Normally this is where I’d note some flaw or issue that stops Kaze and the Wild Masks from being absolutely perfect, but I can’t think of a single complaint. It’s just a phenomenally well-done that captures its influences without being completely indebted to them, and it’s one an early contender for one of my favourite games of the year.
Kaze and the Wild Masks is a near-perfect platformer with a lot of charm and entertaining gameplay. It’s just a rush of amazing platforming action chock-full of collectibles and challenge that will have you grinning ear-to-ear like you did in the 90s.
Amazing classic DKC style tribute with its own unique charm! Reminds me of playing classic snes games. Definitely worth a full purchase to support the creators of this title
When all is said and done and you've cleared the main story, which altogether should take you 8-10 hours depending on your skill level, online time trial leaderboards present another way to tackle each stage. With that and unearthing the game's secret levels, there's a lot of content to be found in Kaze and the Wild Masks. It’s a wonderful homage to games I loved in the past and came at a perfect time in my life, helping me get used to my new surroundings. I won't soon be forgetting my time spent with Kaze. If you're in the market for a new 2D platformer, you can't go wrong with harvesting the fruits of PixelHive and Soedesco’s labor, but maybe avoid the sinister-looking carrots.
Kaze and the Wild Masks is as gorgeous as it is challenging. Smooth controls feel amazing, and the masks you find truly change your entire gaming experience. While I felt there were too many auto-scroller levels and cheap deaths, there are still plenty of great gameplay moments and replayability to be found. If you want a punishing but rewarding platformer, Kaze and the Wild Masks maybe the humbling experience you’re looking for.
Kaze and the Wild Masks is a great homage to the classics of the genre. It has the appropriate proportions of variety and challenge with an excellent implementation of its aspects.
Kaze and the Wild Masks is a solid platformer with its transforming character, healthy number of collectibles, and tough-but-fair bosses. However, it takes a little too much inspiration from Donkey Kong Country, the controls are touchy, and the difficulty ramps up too fast. Still, there are enough positives to make the prospect of a sequel enticing.
I’m settling on the score that I have because I can’t reward work that is this derivative. But despite the score I find this one an easy recommendation for certain players out there. Kaze is a genuinely well-made game and if you like Donkey Kong Country you’re going to like this one, if for no other reason than it’s something of a greatest hits of the best Donkey Kong Country levels. If we see a Kaze 2 (and I hope we will), and the developers show us a little of their own creative ideas in there, then we’ll be looking at some really high scores indeed.
An excellent game inspired by classic platformer Donkey Kong Country (especially 1 & 2, for me the best). I hope they do well, we could use more games like this again. Pure fun, satisfying to complete 100%!
Reminiscent of the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy this game gets its gameplay right. It's a nice little 2D platformer with variance and good controls.
But its art style is where this game messes up:
The level sequence feels incoherent, if it at least the levels were themed after the worlds they take place in. The graphical style is neither fish nor flesh, too polished to be considered retro style, too pixelated for modern games. The music is rather generic too. Finally its story is thin and purely anecdotal.
Nonetheless I had fun with it.
I'm a huge 2D platformer fan, which is why I was pretty excited to get to play Kaze and the Wild Masks. It's also why it hurts me to say that this game thoroughly bored me. For me, the game felt like it offered me very little challenge as someone who's played countless 2D platformers, and it brought nothing new to the table. That wouldn't be too bad if it did everything that's normal in 2D platformers really really well, but in my opinion it failed at that too. I felt like a lot of the time I was fighting the controls more than I was controlling the character, and this made every death feel like an annoyance that wasn't my fault rather than the game starting to get more difficult.
I don't believe this game is all bad, but when compared to Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, the game feels like an unimaginative copy of those sorts of games. It does ****, because I can really see the effort that has gone into making Kaze and the Wild Masks, but maybe this game just isn't for me.
SummaryUnleash the skills of the Wild Masks to get powers from the tiger, eagle, lizard and shark. Uncover the secrets of the Crystal Islands in 30+ levels with over 50 bonus levels. Relive your childhood memories of classic platformer with high quality frame by frame pixel art. Pave your way through a satisfyingly smooth, but challenging platf...