Where do I start with Poncho? It's the future, humanity has gone, and all that remains are the robots that were created, they now roam the planet seeking purpose. Amongst these mechanical creations is our titular hero, a small boxy robot on an adventure to find his maker, oh and he wears a poncho, did we mention that? Well from the moment you start the game you're greeted with some beautiful sprite art that is working really well for indie developers these days, combining great pixel visuals with newer effects and ideas. The game also features a modern chip-tune soundtrack, which works so well at bringing not only the retro feel to life but also a feeling that technology is in control.
When you start diving into the title you begin to really notice the complexity of this 2D world, during the first few levels you find the game slowly teaching you how to play without explaining much to you, which is nice as so many games like to hold your hand through titles now days. Initially the 3D aspect is only introduced lightly, where you teleport between the foreground and background layers to avoid walls, gaps and gain keys to reach the gate at the end of the stage, then the game kicks it up a notch with moving platforms, these move between layers requiring you to phase with them in order to move onward and upward but is helped by a colour code to give you an idea on which layer they're on, yellow for front, blue for middle and green for behind, my only issue with this was getting my timing right whilst ensuring I phased into the right layer, but I wasn't going to let it deter me.
I then hit the forth world which will make or break you, depending if you have the perseverance to finish. I'm not going to lie, I lost my cool on numerous occasions and more often than not, cursed the game, during many times of frustration with this stage I ended up just resorting to turning it off and trying to relax for a bit before giving it another go. Eventually I managed to get to the end and realised that the failed attempts were actually down to my silly little mistakes and upon getting to the end of the level I laughed.
Overall this title has a lot going for it not only is it aesthetically pleasing but the wonderful orchestration and many different robot characters really bring the game to life, while having an unusual level design it is very easy to pick up but mastering the games many puzzles and grabbing every one of the collectibles will push you to your limits. I would recommend this title but be aware you will have to have über patience and the levellest of heads if you want to get to the end.
Poncho is out now on PC & PS4 Coming soon to Wii U & PSVita