Penny's Big Breakaway Preview: "Beautifully Replayable"

Penny’s Big Breakaway is an upcoming platformer with one powerful selling point – it’s developed by Evening Star, a studio founded by the creators of the excellent Sonic Mania. The new title, published by Take-Two’s Private Division, places a similar emphasis on dynamic movement and exciting stage designs. This time, everything plays out in 3D levels that send the titular street performer Penny careening down slopes and swinging across gaps with the help of her trusty Yo-Yo.

The set-up of Penny’s Big Breakaway follows the familiar mechanics of underdog stories, placing Penny at a mass audition that quickly derails and sends her on a breathless escape. On her tail are the penguin minions of Eddie the Emperor, who are individually weak but can quickly overwhelm in numbers. Throughout the five worlds made available through a preview build of the game, the momentum that kickstarts in the first level never lets up, even throughout the various opportunities to stop and smell the roses.

Dynamic Movement Makes Platforming Joyous

What immediately stands out about Penny’s Big Breakaway is the movement, which balances the appropriate precision for tight jumps with the speed and complexity needed for momentum-based mastery. Much of this depends on Penny’s Yo-Yo, which is a lot of ideas crammed into one accessory. It can spin Penny forward like Yooka-Laylee’s Reptile Roll, give her a midair boost like Super Mario Odyssey’s Cappy, and grab items or take out penguins with quick flicks and whirling attacks. Various pick-ups provide Yo-Yo transformations, like motorizing its roll or introducing propeller-driven lift.

It can take a minute to get the hang of any of these features individually, and quite a bit longer to get good at stringing them together. Penny’s Big Breakaway rewards smart movement with a combo system that distributes points for seamless maneuvers, but the possibilities would beg to be explored regardless. Understanding when the speed boost of one double jump technique is more valuable than the control gained by another pays off more as the game progresses, although the level design makes it possible for players taking it slow to still reach the finish line.

Focused Level Design Supports Experimentation

The level design in Penny’s Big Breakaway deserves credit for a lot more than just its flexibility, as creating 3D spaces that are rewarding to navigate at high speeds is a unique challenge (and one that the Sonic series has perhaps never quite mastered). Penny’s Big Breakaway takes a reasonably linear approach with levels that drive the player forward, but it also crams some extra bits around the edges. NPCs scattered throughout make small talk and offer bite-sized challenges, and some are tucked away in areas that can only be reached by vaulting off-course to see if random geometry is accessible.

It’s difficult to judge the precision of the level design in some basic respects, as the diversity of movement options means that there isn’t necessarily a perfect distance for platform placement. Certain segments weaponize this discrepancy to incentivize good play, making jumps slightly awkward at lower speeds while providing high-speed skips that keep everything moving smoothly. On the whole, all five of the preview worlds feel great in motion, and even the most awkward fumbling will never grind anything to a complete standstill.

Fun Concepts And Music Do Some Heavy Lifting

From an aesthetic standpoint, the levels are cleanly and fashionably rendered, albeit in a style that can start to feel a bit homogenous. A carefully curated color palette shifts across worlds, but it sticks to a vaguely Corporate Memphis palette that sets it apart from other platformers while making it hard for each environment to stand out. Simple geometry and bright, flat lighting import a bit of 2D-reminiscent charm, even if certain details like Penny’s face look slightly unfinished and out of place without more traditional shaders.

The big distinction between worlds comes from their central concepts, which follow specific themes that NPCs and stage mechanics fall in line with. Whether running around a giant frying pan to melt butter or enduring critiques from business people who take Penny to be an intern, there's a consistent level of charm to be found in each environment. The soundtrack also provides some major assistance, with excellent, catchy compositions that already feel destined for playlists.

Another area where Penny's Big Breakaway injects a healthy dose of personality is in the boss fights, two of which featured in the preview. While the standard penguin foes ultimately don't contribute all that much as villains — and, outside of one rolling boulder level that puts them to clever use, feel more obligatory than inspired — these bigger encounters step it up a notch. The first of the two gets the job done, using a classic three-strike structure and offering a mix of racing and countering, while the second has a twist fun enough to invoke a real sense of joy.

Final Impressions Of Penny's Big Breakaway

Walking away from the preview, the thing that's most obvious is just how beautifully replayable Penny's Big Breakaway is. The elusive appeal of mastery beckons with open arms, both in racking up points in the campaign or racing for better times in an included Time Attack mode. Whether Penny’s Big Breakaway can match the dizzying heights of Sonic Mania remains to be seen, but it’s more than ready to clear any accusations of a sophomore slump.

Source: Evening Star/Youtube