Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is a colorful mascot platformer from developer Drakhar Studio and published by BadLand Games. It feels like a game out of time with its reliance on bright colors, N64 style platforming, and a cute cast of characters. If you think this is a slight on the game; It isn’t.
I simply adore Ginger: Beyond the Crystal, especially on the grim, gritty, and uber manly Xbox One. You can’t see it, but I was beating my chest as I typed that last line while dowing an enery drink with the other. But then how was I typing? I’ll leave that for you to figure out. Anyways, nostalgia is a pain, so while I love and adore Ginger: Beyond the Crystal, that don’t mean it’s a great game, but we’ll get to that a little later.
The game sets a story of a world that’s been destroyed by some magic crystal exploding. Some goddess creates a magic little Smurf thing for the people, to save them from the coming evil. I’m sure it’s a bit more involved than that, but as it was in the mid-90s it really doesn’t matter. Where nowadays engaging stories are massively important (online shooters be damned), the story here is just a vector for the gameplay; The real meat and potatoes of any classic platformer.
Instead of sticking to a single mechanic and try to milk a few hours of gamplay like many indie games, Ginger: Beyond the Crystal takes the most fun bits from the best 3D platformers for itself. The game is broken up into three main parts and each has you playing in a different style. The first is the free-roam style that resembles games like Banjo Kazooie, Jax and Daxter and so on.
This part of the game factors into the games hub-world and lets you move freely about. You can find three main items here that include wood, rocks, and something resembling a honey pot (there are a few other bits and bobs of less importance). You can collect these by finding them scattered about, or buy doing quests for the locals, and these items let you rebuild the broken homes in the various villages.
“Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is fun for the whole family”
The more buildings you repair the happier the locals are. You can also buy items from the traveling shop, but these only effect said locals by letting them randomly wear what you unlock. All this is cute, but it feels like busy work more than anything, only there to extend the playtime for those that need to finish/complete everything.
During the other levels you’ll gain crystal shards which can then be used to pay the big crystal in each town that, well, gives back the missing locals somehow. I have no idea how this works, but again, 90s era 3D platformer stuff.
But the main reason for the hub world is to get you into the fifteen levels, across three distinct worlds. The main gameplay segments come in the two other sections, the second being the 2.5D platforming segment. If you have played, or seen, any of those 3D remakes of classic side-scrolling platformers like Castle of Illusion and whatever the hell that Sparkster thing was you know what’s in store.
You still have a bit of room to move in the third-dimension, but these are more traditional side-scrolling. And to be fair they all work well enough, and fighting baddies, collecting items and getting to the end make for a fun time. Nothing that pushes any new boundaries, but it’s fun.
The third main section comes after you beat the side-scrolling bits. Each level completed open a red gem that needs to be purified, because reasons. These are quite different than the rest and are played more like the challenge stages in Super Mario Sunshine, or those bits right before Bowser battles in Super Mario 64. These are true 3D segments that will challenge your skills with all sorts of moving blocks, jetpacks, jumping and the like. It’s basically you against the level, and while some can be a pain in the rear, most work just fine.
Ginger: Beyond the Crystal isn’t a long game with tons of levels, but the game mixes things up enough so that things never really get stale. Each of the three worlds is unique enough and are fun to explore, what little of that there is. But even then the game adds one more feature in its costume system. If you rescue certain villagers within many of the games levels, they will give you a costume based on what they are wearing. These come in the form of a mouse suit, traveling bard suit, pirate, dragon and more.
Besides being cute, these are important as they allow you to access new areas sith the abilities they grant you. Some of these are necessary to proceed, but many are there to open up hidden chests, unreachable areas in old levels, and bonus levels . Again, not a huge thing and not developed as much as I’d like, but it’s just enough to keep things interesting.
So, all of this sounds pretty good, and when you add that the game is only $15 you’d think it’s an easy recommendation. Well, it only sort of is. You see, because Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is based on classic 3D platformers it also comes with all the same issues. It’s impressive that an indie studio can put out a game that would be a classic back in the late 90s, but today those things we could overlook then just don’t fly.
The camera in the game is going to fight you a lot of the time, even though in-game camera systems and video game controllers have come a long way in 2016. You’re going to be clipping through a lot of stuff, and while it never got me killed fighting enemies or bosses, it did quite a bit during the challenge stages that need more precision.
I played through Ginger: Beyond the Crystal on the Xbox One and what surprised me most was coming across far too much stuttering and slowdown. The game is by no means demanding, so it’s really weird to see it stutter like a car being driven to the junk yard. Throw on top of that the grossly long load times and the whole thing just feels like it needed a few more minutes in the oven. There is also a problem with the three main segments of gameplay. Because of trying so many things, the game never really becomes a master of any of them.
Many props given for the quality the team eked out of them, but each just feel like lesser clones of better games. And that’s the biggest thing here. Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is a lot fun, but it’ll have you just want to play the games it’s inspired by.
Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is a good game, but it isn’t going to change the world. I’m really glad we got this though, as there aren’t enough games that are just clean fun that the whole family can enjoy. Funny enough is the fact that Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is on every system except the now dead Wii U. Chances are if this would have hit the N64 or Gamecube it would have gone down as a classic. Hell, it feels really Nintendo when you play it. Maybe they could port thisone to the 3DS, but now I’m just thinking out loud.
Still, Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is fun for the whole family. It’s a great start for what hopefully becomes a new series. So if you’re looking for some lighthearted platforming fun you can’t do much better than Ginger, at least not until Yooka–Layle drops.
Final Score:
3/5
“Good”
// Promoted Stories
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