Forza Polpo! review

With the occasional navigational struggles as well as falls that can instantly end your game, Forza Polpo has its faults. But it also feels like visiting an alternative universe where Exact is still making entrancing first-person, low-poly romps.

Long before their output became a steady stream of generic blockbusters, Sony published some amazingly creative titles. Released two months after the launch of the original PlayStation, Jumping Flash! was one of those inspired efforts. Players seized control of Robbit, a mecha-rabbit who could fling fireworks at enemies and had a triple jump that could launch the character hundreds of feet in the air. But after two sequels and a spin-off title, Robbit was tragically decommissioned, leaving fans hungry for additional outings.

Nearly a quarter-century after mediocre spin-off Robbit Mon Dieu, solo indie developer Monte Gallo (aka Cristiano Orlando Graziani) resurrects the feeling of leaping as high as a skyscraper with the PC release of Forza Polpo! Although the game has a few irksome imperfections, it’s almost as if the original team that made Geograph Seal for the Sharp X68000 (Jumping Flash!’s precursor) had reunited. Monte Gallo has undoubtedly studied Exact’s magnum opus.

Forza Polpo = “Go, Octopus!” in Italian

Much like the original Jumping Flash!, Forza Polpo! is set out of gaming’s sunniest dystopias. Humanity might be long gone, but its presence is still felt in the game’s convenience stores, towering waterslides, or the occasional refrain of Japanese city pop playing from a speaker across the game’s selection of sixteen stages. Against a sweeping azure sky, Polpo’s sun-bleached exteriors can verge on the surrealistic, with the occasional life raft or work truck floating about, disregarding gravity.

Similarly, you’re not bound to the planet’s surface. A well-timed success of presses can send Polpo soaring through the air, with a triple jump able to reach lofty podiums. But play in Forza Polpo default mode and the game channels the energy management of a mecha sim. Every simple action, from movement to jumping, and even shooting consumes a portion of your energy pool. Deplete the resource and Polpo’s run is ruined, sending you back to the level select screen. But if you can hunt down a trio of cubes and make it to the docking station, you’ll beat the stage and receive a score based on the amount of time you spend in the air and how much energy you conserved.

Powered by Pink

Fortunately, the world is filled with pink energy, that can replenish Polpo’s power supply. Occasionally, it’s out in the open, stored in giant, rosy, marshmallow-shaped containers. But often, it’s concealed in reddish-colored environmental objects and freed with a well-paced shot or two. Intriguingly, Forza Polpo doesn’t divulge its conservation techniques. But as you play, you’ll discover that a succession of smaller leaps uses less large than a single large jump. Additionally, falling from lofty distances can recover some energy while an extended hoover will take a robust swig from your power supply.

But if you don’t want to worry about the slow, but gradual loss of energy, Forza Polpo also offers an Arcade Mode that removes the gauge. Naturally, this makes the game easier. But it removes the sense of discovery that stems from shooting environmental objects to see if they produce any pick energy. Personally, I like the sense of tension that the default mode produces. Often, you’ll have little power to make it back to the docking station, with your meter sounding an urgent warning. But a giant slide might offer to catapult you toward your destination, offering a pleasing punctuation to the stage.

Polpo Power!

Forza Polpo’s firefights aren’t anything special. Mostly, you’ll slide out of the way from your opponent’s shots, while attempting to position the enemy in your sights. However, when you’re navigating towards a cube and adversaries come out to attack, the action can become heated, Like the hidden pink cubes, replaying stages reveal its mysteries. And before long, you’ll establish an effectual path through each stage as you learn the placement of fuel and foes.

But a few design decisions might irritate. Polpo’s movement is more lateral, feeling more like Lunar Lander than Jumping Flash! making it easy to overshoot an object. As such, obtaining two cubes before accidentally falling off the side of a stage can provoke. Likewise, it’s a bit too easy to fall off solid flooring when engaging enemies in the sky. Occasionally, it can be a bit different to track where adversaries are firing from. As such, I would have appreciated optional checkpointing as well as a mini-map that could assist with locating cube and enemy positions. As it stands, Forza Polpo does highlight the location of cubes, but the sensitivity of your radar isn’t quite as strong as it should be.

Conclusion

Wisely, Forza Polpo! doesn’t slow things down with long-winded expositional segments. Instead, insights and light-heartedness are conveyed through Mey, a humanoid who functions as your handler much like Kumagoro did in Jumping Flash. Dispensing bits of advice and the occasional warning when high winds or radiation threaten Polpo, her presence makes the trek a bit less lonesome. An additional reprieve from the sense of isolation is found at Polpo’s home base, which can be accessorized with items obtained on your adventure. There’s something heartwarming about a dutiful little droid collecting mementos from a lapsed civilization.

These kinds of diminutive details provide distinction for Forza Polpo. That’s important because the protagonist is rarely seen given the game’s first-person perspective. Remarkably, this is what truly elevates the game over its inspiration. While Jumping Flash’s exploration of Crater Planet extends Katamari-like eccentricity, Polpo injects a bit of pathos with a world mending after human-led ruin. Of course, you’re free to disregard all that and savor the elation of being able to jump skyward, largely free from the constraints of gravity.

Forza Polpo! was played on PC with
review code provided by the publisher.