FreezeMe takes us back to the golden years of the 3D platformers. It’s a game that can best be compared to Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. Fans have been asking for a decent 3D platformer for years and thanks to Rainy Night Creations, they finally got what they asked for, time to check out this interesting indie in the Nintendo Wii U’ eShop.
The story
As in every good 3D platform game, the story isn’t that special. There’s a big villain called ‘Fat the Cat’ that wants to create a dog-free world. In order to do so, he kidnaps every dog he can find, even the precious dog of our new hero R. It’s not a long story and it’s told in just a brief little scene. Right after the story has been told, it’s time to jump straight into the action!
It’s a pleasure to see that the game doesn’t take you by the hand with an endless stream of tutorials. Instead, you can always open the virtual manual and learn how to control your character. This takes us back to an era where tutorials didn’t exist and you need to count on your manual and reasoning skills to advance in the world. It’s great to have this back although younger gamers might have some problems figuring out what to do next.
Old-school platformer with some twists
At its core, FreezeMe is a standard platform game set in a 3D environment. You have several worlds to explore, each with a boss at the end, a lot to collect and a lot of classic platform moves. The worlds all look very impressive and are fun to wander around in; they have their own theme and feel magical thanks to the great presentation and creativity in level design. Too bad the same can’t be said about the bosses you’ll face. Each boss felt like a disappointment since they were easy to tackle and weren’t that creative or innovating to look at. It’s a shame since the rest of the game really feels more unique.
Unlike the bosses, the actual gameplay does offer some innovation. The biggest one comes from your camera. Thanks to your camera, you’ll be able to freeze enemies or obstacles so you can conquer them more easily. It’s a great technique and if you play with the GamePad (the game supports other controllers as well), it’s extremely easy to take a picture thanks to your touchscreen. With one touch on the GamePad, you can take the picture without losing sight of everything that’s happening around you. FreezeMe has full off-screen support so playing with the GamePad is the best option if you ask us.
That being said, the photo mechanism is great but isn’t used that much. You can easily beat the game without taking pictures, sure things will become a little harder at some points but you’ll manage to survive without photos without a doubt. It’s not necessary to survive but we advise everybody to use the freeze mechanism when possible, it’s a lot of fun!
Some minor issues
All in all, the game offers a great 3D platformer experience but still suffers from some minor issues, the controls aren’t always as accurate as they should for example. Some of the levels feature rather hard platform sections that will demand a lot of skills to survive, ending up failing due to inaccurate controls is never a fun feeling. Your character doesn’t always go where you wanted it to go and the jumps don’t always land exactly where you thought they would land. Also keep in mind that this isn’t a high budget game so you’ll be finished playing a lot faster than you’re used to in this genre of games.
| The Good: | The Bad: |
| + Return of a proper 3D platformer | – Boss battles |
| + Creative worlds | – Controls aren’t always accurate |
| + Photo to freeze enemies |
FreezeMe is the perfect homage of the 3D platformers that were huge in the Nintendo 64 days. It offers fun levels and the camera mechanism offers enough innovation to keep things fresh. Too bad the bosses aren’t that much fun to beat and the controls aren’t always as precise. That being said, this is a very enjoyable game that you should definitely try out if you have a soft spot for classic 3D platforming games such as Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie.
Score 3.5 out of 5:
