3D Platforming with a Yo-Yo
Penny’s Big Breakaway Review (PlayStation 5)
From the developers of Sonic Mania, they have spun off from the blue hedgehog and created their own IP. A fresh new 3D platformer featuring a very skilled yo-yo performer. This is one of the most recognizable indie games today due to its unique art style and colorful flare. The platforming mechanics are simple to understand but hard to master.
With 11 worlds in total across over 40 levels, is Penny’s Big Breakaway worth $30? Was Evening Star Studio’s first 3D platformer any good? Let’s talk about it.
When Penny’s Big Breakaway was first announced, I was very excited. From the dev team of Christian Whitehead alone, I was sold but the art direction for Penny’s Big Breakaway is simply amazing. Whitehead famously ported the classic Sonic games on mobile and of course developed Sonic Mania. I wanted to see what he could do on his own. In addition, he would be further challenging himself by making it a 3D platformer as opposed to Sonic’s 2D adventures.
Before Penny’s Big Breakaway became a reality, Sega wanted Christian Whitehead to make another Sonic game, likely Sonic Mania 2 but conflicting ideas caused the fallout.
No bad blood but Sega moved forward with Arzest and created Sonic Superstars and now we have Penny’s Big Breakaway. Shadow dropped during the most recent Nintendo Direct, it was actually fully revealed eight months ago during the June 2023 Nintendo Direct.
A 7 hours adventure with a ton of gimmicks to learn, collectibles to find, and penguins to avoid.
Penny’s Big Breakaway was my most anticipated game of 2024 and I believe they delivered a super fun experience for any platformer fanatic. While it’s not perfect with bugs and glitches happening at times, for their first 3D platformer, it’s still a cut above the rest.
The story of Penny’s Big Breakaway is about Penny, a yo-yo performer, who wants to audition for the upcoming Gala. Stumbling across this sentient yo-yo, she uses her new found friend in the audition. It goes well until the yo-yo rips Emperor Eddie’s clothes right off.
Penny is now a wanted felon as she’ll come across various characters who have some sort of connection with the emperor. The story is probably the weakest part of Penny’s Big Breakaway. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily bad but it’s very bland. I understand Penny running away from the law but how she clears her name kind of happens by itself.
The other characters are all distinct and colorful in their own right but I found it hard to get really invested into the world of Penny. Probably because most of the dialogue is in text boxes, so I have to use my imagination more to bringing these characters to life. Penny is also a mute character as she’ll express herself through gestures and thought bubbles which is fine. But I think it would’ve helped if the text boxes were voice acted.
Obviously, the world building and story isn’t Penny’s Big Breakaway’s selling point. We have a physics and momentum-based 3D platformer who very much understands the mechanics from their time with Sonic.
You can use your yo-yo to double jump, dash, and leap across platforms. Roll on the yo-yo to gain speed down slopes and eat nearby food to gain different abilities. Combine all of these moves to gain points for your overall score at the end.
Throughout each level, you’ll find citizens who will need your assistance. It can be as simple as bringing an item to another citizen or reaching a certain point threshold for their enjoyment. They’re like side-quests for a 3D platformer which is pretty cool. I love helping the citizens out whenever I can because it feels more rewarding than any ordinary collectible.
There’s another collectible to find in each level which are these giant coins. Think of them as the red rings in Sonic games or the star coins in Mario games. Three giant coins and three citizens to help out on top of getting the most points in each level. A ton to keep track of especially if you want to 100% the adventure.
Normal coins can also be found throughout the level which can be used to purchase items in the shop. Personally, I didn’t know about the shop until I finished the game but the items will save yourself from a bottomless pit or give yourself extra health. If you’re having trouble on later levels, visit the item shop.
The giant coins unlock bonus levels which are purely focused on platforming. These levels will test your skill on Penny’s movement abilities which all provide a great challenge.
At the end of each level, depending on how high you land on the podium, you have to do some quick time events to score more points. Be sure to use the right analog stick for these inputs because the left analog stick will automatically fail the event. I only learned about this after talking to my best friend Damian about it on our podcast. A fun way to end the level while scoring additional points.
Penny has a health bar which is consumed each time you take a hit, fall down a bottomless pit, or get caught by the penguins. The penguins are found throughout certain parts of your adventure and if enough attach to Penny, you’re deemed caught and respawn at your last checkpoint.
If your health bar reaches zero, you die and 10,000 lose points. If you’re going for that high score at the end, you might as well restart from the beginning. But if you don’t care about the lost points, you can respawn at your last checkpoint. A great way to give players a choice in where they want to respawn because not everyone is going to care about the points.
The levels themselves are somewhat open but follow a linear path. If you do some exploration, you might find a collectible.
Each world in Penny’s Big Breakaway isn’t structured the exact same. Some worlds may only have two levels while others will have up to five.
Boss fights don’t happen at the end of each world too which makes your playthrough unpredictable. I love this structure because it means no single world sticks around for too long and we can move onto the next.
The boss fights themselves are well constructed. Nothing too crazy but they have the traditional three hit take-downs with platforming taking the main stage. The beginning boss fights I found to be harder, especially Mr. Q, but that could be my lack of skill at the start. Obviously I got better at Penny’s movement as I continued to play but the later bosses didn’t really challenge me too much.
Although Penny’s Big Breakaway is big on its movement and gaining speed, it has everything a platforming fan could ask for. Fun collectibles that require a decent amount of exploration and unlockables with said collectibles. The controls will take some getting used to but you can do some sick tricks once you’ve mastered it. You’ll have plenty of time to learn Penny’s moveset throughout the 11 world adventure.
If you’re looking for a 3D platforming that’s big on its mechanical prowess, Penny’s Big Breakaway is your game.
Presentation wise, this game looks phenomenal. The colorful art style makes Penny’s Big Breakaway standout so much. It’s kind of hard to not fall in love with the cartoony and charming visuals.
The soundtrack is a bop with Tee Lopes and Sean Bialo as main composers. There is not a single track that misses, it’s an amazing soundtrack that’s worth listening on its own. Performance on the PlayStation 5 ran smoothly frame rate wise. I never experienced any slowdown or frame dips. However, bugs and glitches do plague Penny’s Big Breakaway on nearly every platform. I ran into a few that would cause me to restart from my last checkpoint because I simply couldn’t move.
No game is going to be perfect but Penny’s Big Breakaway is getting a reputation online because of its buggy nature. I only ran into three bugs/glitches in total which I think is totally fine. It’s Even Star Studio’s first independent game and they’re constantly patching the game to ensure stability.
All in all, Penny’s Big Breakaway is a smashing 3D platformer that I can recommend highly to fans of the genre. The momentum based movement with a yo-yo feels amazing to control across the 40 level gallery. Plenty of collectibles of find and levels that’ll keep you engaged the whole way through. There’s an insane amount of post-game content if you like to 100% 3D platformers.
Even though the story is lacking and the presentation can be buggy at times, this is Evening Star Studio’s first 3D platformer. If they wish to continue with Penny, I’m sure the following adventures will be more stable thanks to the success of this title.
The colorful visuals and tight platforming mechanics makes me believe Penny’s Big Breakaway is well worth its $30 price tag. It’s a premium for an indie title but has over six hours of gameplay to consume here plus an addition few hours to those completionists. If you want a quality 3D platformer with momentum based movement, Penny’s Big Breakaway is right up your alley.
Travis “tvsonic” Vuong
Business e-mail: travisvuong56@gmail.com
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