Work it honey!
The game stars Shantae, a precocious "half-genie" girl who uses her magic hair as a weapon, whipping it back and forth (insert Willow Smith reference here), and can perform magic dances to transform. The game includes three transformations (a cute little monkey who clings to vertical surfaces, an elephant to break heavy obstacles and a mermaid for water-based gameplay), which are unlocked throughout the game, along with three different "spells" which have three variants each.
The magic spells include fireballs, lightning clouds, and a chain of metal spheres that encircle Shantae which deal damage to enemies around her (similar to past Megaman powers). The magic spells (and their variations) can be bought by paying money and "Magic Jams," which are (as they sound) jars of magical preserves hidden throughout the game.
Storywise the game is simple, Shantae goes to her uncle's presentation of a mystical lamp at a "Relic Hunters Expo." But during the presentation, Risky Boots (the villainous lady pirate from the first game as well as this one, hence the title), crashes the party and steals the magic lamp, with the intent to use its mystic powers for some kind of evil plot. And obviously, Shantae sets out to stop her.
The story is simple enough, but that's okay, sometimes games these days just try way too hard with their stories, and it's rarely necessary. But while the story is straightforward enough, I do give credit to the characters and enemy designs of the game, which have an original though familiar video game look to them. Shantae has the potential to be a classic game hero, all she really needs is a bit more recognition to her games. And if Risky Boots showed up a little more, she could be a memorable game villain (her appearance already implies she's pretty vain, probably obsessed with herself). And secondary villain Rottytops (a zombie girl) stands out as a zombie character in the video game world (which is littered with zombies). Though I have to point out the prominent male characters seem to have less attention dedicated to their designs (interpret it how you will), with the character Bolo especially looking uninspired.
But for the most part, I like the characters and character designs. And again, I enjoy the enemy designs as well, which include scarecrows (always awesome), skeletons, knights, mermaids, and other manner of creatures.
Anyway, back to gameplay.
I repeat that Shantae: Risky's Revenge is a Metroid/Castlevania style platformer, with most of the game requiring extensive exploring of the overworld. You'll have to search high and low, and backtrack often if you want to find everything.
The game is easy to get used to, and it's accessibility makes it all the more fun. Shantae runs, jumps, performs her hair attacks, uses items (including the aforementioned magic spells) and performs her magic dances all with a few different buttons. The action may seem scarce when you consider there are only three dungeon areas in the game, but enemies spawn so quickly and vastly in the overworld that you'll rethink that.
The music is also memorable, with most of the music having a very upbeat and bouncy quality to it, which fits the game's nature and atmosphere.
And visually, this game looks a lot more like a first party handheld game from Nintendo than a downloadable title. The game just looks beautiful. Along with the great character designs, Risky's Revenge just stretches the sprite work to the limit. This is easily one of the best looking sprite-based games I've played in a good while. Shantae's dances alone are incredibly detailed and fluid.
There are really only two notable complaints I have with Risky's Revenge. One is that it is pretty short (again, there are only three dungeons). Now I don't mind short games, and indeed I actually enjoy them more than overly long ones (higher replayability, and they don't grow stale), but the game could have used an extra dungeon or two (or three), especially when one considers one of the dungeons is more of an "enemy rush" zone, where you have to beat multiple enemies within a certain amount of time to gain more time. That seems more like a side quest than part of the main adventure.
Anyway, the short length of the game also means less boss fights. The ones that are there are fun and challenging, but really there are about five boss fights, one of which is a repeat fight, and the latter three are all fought relatively close to the end of the game, which leaves a good gap between fights. It seems the game has a lot of ideas for its short length, and so some it feels too condensed (again, I feel the latter three bosses should be more spread out).
The only other complaint is the map, which is slightly confusing. It tells you what segment of the overworld you're in, sure, but it is also a bit too vague, without an option to give you a little more insight of your whereabouts. This can become especially confusing when entering one of the many caves littered throughout the game, as you may exit in an entirely different area, with the map not showing where you're headed while traversing the cave.
But aside from the short length and confusing map system, Shantae: Risky's Revenge is a very fun game with a lot of personality. It's visuals are great, the music is catchy and the gameplay is fun. Simply put, it's a shame it took eight years for this game to be made, and hopefully it won't take so long to turn Shantae into a franchise. There's a lot of potential here. I could imagine plenty more handheld games, and maybe even some console outings, in Shantae's future if treated properly.
The game costs 1200 Nintendo points on DSiWare, but it's definitely worth the purchase, as this would be a flat out great handheld game any way. The fact that this is a downloadable game almost seems ridiculous.
But seriously, this is a game with genies, pirates, zombies, scarecrows and elephants. Why do I need to explain why you should download it?