In the 2D puzzle platformer The Adventures of Shuggy you get to play as a very cute purple vampire named Shuggy who just inherited a mansion. However, there are just a few problems with it. Between the broken furnace, all the bugs, zombies, flying paintings, and spiked pits Shuggy’s got his hands full.
With over 100 levels in five different areas The Adventures of Shuggy will defiantly keep you busy for awhile. In each level the goal is to collect every single green gem and then you will be reward with a key that will open up another door/level. The first levels are very simple; just run and jump and collect all the gems. But as you go the levels start to get harder. Some of the levels will have you rotating the level so you can get to all the gems; make sure you watch out for those enemies though. Others will have you wanting to flip your TV upside down, or maybe just have you standing on your head (the level is flipped but the controls are not).
Levels will also have you using ropes to swing across rooms to collect your gems or, in the style of Alice in Wonderland, eating cakes to get big and drinking potions to shrink so that you can get in though tiny places. I would have to say though that the levels I enjoyed the most where the ones where there are multiple copies of yourself; where if anyone of them get hit by an enemy then you get reset. I also enjoyed the ones where you have to free your friend in order to team up and collect all the gems.
Then there are the levels that I found highly frustrating; the time warps. In these types of levels you have 12 seconds to run around and in most cases activate a switch which will open a gate but only while you stand on it. However, after 12 seconds are up your 12 second old self will reappear and repeat the path you have just taken. Just like in any time travel situation though running into yourself is not good, and will lead to you dieing and having to start the level all over again. This would be the other part I found frustrating; you don’t have any lives or health meters.
If you get hit by any enemies or fall into a spike pit the whole level is reset. I understand that each level is extremely short and this is most likely why lives or meters were left out. I do think though that there should be a level of difficulty settings opinion that would maybe allow you to have more then one live before resetting a level. As I said, I found myself getting very frustrated at points because its all a one shot deal. There were so many times that I was just one or two gems away from completing a level and then I would either get hit by a bug that didn’t notice or be waiting on a ledge for a spiked ball to pass when I end up dying because I guess I had a toe hangover the edge.
There is also a multiple player option in The Adventures of Shuggy. You can play either locally or via Xbox LIVE in a variety of challenges. With the local multiplayer option you can choose from three different styles to play: Co-Op, Challenge, and Head to Head. In Co-Op you and your friend work together to complete levels that are completely different then the single player mode. The Challenge mode allows you to face off and see who is better at the single player levels. Lastly there is the Head to Head game where you have three minutes to collect more gems then the other player. There are enemies you still have to watch out for, but you get the added bonus of power ups. The multiplayer options also give you Player Match, Ranked Match, and Xbox LIVE Party which you can only access if you have a Gold Xbox LIVE account.
Overall, I kind of have mixed feelings for The Adventures of Shuggy. Yes, Shuggy is very cute and I would definitely buy plush versions of him and his friends. However, I found myself getting extremely frustrated at times with the resetting of levels by just getting tapped by an enemy and yet I still found myself going back for more. This game can be very enjoyable as long as you don’t throw your controller at the TV when you get frustrated. If you started getting frustrated just walk away for a bit, and then go back to playing later when you have a new look on it. The Adventures of Shuggy can be downloaded via Xbox LIVE Arcade for 800 Microsoft points. If you are a little unsure if you want to buy there is also a free demo you can download, so go check it out.
