none of the character assets in Half-Genie Hero are 3D Models, Gui. this was made in the same engine as Ducktales Remastered. If anything, it looks a lot like they may have been using Flash to do the animation in this game rather than something like say... toonboom. having something like say... a flash puppet that you just move bits and bobs around with creates a smoothness similar to what you get if say... you move a 3D model around.
That being said...!
... not even mad at your HGH assessment. it feels like it's played VERY safe and yeah, the linear levels no longer compliment the Metroidvania style backtracking, whereas when Pirate's curse say... made you backtrack for Bran-Son's sword or the mummy curse inscriptions on Saliva Island, it felt much better. Pirate's Curse IS the better game, and I attribute that to the way the kickstarter was structured and how half-genie hero's stretch goals could append chapters to the game. I imagine if the kickstarter would have went bust that Wayforward would have maybe released this game episodically, and it still would have worked similarly.
Crab Shantae is actually a concept they developed for Shantae 2: Risky's Revolution for the GBA before that got canned. Crab Shantae also is handy to turn into in a pinch to observe a boss pattern since when ducking in the shell, Shantae essentially doesn't have a hitbox. I do think having crab Shantae and mermaid Shantae in the same game is a bit superfluous, but that's like complaining that the High jump boots are superfluous in a metroid game after one gets the space jump.
Bat Shantae still has uses after acquiring the harpy, as it allows for much more measured control at the expense of not being able to go upwards, which is really nice for one particular room I can think of that's pitch black and full of spikes. Harpy Shantae is a legacy transformation from the original gameboy game, which I think also takes president in a game where I think they wanted to represent Shantae at the peak of her power.
There is a metronome you can buy at the Scuttle Town item shop that doubles the speed of shantae's dancing that makes transforming super snappy, and Gui also failed to mention that the third page of dances is devoted entirely to utility dances like the Warp Dance, the screen Nuke Dance, the dryad Dance, and the Gemjug dance. these are usually not dances that you'll need to rapidly exploit as much, so more-or-less there's two pages of transformation dances that you'd actually use for platforming purposes.
... I don't remember the menu thing. O_o;;
Also, Gui, you can call wrench and Sky to pick you up at any time out of a level by using the whistle that Sky gives you at the beginning of the game. This is true for Risky Boots' lair as well.I still loved this game, because I'm a sucker for the characters and the sheer volume of personality the characters from these games show. I really desperatley wanted to back this game back in the day at the $350 tier to get in the art gallery, but it just wasn't to be. I couldn't get the money together by the end of the month, and I ended up spending that money to get my Wii U, so... All's well that ends well?
you can read my full thoughts on Shantae: Half Genie Hero here on the NintendoWorldReport forums!
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=51034.0Also, I want to reiterate;
I DO NOT BLAME GUI FOR THINKING THIS GAME IS DISAPPOINTING BECAUSE IT KINDA IS WHEN THEY GOT SO CLOSE TO NAILING IT IN PIRATE'S CURSE.