Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

1. Deamatre

   Nov 9, 2012

   10

   I love this game! First off- it is gorgeous. The art makes it a wonderful place to spend some time. Add to that the fun twisting-musicalI love this game! First off- it is gorgeous. The art makes it a wonderful place to spend some time. Add to that the fun twisting-musical score and you are instantly transported into a world that is worth investing some time in. And, do plan on investing some time because make not mistake, this is a challenging game! As a fan of the old-style Sonic games, I was in platformer heaven! The price is extremely reasonable, and that gameplay itself is responsive, logical and, most importantly, FUN! Highly recommended!… Expand

   • 2 of 4 users found this helpful
2. KabraxisObliv

   Oct 27, 2012

   10

   So many indie platformers out there.. which ony to play first? This one! Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is an extremely challenging but alsoSo many indie platformers out there.. which ony to play first? This one! Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is an extremely challenging but also very forgiving platformer with a twist. Whenever you want it to, the game changes its music from a bright and sunny world into a dark place with demons for example instead of owls. It does not only affect the graphics and the soundtrack (which changes from retro-ish music by Chris Hülsbeck (the guy who created the music for the original Giana Sisters game in the 80s) to a faster (sometimes) metal-like soundtrack by Machinae Supremacy) but also it does affect the whole gameplay. Normal plants change into spikes or castle gates open to let you advance through the level. And sometimes even secrets are revealed by transforming the world. The level design is astonishingly good. Rich of detail (like really rich, most detailed game I have seen in a long time), cool puzzles, fast-paced (if you want to go for a speed run (or Time Attack mode), cool new game mechanics added every two levels or so... it just never gets boring and the levels get better and better and more varied as you progress but also harder and harder.
   
   Your characters can jump on top of enemies to kill them (the classic way) or you simply dash into them by pressing a button. Another button let's you twirl which makes you stay in the air for a longer time so you can precisely land on enemies or overcome obstacles.
   
   You will also collect gems throughout all the levels. After the first five levels there is a boss fight which is pretty tough but the checkpoint save system of the game is really fair. But after a level you will always get a rating. To unlock a boss level you will need an average of three stars per level.
   You can get up to five stars in every level: Three for collecting gems, two for not dying a lot.
   So even if you die 100 times in a level but collect around 85% of the gems you will still get three stars, pretty fair. But if you want 5 stars you must not die more than three (upcoming patch on 10/30/2012 changes this to five) times.
   
   Why should you want more than three stars? Well, if want to unlock Hardcore mode (only one life per level) you will need four stars in the boss level(s). But other than that it's only for achievements I guess.
   
   Other than that it only lacks a real story. There's around the same amount of story as in Super Meat Boy.. so .. not much. But the game really does not need it. Why 9 ouf of 10 and not 10 out of 10? Sometimes the game gets a little bit frustrating so it can happen that you die like 20 in the same level segment. But still, there are checkpoints and the devs promised more checkpoints and removing unfair placed enemies in a patch coming next week.
   
   The customer support by Black Forest Games is amazing. So far they answered every single question I had, every tweet I made, and I have not seen a single suggestion thread on the forums that has not been commented by a developer. Fantastic work. Also I heard of a free DLC coming... okay, screw it, the game and the company just deseverd another 10/10 user review.… Expand

   • 15 of 18 users found this helpful
4. KouDy

   Jan 9, 2013

   9

   Clearly one of the best platformer choices one can make nowadays. The game has good pace and uses very well the switching methods between 2Clearly one of the best platformer choices one can make nowadays. The game has good pace and uses very well the switching methods between 2 characters. You will unlikely get bored playing this one. Soundtrack is pure bliss to listen in both world. Highly recommended game.… Expand

   • 0 of 2 users found this helpful
5. chocolatemiak

   Oct 24, 2012

   9

   Overall I'm incredibly satisfied with this game from the money spent. I'm very happy with the gameplay and it has good quality controls. TheOverall I'm incredibly satisfied with this game from the money spent. I'm very happy with the gameplay and it has good quality controls. The switch gimmick is visually really cool, I'm sure some people will get sick of it but I thought it was always interesting to see, everything changes, even little designs in the background. The difficulty is harder than I originally thought, and it takes a good amount of time to get through it. From the hours of gameplay I've had, it was money well spent.… Expand

   • 8 of 11 users found this helpful
6. Firecrest

   Feb 17, 2013

   8

   Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams plays reminiscent of an early 32-bit sidescrolling platformer. While it doesn't make much of an attempt toGiana Sisters: Twisted Dreams plays reminiscent of an early 32-bit sidescrolling platformer. While it doesn't make much of an attempt to innovate the genre, the game is able to suffice alone on its extremely solid gameplay. Vibrant, dynamically-changing environments in conjunction with a catchy, upbeat soundtrack contribute a great deal to the overall experience to make this one game any fan of the platforming genre should experience.… Expand

