Three years after its debut, the folks behind the relaxing gardening and island living game, Summer of Mara, are back with a third entry in that series. This one is a bit different, though, because — Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara, as they call it — takes the form of a classic 3D platformer, bringing memories of Super Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot to mind. It may not be as good as those games, but it does a decent job of curing one’s genre craving.
The game’s light story begins with series favourite Koa sailing to the main island to visit her grandmother. There, she finds that pirates have ravaged the landmass, breaking things and stealing others. In the process, several pieces of the world map have been taken, leaving most of the seafaring world covered in fog and inaccessible. As Koa, it’s our job to sail to each unlocked island to complete trials (which is what this game calls its stages) and collect those important map pieces. It’s a very basic and forgettable storyline, but it sort of does the job. I can’t say I took much away from it though, or that I ever identified with the main character or any of the NPCs, including some pirate children who run rampant on the main island and challenge you to races.
The core gameplay obviously relies on lots of running and jumping, and it doesn’t deviate much from that. You’ll spend the majority of your five to ten hours with this title holding the X button and pressing A to run and jump, respectively. There will be occasions where you’ll need to pick something up and throw it, but they’re limited. The same is true of switches, blocks and boxes that must be destroyed by butt slams. As such, the experience is somewhat limited and basic, although some levels to throw in some much needed variety.
The majority of Koa’s levels have you moving through a themed environment in order to get from point A to point B, while dealing with obstacles and platforms. Some introduce consecutive boost pads, which send you racing at great speeds, making you responsible for steering and jumping but nothing else. As you progress, things become more advanced and difficult, to the point where children will likely have some trouble, despite the game’s colourful design. The final boss is especially tough, and he’s one of a few in the game, marking the only enemies you’ll have to fight. Others just act as obstacles during the rare underwater stages.
Since this is a speed running platformer, players will earn medals based on how quickly they complete a trial. Achievements are also awarded for getting a number of golds, but that won’t be your main focus unless you wish it to be. The main goal is to make it to the end of each level, and finding all of their collectibles is also a draw. Doing so will increase your time, meaning you’ll need to go back and redo certain levels in order to get missed golds. I didn’t worry too much about my times, but managed to get at least 15 gold medals.
As mentioned above, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara isn’t exactly an easy game, meaning looks are once again deceiving. That said, it’s not a super challenging one, either, outside of a few tricky areas. It does take some skill, though, and resulted in a bit of trial and error on my part. The controls also aren’t as perfect as they could have been, which means over-jumping and falling to your death will happen.
At first, the part I found most difficult was the optional races against the child pirates who reside on the main island. The computer was always nearly perfect, and it seemed like they were one and a half times faster than me. I struggled with them until I learned that jumping, then pressing X before landing (to initiate a roll) would give me added speed, especially if I jumped again right after. Other than that, the hardest part was the final boss.
Races also factor into some of the trials, and appear at the end of some islands’ sets of four levels. There are also times where you must run from danger, and do so towards the camera like in Crash Bandicoot.
The collectibles you’ll find combine with the many seashells you’ll collect, to allow for different shirts and backpacks to be unlocked, purchased and equipped. Some also allow your boat to be upgraded with things like the ability to jump, the ability to go through whirlpools and something that lets you collect items from the bottom of the sea. That boat plays an important role in this game, because it’s how you get around the map. It’s only slightly reminiscent of Windwaker, but did bring that game to mind. You can actually drive this boat forwards and backwards, though.
There are several side activities to partake in if you wish. This includes visiting optional islands, where you’ll talk to a wandering character and get rewards after listening to him, taking a nap or something else basic. It’s joined by optional trials and things you can collect around the map. The sea is littered with seashells, barrels, sunken treasure and whales carrying boxes, all of which you can run into and/or collect.
The whole of Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is incredibly colourful and pretty easy on the eyes. It’s like an interactive cartoon, with art design that would’ve been at home on the N64 or PlayStation. For the most part, it looks nice and runs pretty well, though there were hints of frame rate hiccups. Audibly, it’s solid, with some good music and fitting sound effects.
I enjoyed my five hours with Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara, but feel that the game is held back by being as basic as it is. There’s some good level design to be found within, but nothing about this solid game is original or outside of the box enough to truly stand out. It’s good for what it is, and will scratch your classic, 3D platforming itch, but it won’t blow you away.
This review is based on the Xbox One version of the game. It was played on an Xbox Series S.