PONCHO

 PlayStation 4
User Score
3.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 5 out of 7

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  1. ghostgate2001
    Aug 13, 2016
    3
    The game's core gimmick seems quite promising - it's a 2D platformer in which you can flit "in" and "out" of the screen between 3 different parallax layers of scenery - but unfortunately the design and execution are both lousy. Seriously, I haven't seen a platformer where you can get trapped in an "infinite death loop" since Jet Set Willy on the ZX Spectrum ... but it happened 3 times inThe game's core gimmick seems quite promising - it's a 2D platformer in which you can flit "in" and "out" of the screen between 3 different parallax layers of scenery - but unfortunately the design and execution are both lousy. Seriously, I haven't seen a platformer where you can get trapped in an "infinite death loop" since Jet Set Willy on the ZX Spectrum ... but it happened 3 times in my first hour of play.

    OK, the game gives you infinite lives, and there is seemingly no penalty for dying - and you can pause the game and quit back to the level selection screen at any time - but these are just desperate attempts to paper over the cracks in the game's broken coding.

    The "layers" idea is fundamentally flawed in its execution. You frequently can't see where you are, due to foreground layers obscuring your view, and it's ultimately just plain NOT FUN. The game's exploration relies on coloured keys, bought in a "shop", to gate your progress ... meaning you spend time navigating its convoluted levels only to reach a brick wall - a gate, requiring a key you don't have - with no way of knowing in advance which colour key you were going to need. You then you have no choice but to quit out of the level or backtrack laboriously, get the colour of key you need, and then backtrack again. Does that sound like fun to you? If navigating the levels was fun, it wouldn't be so bad, but it's not. It's a grinding chore.

    Other problems include the on-screen text (character speech bubbles) being ridiculously small; the "in" and "out" buttons being inexplicably mapped to "L1" and "R1" (buttons placed to the left and right of each other, when it would be far more intuitive to map them to "L1" and "L2" or "R1" and "R2" - y'know, buttons where the placement actually corresponds to the direction of travel!); glitchy scenery that (ironically) can't decide what's in front of what, leading to bits of scenery flickering in and out of existence as you move; leaps of faith where you can't see what's below you (you can pan the scenery left and right a bit, but not up and down); foreground layers obscuring your view ... the list just goes on and on. Even the way the character interacts with something as simple as a slope is semi-broken, with your character inexplicably sliding down to the height of the next scenery "block" - amateur coding.

    It all just feels shoddy and unfinished, and - most damningly - the game's core "gimmick" just doesn't work in practice. I paid less than £2 for this in a sale, and - being a long-time fan of 2D platform games - I thought I could overlook a few flaws and get some enjoyment out of it, especially at that price. After an hour of being repeatedly disgusted with the poor design and execrable coding, I deleted it, knowing I'd never return.    … Expand
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Nov 14, 2015
    7
    PONCHO
    from fun to frustrating
    Poncho is colorful, gorgeous, and charming, This is a 2.5dish puzzle platformer where you play as an adorable blue robot in a poncho set out to save the world… This game can be absolutely down right fun and addicting, but sadly only about half of the time. The levels in poncho are very explorery, to progress you go around collecting keys or cubes to buy    PONCHO
    from fun to frustrating
    Poncho is colorful, gorgeous, and charming, This is a 2.5dish puzzle platformer where you play as an adorable blue robot in a poncho set out to save the world…
    This game can be absolutely down right fun and addicting, but sadly only about half of the time.
    The levels in poncho are very explorery, to progress you go around collecting keys or cubes to buy keys from shops, and you flip switches and solve environmental puzzles to find the next teleporter and move on to the next level
    There are 3 layers in every world and you can hop back and forth between the middle, the foreground, and the background, this concept alone is enough to make a 10/10 experience with challenging platforming using simple timing tricks, and storytelling with the gorgeous environment.. but instead they add these annoying white blocks with seemingly no pattern that essentially give no warning they are about to change, I mean they kind of do, but even once you see it it doesn’t matter because they’re all timed differently and you don’t know if it’s about to go forward or backwards, and then you fall and you have to repeat over and over and over,. Because you can’t die and there are no checkpoints…The concept of dimension hopping is great, but dimensions look completely flat, so the human eye can’t see the next moving platform you need to jump onto or dodge, because there’s lights flashing, platforms moving, it’s not fun. These parts ruined the overall experience for me…
    Because other than these moving cubes, PONCHO is a great concept..
    And I’m not over exaggerating or crying because I wasn’t good at the game… There’s just simply no obstacle to overcome with them, there is no skill to learn… what they do one time they won’t do the next time, it’s less about timing your jumps and switches and more about praying you’re in the right algorithm and you don’t get knocked back to the start….
    I found myself getting through with luck and button mashing… they simply just got in the way of my fun…
    it isn’t all too bad though... poncho can be pretty enjoyable until you get to the frustrating level 5..bet then its good again for the final 4 levels.. but never mind they’re going to smack you again with the final level… for the final level they literally throw all of the things wrong with this game at you.
    The finale was a perfect opportunity to give a casual high 5 fun for all experience, but instead they decide to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth if you cant find the patience inside of you to push through the poorly designed ending puzzle sequence… it’s a jumbled mess.
    I’ve said it once and I’ll probably say it over 9000 times again there’s a difference between challenging and difficult, challenging is fun and engaging... Difficult is just straight up frustration.
    I feel like PONCHO makes the mistake of being hard just for the sake of being hard... the story, the color, the opening it all fools you into thinking this game wants to deliver an experience, but ultimately it sacrifices challenge for frustration.
    It’s almost like the developers don’t want you to enjoy or beat their game... The moment you start having fun they take it away from you.
    You’ll lose hours to the same annoying sections rather than losing hours replaying moments you loved… just saying no to the game creeped into my mind way too many times than it should.
    As far as actually bugs go though, this game is fairly clear of them, but its super easy to find yourself in an endless death loop in some of the smaller stages and I found my character constantly not jumping when I pressed x almost as if the sensitivity for commands is way too low…
    I’m almost convinced no one is meant to beat this game…
    But I’m glad that I ultimately did.
    For me, the ending was worth the endless hours stuck in the final tour.
    But I’m persistent as heck, if you annoy easily, you owe it to your blood pressure to stay away.
    For what it is
    Puzzle Platformer: 6.5/10
    Overall: 6.5/10    … Expand
  3. AlbertoBuzz
    Nov 3, 2018
    0
    The game's core gimmick seems quite promising - it's a 2D platformer in which you can flit "in" and "out" of the screen between 3 different parallax layers of scenery - but unfortunately the design and execution are both lousy. Seriously, I haven't seen a platformer where you can get trapped in an "infinite death loop" since Jet Set Willy on the ZX Spectrum ... but it happened 3 times inThe game's core gimmick seems quite promising - it's a 2D platformer in which you can flit "in" and "out" of the screen between 3 different parallax layers of scenery - but unfortunately the design and execution are both lousy. Seriously, I haven't seen a platformer where you can get trapped in an "infinite death loop" since Jet Set Willy on the ZX Spectrum ... but it happened 3 times in my first hour of play.

