Penny's Big Breakaway
Main game
3.07 average rating based on 43 ratings
- Developers
- Evening Star
- Publishers
- Private Division
- Events
- LRG3 2024, Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase - 2.21.2024, +2 moreLRG3 2024, Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase - 2.21.2024, PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2023, Nintendo Direct 2023.06.21 less
- Platforms
- Nintendo Switch, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
- Genres
- Adventure, Indie, Platform
- Themes
- Action
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Penny's Big Breakaway?
Just like Sonic, it sucks and rocks
Penny's Big Breakaway is that one girl in highschool who was lanky, awkward, and made embarrassing jokes but also won State for Pole Vaulting.
Like there is so much to complain about with Penny's Big Breakaway. The mechanics can be janky, the glitches are ever present needing active avoidance, and the story meanders to a slump. And if any of those are deal breakers for you, I think you are totally justified in not liking PBB.
But if you instead prize things like locomotion, music, and visuals, you will probably forgive Penny for her sins. The mechanics are a little crusty, but once you get used to it, Penny can really cruise. Like you could play this game like Tony Hawk- trying to get one big combo the whole stage. And you are encouraged to reach for high scores because the music gets you into a groovy flow that pushes the player toward excellence. Moving to each new world was exciting just because I wanted to hear the funky, thematic, and energizing tunes. That and each world is gorgeous. The Sonic Mania team created a 3D experience that captures the essence of Sonic stylistically.
I think Penny's Big Breakaway is …
Penny's Big Breakaway is that one girl in highschool who was lanky, awkward, and made embarrassing jokes but also won State for Pole Vaulting.
Like there is so much to complain about with Penny's Big Breakaway. The mechanics can be janky, the glitches are ever present needing active avoidance, and the story meanders to a slump. And if any of those are deal breakers for you, I think you are totally justified in not liking PBB.
But if you instead prize things like locomotion, music, and visuals, you will probably forgive Penny for her sins. The mechanics are a little crusty, but once you get used to it, Penny can really cruise. Like you could play this game like Tony Hawk- trying to get one big combo the whole stage. And you are encouraged to reach for high scores because the music gets you into a groovy flow that pushes the player toward excellence. Moving to each new world was exciting just because I wanted to hear the funky, thematic, and energizing tunes. That and each world is gorgeous. The Sonic Mania team created a 3D experience that captures the essence of Sonic stylistically.
I think Penny's Big Breakaway is an interesting first test for what Evening Star can and will do when separated from the enormous IP that is Sonic the Hedgehog. I hope they continue to make games that are energetic, beautiful bops.
The movement felt good and was fun, but the levels were far too busy, and camera angles made it often difficult to determine if I was going to land or hit where intended.
Leaving unfinished for now, so just a mini-"review". This is fundamentally a pretty fun 3D platformer thanks to its yo-yo-driven movement, which lets you roll, swing, bounce, and use special items to string together a fluid route through the stages. The colorful visuals drew me in at first, but to me there was a sort of unexciting, unmemorable feel to the the world themes and character designs. A lot of the game sits at a nice level of challenge which also lets you route in optional objectives, but there has also been enough frustration in individual sections to drag down my enthusiasm. Boss levels in particular got on my nerves despite being conceptually cool, and there are also smaller moments in the normal levels that got a bit annoying, increasingly so as the game went on. I feel like from what I played, it does show promise for a better follow-up game, or maybe it's fundamentally already hitting the mark for its main audience (not me) and just needs some more polish.
I'm having some trouble getting into this one. I was looking forward to it from the first video as I adore 3d platformers, but it's lacking a certain control characteristic that was present in Tinykin. Definitely need to give this one another shot, it just feels very flaky with the controls initially. I kept missing platforms and falling into the abyss which is.. odd for me. Movement has a brief bit of momentum build-up which results in either falling short or too long. This mimics my main issue with Sonic games (and surprise, it's from the Sonic Mania team) where maintaining momentum is key.
Plus, when you throw the yoyo twice in the same direction, it activates a Dash move, which if you're breaking a bunch of boxes quickly, you tend to launch yourself accidentally.
I'm going to keep playing it because I love all other aspects of it, it looks great and I dig the style (and I love yo-yos). From what I've read in other reviews the controls and abilities have a learning curve.
EDIT: Also want to point out that the music sounds straight out of a Klonoa game, which I absolutely LOVE! Super happy cheery music …
I'm having some trouble getting into this one. I was looking forward to it from the first video as I adore 3d platformers, but it's lacking a certain control characteristic that was present in Tinykin. Definitely need to give this one another shot, it just feels very flaky with the controls initially. I kept missing platforms and falling into the abyss which is.. odd for me. Movement has a brief bit of momentum build-up which results in either falling short or too long. This mimics my main issue with Sonic games (and surprise, it's from the Sonic Mania team) where maintaining momentum is key.
Plus, when you throw the yoyo twice in the same direction, it activates a Dash move, which if you're breaking a bunch of boxes quickly, you tend to launch yourself accidentally.
I'm going to keep playing it because I love all other aspects of it, it looks great and I dig the style (and I love yo-yos). From what I've read in other reviews the controls and abilities have a learning curve.
EDIT: Also want to point out that the music sounds straight out of a Klonoa game, which I absolutely LOVE! Super happy cheery music is my jam for these types of games.
This game is fun, but there are quite a few bugs I’ve run into. I’d wait for patches/a sale if you’re not itching to play it like I was
IDK how to post a video that I've made into a very long gif, but I want to show you a glitch which is inhibiting my good time. I'm having fun with this game so far. While made by the Mania team, it reminds me most of Super Mario 3D World. You get these crunchy snacks of levels where the joy in gameplay is found in locomotion and discovery. It looks great. It sounds great. It plays pretty well. I wish Penny moved with more snap like Mario, but I imagine the Sonic Mania team wants you to feel the acceleration.
I really want to emphasize my praise of this game as I am enjoying it and I think other folks should check it out. That being said, I have had to soft restart three times now because Penny has gotten stuck endlessly falling on a bump on a wall. Maybe the play testers are people who have played this game a fair amount and aren't having this issue, but I've dealt with it three times in roughly an hour and a half of playtime.
I am hopeful that they will patch this out as it is a large blemish …
IDK how to post a video that I've made into a very long gif, but I want to show you a glitch which is inhibiting my good time. I'm having fun with this game so far. While made by the Mania team, it reminds me most of Super Mario 3D World. You get these crunchy snacks of levels where the joy in gameplay is found in locomotion and discovery. It looks great. It sounds great. It plays pretty well. I wish Penny moved with more snap like Mario, but I imagine the Sonic Mania team wants you to feel the acceleration.
I really want to emphasize my praise of this game as I am enjoying it and I think other folks should check it out. That being said, I have had to soft restart three times now because Penny has gotten stuck endlessly falling on a bump on a wall. Maybe the play testers are people who have played this game a fair amount and aren't having this issue, but I've dealt with it three times in roughly an hour and a half of playtime.
I am hopeful that they will patch this out as it is a large blemish on an otherwise fun experience.
Achievement list for Penny's Big Breakaway just went live, so it seems pretty likely it could shadowdrop right after today's Nintendo Direct! Really excited for penguin armies and mid-air yo-yo shenanigans.
So this is what the Sonic Mania devs have been working on. It's looking great! Really makes me think "HD remaster of a bizarre unreleased Dreamcast game... by Treasure?" ha ha. Hope this turns out as well as it looks. I get the feeling speedrunners are going to be able to pull off some really crazy things with that yo-yo.