Giana Sisters Director’s Cut Review
Coming from controversial past and through the last generation, the Giana Sisters finally break into the newest consoles with Twisted Dreams: Directors Cut. Once the franchise was known only as clone of Super Mario, and although its reimagining (first released on PC in 2012) still takes inspiration from the plumber king of platformer’s, the Giana Sisters no longer rely on him completely.
Although you possibly wouldn’t guess that from the plotline, where a sister is kidnapped by a large fire breathing reptile forcing you to traverse a magical world in order to save her. With the Director’s Cut on PS4 and Xbox One you’ll be able to explore these slices of magical kingdoms, complete with forests, castles and mountains in gloriously shiny graphics. The Director’s Cut also features the DLC world ‘The Owlverlord’ so you can enjoy all 33 levels of the story, as well as the collection of bonus Christmas levels.
Where the formula moves away from Mario’s beginnings is in the fundamental gameplay mechanic of ‘twisting’ the world. For those unfamiliar with the game on other platforms, players are able to completely change the world by swapping sister, despite one of the sisters being kidnapped, somehow. Each have their own spin on the dreamland they are exploring, with the blonde sisters’ world appearing dark and creepy, with demons roaming the haunted woods and looming fortresses, while the pink haired sister experiences the world in a much more vibrant and innocent fashion. Monsters turn into giant plump birds, dingy forests become enchanted, with giant candy canes and colourful backdrops.
After exploring with both you might find yourself more drawn to one twist or another; personally I favored the pink haired sister, and it’s a shame that the blonde sister’s world comparatively seems so drab and uninteresting. Twisting the world does have its necessary uses, as broken bridges may be repaired, gates may open and obstacles retreat. Like Outland and its colour phasing, the Giana Sisters must constantly be aware of the environment around them in order to progress.
Unfortunately the puzzles involving twisting the world quickly become a bit predictable; one of the most common events is riding a lift up or down forcing you to twist the world to in order to avoid impending death. It is not a bad experience, but a little bit more creativity could have been nice.
Each sister also brings her own unique ability into play; these are luckily used in a variety of imaginative ways. The blonde sister is able to twirl, which gives her extra height in her jump, as well as descending her fall. The pink haired sister, taking a page from sonic, can briefly turn herself into a fireball, allowing her to rocket through enemies or over impassable challenges. These powers are key for players attempting to find all the secrets dotted throughout each level, and there are a lot of secrets to find. With hundreds of collectable crystals, and a few giant ones to boot you will have to be patient and thorough to find everything.
But that’s not all this game has to offer, and with Giana Sisters: Director’s Cut you’ll be spoiled for choice with all the options available. From the sadistic ultra-hardcore mode that will reset the game back to level one after every death, to the time attack mode that encourages you to beat the clock, you won’t run out of reasons to come back to Twisted Dreams for quite some time.