    OK, the game gives you infinite lives, and there is seemingly no penalty for dying - and you can pause the game and quit back to the level selection screen at any time - but these are just desperate attempts to paper over the cracks in the game's broken coding.

    The "layers" idea is fundamentally flawed in its execution. You frequently can't see where you are, due to foreground layers obscuring your view, and it's ultimately just plain NOT FUN. The game's exploration relies on coloured keys, bought in a "shop", to gate your progress ... meaning you spend time navigating its convoluted levels only to reach a brick wall - a gate, requiring a key you don't have - with no way of knowing in advance which colour key you were going to need. You then you have no choice but to quit out of the level or backtrack laboriously, get the colour of key you need, and then backtrack again. Does that sound like fun to you? If navigating the levels was fun, it wouldn't be so bad, but it's not. It's a grinding chore.

    Other problems include the on-screen text (character speech bubbles) being ridiculously small; the "in" and "out" buttons being inexplicably mapped to "L1" and "R1" (buttons placed to the left and right of each other, when it would be far more intuitive to map them to "L1" and "L2" or "R1" and "R2" - y'know, buttons where the placement actually corresponds to the direction of travel!); glitchy scenery that (ironically) can't decide what's in front of what, leading to bits of scenery flickering in and out of existence as you move; leaps of faith where you can't see what's below you (you can pan the scenery left and right a bit, but not up and down); foreground layers obscuring your view ... the list just goes on and on. Even the way the character interacts with something as simple as a slope is semi-broken, with your character inexplicably sliding down to the height of the next scenery "block" - amateur coding.

    It all just feels shoddy and unfinished, and - most damningly - the game's core "gimmick" just doesn't work in practice. I paid less than £2 for this in a sale, and - being a long-time fan of 2D platform games - I thought I could overlook a few flaws and get some enjoyment out of it, especially at that price. After an hour of being repeatedly disgusted with the poor design and execrable coding, I deleted it, knowing I'd never return.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Jan 23, 2016
    50
    A disappointment considering its potential. [Jan 2016, p.94]
  2. Digitally Downloaded
    Nov 18, 2015
    70
    Poncho is that kind of indie game you have saved as an .exe file somewhere in the depths of your computer. It's something you stumble upon and unravel at your leisure, but you keep finding out that it gets deeper as you go. It manages to be a puzzle platformer which transcends figuring out patterns and jumping on things, and while the basics need polish it's definitely a title which deserves your attention.
    Read full review
  3. God is a Geek
    Nov 18, 2015
    55
    Poncho is memorable with its lush pixel art and catchy music but also for its frustrating level design relying on a single infuriating mechanic.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »