This game is notorious, but is not engaging enough to be considered Kusoge or receive modern attention for its quirkiness. There are a few cute idea industrially mixed into 10 square meters of progression concrete.

The authors looked for opportunities to use humor and exaggeration to mock action adventure tropes of the era, but still fall back on deeply flawed action and exploration systems. It is self aware at a surface level only. Instead of developing its own ideas further, the designer laden you down with new abilities, 6 large worlds (plus some), and more fights and platforms than you could ever ask for.

The issue with the swathes of content are how distastefully they are implemented. Each room brings its own new flavor of hell. The early game has the worst of the platforming, ushering you into the save scumming. Until late game, none of your new spells will be attacks, leaving you to corner poke your way through 100 room mansions and caves with weak projectiles. Late game faces you off against scores of identical ambush spawns.

The team simply lost control. The mana (Skittle) gimmick only unlocks the ability to hot bar spells, so the optimal route will be to menu through your buff spells every time you load your save. You'll trend away from variety because the menu time or preserving your health items demand it.

There are highlights, in particular the shorter Sky Pirate Camp and Twell Country areas. The infrequent puzzle elements are also above-average for gaming as a whole, though key items are typically hidden away. And by the end Skye, at least, has developed well as a character.

The game shorts its own legacy and that of Skye. There is no appeal to revisiting it, no positives ever qualify as redeeming and too much of the train wreck is front loaded. They wasted a well fleshed out world, good characters, a smirk-worthy marketing gimmick, and they want to take you down with them.