Super Sami Roll | PC Review

Get on a roll with Super Sami Roll! Developed by Sonzai Games and published by X Plus Company Limited, Super Sami Roll will test your ability to keep cool under pressure, while looking as cute and innocent as a child at play. The lone video I watched on Steam to preview this game made it appear that Sonzai Games had smashed the worlds of Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario into one, so I could not wait to flip this on and take on the world as an adorable little dinosaur. Over the last couple of years, my love for platformers has been rekindled, and this looked to be an exciting challenge. Little did I know something that looks so adorable could be so challenging.

Is The Princess In Another Castle?

As you traverse the worlds as Sami, you do so to rescue his friend Vera from a nefarious monkey villain. While frolicking on the beach, Vera was kidnapped by Albert VII, and now to get her back you must roll through numerous levels on chase.

While I’m very much a story-driven enthusiast, there’s something refreshing about the way Super Sami Roll hearkens back to the day when the gameplay experience was the primary focus. The days of looking for a princess, only to find out she’s in another castle on another level, were a simpler time. Super Sami Roll reminds you that simplicity can be a good thing. 

Familiar Surroundings

Super Sami Roll consists of different “worlds,” each with its own backdrop. Each world has numerous levels that follow this backdrop in nature. The world you’re in at the time is displayed via an overhead map. You move Sami along a mostly linear path, selecting the level you wish to play. Completing a level opens the path to the next level. Sound familiar? The individual levels are aesthetically a tribute to Super Mario 64. The 3D platforms are well defined, polygonal obstacles, some of which move in patterns.

The first thought when I started my expedition into the world of Super Sami Roll was that Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario 64 somehow bridged the time-space continuum and had a baby. Because that’s exactly what the world and level designs are. The world map is essentially identical to the one in Super Mario Bros. 3, and the levels themselves are so similar to the ones in Super Mario 64 that I seriously want to view them side by side to see if I could spot any differences. The two coupled together set off a nostalgic detonation that sent me to a place I didn’t know existed, but now I needed to be.

Roll Off

The platforming and physics in Super Sami Roll are what set this game apart from anything I have ever seen before. Instead of employing the run, jump, attack that comes with most games in this genre, Super Sami Roll introduces a roll, jump, evade-everything-at-any-cost-while-tightrope-walking-while-racing *catching my breath* and a tongue latching premise. The physics here as you roll are extremely intricately done. While momentum is direly needed to progress and beat the timer that is present in every level, it is also your worst enemy, as you aren’t able to stop on a dime. Numerous times I threw Sami off the edge of a cliff to his demise, because momentum took me there.

Some of the platforming involves what is essentially tight rope walking, as you must maneuver a pathway that is barely wide enough for Sami, and most often does not progress in a straight line. Again, the timer comes into play here. You won’t have time to calculate every inch of movement, because you only have a short amount of time to complete each level. Once the timer reaches zero, game over.

There are coins you can pick up along the way that have two uses. Each coin you pick up adds one second back on the timer, and on the world map, you will be able to spend them on items. Most of these are simply cosmetic and don’t affect the gameplay, but a couple of them do have added benefits. The enemies you encounter are simply more obstacles, as any enemy you touch in any way harms Sami, sending him screaming in the air unable to be controlled until he regains his composure when he lands on the ground again. If he lands on the ground again.

If all of this seems like a lot, well, it is. It took me quite a while to get used to everything here and how it all works together. Amidst all of this, however, the camera operation almost completely destroys the experience, and took the longest to get used to. Many 3D platformers have suffered for lacking camera controls to match the level of specificity needed for the gameplay, but when rolling momentum physics is added to the fray, the necessity is amplified tenfold. I cannot count the number of times I failed in my advancement because I simply couldn’t judge the direction I was needing to go because of poor camera angles. Manual camera control didn’t make the situation any better.

Final Verdict

Super Sami Roll is an absolutely adorable 3D platformer that sings a delicate song of love for the premier games that paved the road on consoles past, all while adding its own different flavor. Its nostalgic flair is memory inducing, and the gameplay, when you can see what you’re doing, is absolutely amazingly fun.  Just don’t expect to jump in and rip through it with the pedal to the floor from the opening screen. The combination of the poor camera controls and the inability to take my time due to the timer, had me the closest I have ever been to throwing my PC through the wall. However, at the same time, it was so much fun that I couldn’t help but turn it back on after every rage-quit.

On a side note, however, there is a multiplayer mode that is available after you purchase an item in the game, and that is an absolute blast. You compete against up to three others, rolling through various obstacle courses to reach the finish line first. These levels are not like the ones in the main game in any ways, shapes, or forms. Personally, I would pay the full price of Super Sami Roll for just the multiplayer game, it is that much fun.

Edit: After my original review of this game, Sonzai Games added a “Relaxed” difficulty level, which takes the timer out of every level except the boss levels.

 

This review is based on a PC copy of Super Sami Roll provided by Novy Unlimited for coverage purposes. As of this writing, it is exclusive to that platform.