If you’re a fan of platform puzzle video games then we may have a new title to add toward your list. Recently, a new adventure puzzle platformer was released under developers Tequilabyte Studio known as Sumoman. Within the video game players take on the role of a sumo wrestler who had quickly returned to his homeland after a tournament.
Receiving an urgent letter from his grandmother, our protagonist makes his way back to his original homeland island to discover everyone was sound asleep. It seems that a spell was unleashed that put everyone in the area into an eternal slumber beside yourself making it your responsibility to figure out just what is going on.
Players embark on a journey to locate the source of this spell in hopes to wake everyone up once again. Of course, the journey to get there is easier said than done.
This is a rather straightforward platform title with plenty of puzzles tossed in, though there are a few issues that may take players out of the moment. Grant it, the story might not be the most in-depth narrative to pull players into the world, but it seems that the developers were focusing more on the use of physics and gameplay mechanics when it came to Sumoman’s development.
Described as Limbo meets Prince of Persia meets Braid, Sumoman is more of a parody then a standout classic as the titles it attempts to take inspiration from. There are a number of issues that I came across that felt as if developers might have needed a bit more time polishing the video game for its release.
That’s not to say Sumoman is an instant pass, though you may find that some puzzles may not be extremely challenging and it tends to get a bit repetitive. There’s not very much diversity that kept the game new after going through the levels endlessly.
One of the issues that I came across was getting to a specific hitbox. Players will have to be in a very specific spot to activate objects within the various levels. Moving slightly off by a hair your ability to activate a trigger, lever, or speak with an NPC instantly disappears.
Controlling the character is a bit clunky as well. There’s not much freedom to move your character when having to make a jump. Instead, you’ll be forced to physically move your character towards a direction before tapping the button to initiate a jump. From there, it’s more of a guess work as you lose much of the control of the character within mid-air. While on the topic of controls, players will also have a standard sumo wrestle movement to smash through various objects that may block your pathway.
Ultimately, your protagonist will fall flat on his face which comes in the parody of Price of Persia. There’s a rewind feature that can give players the ability to start off from a certain position. Since falling on your face or bobbing within the water means you’re character is completely useless, gamers will spend the majority of their time rewinding their character moments before taking that leap of faith once again.
I would have really enjoyed a bit more movement within the character though as being limited made some jump failures feel more cheap than difficult.
Graphically the video game is actually rather decent and can be full of color or filled with a gray and black depth overtone, depending on the level you’re on. Likewise, the audio which was present offered more of ambient music as you go through the levels.
Honestly, I’ve had some mixed feelings when it came to Sumoman. Over time, the title could be polished up making it a well worth video game to pick up and go through though this may be a video game worth holding off until its dropped in price.
Disclosure: A copy was provided by the publisher for purposes of review
