Even though Dracamar is a pretty standard 3D platformer, it still feels kind of like an oddity – for reasons both obvious and less obvious.
The obvious part first: even if we’ve seen a revival of PS2-style 3D platformers in recent years, and even though a 3D platformer was the consensus GOTY just a few short years ago, it still feels a little surprising every time we get a new one. Consequently, Dracamar feels like a throwback to an earlier generation.
That’s not remotely a bad thing, to be sure – especially not when Dracamar feels like a very good 3D platformer from an earlier generation. The levels are absolutely enormous (occasionally taking nearly half an hour to beat), and getting around them is a breeze as you jump and glide across some pretty inventive landscapes. Add in colourful characters and a plot where you’re saving adorable animals from some evil forces, and it all sounds very mid-2000s.
But there’s also the fact that Dracamar feels…odd. Some of it is probably cultural differences lost in translation (the developer is from Barcelona), but any time the characters speak or the game explains what’s happening in the plot, it all feels like you’re playing a lost artifact from the mid-2000s, like a tie-in to some random European cartoon that never got released in North America. That may sound oddly specific, but if you play it – and you should, if you’re a fan of 3D platformers – you’ll see there’s really no other way to describe it.
It’s also worth noting that Dracamar is pretty easy. The enemies rarely pose a challenge, even in boss fights, and the platforming is never going to make you want to throw your controller in frustration, so if you want something tough, this isn’t it.
But again, if you’re a fan of classic 3D platformers, Dracamar evokes those in all the right ways. It may feel like a lost oddity from another continent and generation, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s all part of its charm.
Petoons Studio provided us with a Dracamar PC code for review purposes.
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