Sunday, October 28, 2012

Dokuro, the Vita 2D platformer with a lot of heart


What is Dokuro? It is a 2D platformer with a primary focus on puzzles and a secondary goal of cuteness. Dokuro is a skeleton, a peon in the Dark Lord’s army. The story, no different than most, begins with the Dark Lord abducting the Princess with the intent to force marriage, Dokuro sees this and commits to helping her escape the Dark Lord’s castle. The catch, she can not see Dokuro without the help of a blue potion that results in a transformation to a dashing hero. And now for the stuff you came for, how it plays.

This seems like a simple puzzler at first, taking you by the hand to make your way through the castle all while safely guiding the helpless princess. You will quickly learn what your little skelepeon has in his bag of tricks to escort the princes to safety. I said escort, and this companion isn’t the brightest princess, probably why the Dark Lord kidnapped her in the first place. The art style is great, the design strongly resembles a chalk board and a skill you will learn early on actually involves using chalk to complete puzzles.  Though the learning curve is nice and walks you through the principles behind what is necessary to guide your dream girl to safety. It does get rather difficult later in the game, and unfortunately resources to help with level execution is not as easy as one would think.
Dokuro is a surprising diamond in the rough. I was not sure what to expect from this title, it is surprisingly longer than I thought, although I did get stuck on stage 4. As a fan of platformers I enjoyed my time spent with the strong willed Dokuro, though I am not a huge fan of puzzle games, I still had a good time and did not fatigue the gameplay. The art style is great, simple but great, it does not try to be something that it is not. It is simply a 2D platformer that has a lot of heart, with a likeable cast of chartacters, and a look that is quite elementary. Dokuro is available now for download only on the PS Vita at the price of $19.99.

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