Time to put on your pajamas! I love being a parent since you can watch child shows without feeling guilty about watching child shows. Sure, I don’t enjoy everything my daughters love – and watching the same episode over and over and over again might be some torture. But still, there are incredible shows nowadays. One of those is PJ Masks, sadly not available in The Netherlands for the time being. The game, however, is, and it rocked!
PJ Masks!
Before diving in, let’s do a bit of background first, especially for those that haven’t heard of this series before, like me. PJ Masks is a British–French-Canadian animated preschool television series produced by Entertainment One, FrogBox, and TeamTO. The series premiered on September 18, 2015, on Disney Channel and on December 18, 2015, on Disney Junior in the United States, and in December 2015, French on France 5 in France. The show is based on the Pyjamasques book series created by French author Romuald Racioppo and pays homage to various superhero franchises created by Marvel Comics. This might also explain why the series is popular; kids adore Marvel and prefer superheroes over franchises like Star Wars/Star Trek.
Premise!
By day 6-year-olds, Connor, Amaya, and Greg go to school like everyone else. But when something goes awry in the city, these special kids, filled with curiosity and a sense of justice get ready for their mission – but they have to wait until nightfall when the city is asleep and they can go undetected. So instead of going to bed like all the other children, when our heroes get their pajamas on, they magically transform into superheroes and become the PJ Masks. So here come Catboy, Gekko, Owlette; together, these three can tackle any situation – PJ Masks they’re on their way into the night to save the day! The game’s content uses elements inspired by the first three seasons of the television series.
So what’s the central premise of the series? Well, it’s time to get your PJs on and become heroes Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko in the most exciting PJ Masks video game yet. Use their superpowers – like Catboy’s speed, Owlette’s super flying moves, and mighty Gekko’s muscles – to stop the most popular night-time baddies. Explore eight PJ Masks locations, from the city roofs and Mystery Mountain to the Moon! With help from PJ Robot, players will discover a world of friendship, teamwork, and incredible hidden collectibles. Bedtime is the right time to fight crime – but can the world be saved from Romeo, Luna Girl, Night Ninja, and more villains?
Gameplay
Each level can be divided into two sections – one in which you drive like one of the heroes and followed up by a part in which you play through a stage with all three of the heroes. Each hero has a specific skillset and powerups that help with clearing certain aspects of the game. Let’s introduce the heroes first.
- Catboy is the leader of the trio and the oldest too. Incredibly fast, amazingly agile, he can hear the quietest sounds across unbelievable distances! But he’s also afraid of water! Still, when adventure beckons, “The amazing Catboy leaps to the rescue!” Catboy can outrun anyone with these skills and give Night Ninja a challenge with his incredible leaps and acrobatic moves! His vehicle, the Cat-Car, gets the heroes from A to B at lightning speed and even shoots moth balls should there be anything in the way!
- Gekko may be the team’s youngest member, but he’s a strong and sticky master of camouflage! He’s ready to rush into danger and save the day with his super Gekko muscles. Always ready for action, Gekko can scale walls, and with his Gekko-mobile, so can all the PJ Masks! It can even travel underwater. So watch out baddies, here comes the mighty Gekko!
- Owlette, with her sharp mind and super planning skills, is quick to act. She can fly, has impressive eyesight, and when she flaps her mighty wings, the bad guys are sent airborne! Keep your “So keep eyes!” on Owlette!
Each hero is quirky and fun, and they have done great to give each hero a unique skill set. This way, you can only part some aspects of the game with said hero. Luckily the game is aimed at the smaller audience and helps you out when in a pickle, making this a kid-friendly Switch entry. Sure, it might be a bit easy for the average platforming enthusiast, but if you like collect-a-ton platformers but you find games like Crash too hard, this might be right up your alley.
Graphics & Conclusion
The game looks stunning – I wish they had a Danny Phantom (grandpa talking) game back in my days that looked like this. I did get some Jimmy Neutron vibes with the whole setting of the game, which might be a case of better well thought off, then badly stolen (stone coal English, let’s go!). PJ Masks might be that one game that helps your kids better grasp what platforming games might do when Super Mario might be a bit of a mushroom bridge too far. With a total of eight locations in-game and a total of 16 levels to explore. Catching every coin and mask in-game will also net you a nice trophy, so enough to do! Hey Disney, bring this stuff to the Netherlands, oke?
