actually challenge! I think the reviewer here just got annoyed falling whilst gathering red crystals! This game is probably created with kids in mind, but there is some challenge to be found. Ignore the wonky camera and overlook fetch quests and you have a game that is 5/10 at the very least. If you liked croc try this.
DAMN
I don't think I've ever seen anything lower than a 3 on this site until today
Hey hey! I have it, its not great but neither terrible. I had a good time with it, 6 or 7 Id say... whats wrong with you nintendo life?
This review seems very harsh, especially in terms of the port - Unity is always going to run much worse than an engine written in C++ and designed from the ground up for a specific genre. Plus a small indie is never going to have close to the resources of Bethesda or the makers of Rocket League.
The game looks mediocre and uninspired, but hardly the worst game on the Switch. I'm sure Panic Button would sympathise with how difficult the porting process would be for a small indie under the circumstances.
@RyanSilberman Wait a minute, you said "That sure sounds plausible!" so you clearly agree with him. You didn't state it was a sarcastic remark so clearly it can't have been sarcastic.
Gerald's comment on the other hand was so ridiculous that even though it was no more or less clearly signposted than your remark it had to be sarcasm.
2 out of 10. I guess we will get a lot of games scoring 6 or below now that the Switch is an ideal platform for most games, good and not so good.
I tend not to read Reviews that have a score of 6 or less, unless it was a game that was expected to score higher.
So to save us gamers having to scroll down to the end of a long review for a game score of 2, which says everything we need to know, can we have the score at the top of the review. 😁
@SeriousSam did I say it had to be explicitly mentioned as sarcasm?
No. No I did not.
@Johnvlachos Have to agree, there is no way this is a 2/10!
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