   • 1 of 3 users found this helpful
7. SwitSwat

   Oct 8, 2013

   7

   It's hard to believe that this game's idea originated from Mario... But it did. And I won't say that it's as fun as most Mario games, but itIt's hard to believe that this game's idea originated from Mario... But it did. And I won't say that it's as fun as most Mario games, but it certainly does provide some good fun... plus very hard gameplay at times. The game has great visuals, and a funky soundtrack that goes great with it's premise. Although after a long while, you might get a bit tired of it, but if your a fan of platformers, give this game a go. 7/10… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful
8. TitaniumDragon

   Nov 6, 2014

   1

   Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a 2D platforming game whose central mechanic is the ability to switch between two versions of the same stageGiana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a 2D platforming game whose central mechanic is the ability to switch between two versions of the same stage – a “light” version and a “twisted” version. The game is very mechanically simple, with the main character possessing the ability to move, jump, and use one of two double jumps, in addition to the primary mechanic of switching between worlds. While the idea sounds like it has potential, the game exhausts itself of ideas very quickly. The levels of the game are uninspired and quite long, especially given that the game encourages the player to collect every single one of the many, many hundreds of gems scattered across each level. On the whole, the game is very weak and not worth your time or money.
   
   The gameplay in Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is quite basic. Your character can run, jump, and stomp on enemies to kill them. In addition, your character has two special double jumps – one of them is a jump-twirl, which propels the character upwards an additional distance and allows them to descent at a slower, more controlled rate. The other power is the fireball – your character propels herself a longer distance than the twirl jump in a ball of flame, which can kill enemies you can headstomp on if you hit them with it, regardless of your angle of attack. Both abilities end up heavily utilized – the fireball ability for breaking through walls and bouncing from enemy to enemy, the twirl-jump for navigating several sections of the game – but neither really end up with all that much depth to them. The fireball has the seemingly-neat idea to use it to richochet around off walls, allowing the character to rapidly ascend or descend through narrow passageways, but ultimately, while this seems like a neat idea, it doesn’t really end up being all that meaningful.
   The game takes its name from the ability to “twist” the world around you, switching between the light world version and the twisted world version of the level. This doesn’t really change the level much, but it does cause some platforms to slide in and out of the wall, some hazards to become dangerous or safe, allow for the collection of differently colored gems, and some doors to open and close. The fireball switches the character to the light world by default, while the jump whirl switches the character to the twisted world; however, even in the midst of using these abilities the player can switch back between worlds. The switching is seamless and the world doesn’t change instantaneously in many cases, with platforms and gates taking a short time to slide in and out, and while this is important for a few puzzles, generally it doesn’t matter very much.
   Unfortunately, this is all that there is for the vast, vast majority of the game. In the right hands, this might have been interesting, but unfortunately, the game ends up getting pretty boring pretty quickly. The idea of switching between worlds and using the abilities is introduced across the first two stages, and in the rest of the game, only a single new mechanic is ever introduced, and its use is very intermittent.
   This could have been fine, but unfortunately, the game’s levels have almost no variation at all. There are spikes which kill the player, spikes which only kill the player in one world or the other, enemies who can be stomped on, enemies who shoot projectiles in a straight line and can be stomped on, and enemies who can’t be stomped on at all. There is another uncommon enemy type, which is an enemy which charges at the player when they are stood in front of in the light world, and which hurl ricocheting projectiles at the player in the dark world, as well as ghosts who only pursue the player in one world or the other and who are otherwise invincible (but can be stopped by beams of light, which kill them but primarily serve as a means of preventing the ghosts from pursuing the player into other parts of the level rather than as a means of actually defeating them organically).
   These limited enemy types are hurt by the level design, which doesn’t really introduce many new mechanics at all; there are platforms which rise, fall, or simply fall apart after the player stands on them, and there are arrows which, if the player strikes them with the fireball, launches the player in the direction of the arrow. The levels themselves are not designed in any sort of coherent or aesthetically pleasing manner, with the player making their way through the twisted path of the level, trying to get to the end while just overcoming arbitrary-feeling platforming challenges. I never got any sense of a higher intelligence behind the level designs, and very few of them included anything clever in them at all.
   
   Overall, the game fails to do anything interesting, and ends up becoming boring and repetitive quite quickly. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done much better in other 2D platformers, and even the game’s presentation isn’t very strong. Not worth your time or money.… Expand

   • 1 of 3 users found this helpful

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