Super Cane Magic Zero | PS4 Review

Have you ever walked into a room where everyone is laughing at an inside joke that you don’t understand? It makes you feel a bit left out, right? That pretty much sums up my feelings of Super Cane Magic Zero from Sio and Studio Evil. While I was intrigued by the idea of a 4-player cooperative hack ‘n slash experience, I walked away feeling way more confused than satisfied. Its absurd random nature of storytelling was definitely a turnoff, but the game as a whole isn’t without its merit. There’s definitely an audience for this type of game; I just don’t think I’m part of that audience.

Run That By Me Again?

The planetoid of WOTF is in turmoil since magic went wild by the powers of the magic dog AAAH! Unlikely heroes fell from the sky and are guided by a giant talking strawberry cake to save the world. But first, they must find the six witches and wizards of the Academy of Poptarts.

If any of that makes you scratch your head, welcome to my world. None of the story in Super Cane Magic Zero makes a lick of sense. But credit to the writers who apparently went full-throttle when it comes to completely random plot elements. It’s 100% clear that’s what they were going for.  I’m not one to trash another person’s art, but I couldn’t help but think that the writers asked their elementary-aged children for story ideas and patched it all together. Many will find this kind of storytelling endearing, but I found it completely distracting.

Twin-Stick Mayhem

If you’ve played Paper Mario, you’re probably familiar with how our favorite 2D plumber moves around in a 3D play space. Imagine that scenario as a twin-stick dungeon-crawler instead, and you’ll have an understanding of the basic mechanics of Super Cane Magic Zero. You and your co-op partner work your way through Zelda-esque rooms using melee attacks and throwing objects at enemies. There’s also some mild puzzle solving, usually involving placing certain items on key areas or buttons.

My biggest issue with the control scheme is the way in which you must throw items. To pick up something, you pull the right trigger and hold it in place. To throw it, you point an aiming reticle with the right stick, and release the trigger to throw. It took a while to get used to, and I feel as if there could have been a better way to handle this.

Hit detection also took a while for me to wrap my head around. Since the characters look flat and two-dimensional, it’s difficult tell how or where you’re supposed to attack and enemy. This became increasingly frustrating since the enemies require quite a few hits to take down. And it wasn’t a lot of fun doing so, if I were being honest.

Items and Leveling

Super Cane Magic Zero does allow you increase your character’s skills with a light ability tree. This obviously makes enemy encounters easier as you progress, but I was already very much checked out from this game by the time any of that became remotely interesting. My co-op partner and I were so tuned out, that we made our own fun attacking each other instead. Thankfully, there is a battle mode that organizes that type of gameplay outside of the “story”, and it might be the better reason to play this one.

I also found myself completely confused by the items available to you. After breaking open objects in the environment, something might pop out. Unfortunately, you have no clue as to whether or not a new-found item is meant to be used as a weapon or to be consumed for increased stats. You’re left with a trial-and-error method of usage, which could end up hindering your progress. This mechanic works well in a game like The Binding of Isaac, but here it comes across as completely annoying and makes me not want to take any risks.

Super Cane Magic Zero Final Verdict

I hate to be so harsh on a game that appears to have a lot of love put behind it, but Super Cane Magic Zero is definitely not a game for me. A lot of people are praising the random humor thrown into this one, so take my words with a grain of salt. My take on the game’s mechanics were probably hindered by how turned off I was by the childish story. There’s fun to be had here if you’re into insane, off-the-wall storytelling. It feels too childish for an adult, and too inaccessible for kids. I simply can’t personally recommend this one.

To hear more on Super Cane Magic Zero, be sure to listen to Episode 252 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast to hear me discuss the game more.

This review is based on a copy provided by Stride PR for coverage purposes and is also available on Nintendo Switch, PC, and Mac.