It’s hard not to think of someone who didn’t become a fan of video games because of platformers. Whether it’s Mario, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Little Big Planet, Banjo Kazooie, or even something as recent as Astro Bot, all of these games have birthed generations of people who have gone on to become deeply invested in the genre. Some of those people have even made games of their own, inspired by the platformers of years past. That’s where the indie platformer sub-genre comes in.
I’ve personally adored the efforts from indie developers to recapture the magic of 3D collectathons or 2D side-scrollers. Easily my favorite of the bunch is A Hat in Time, which balances great movement mechanics with a charming story, great world design, fantastic music, and a beautiful art style. Since then, I haven’t really found a game that recaptured the magic of playing that game for the first time. So, when I first heard about Big Hops at Day of the Devs, I thought it would be the game I was looking for.
Big Hops is touted as a 3D platformer inspired by both the Mario and Zelda franchises. It highlights fast movement options and unique mechanics that emphasize using plants to navigate the world and solve puzzles. When you look at the concept by itself, it sounds like the perfect 3D platforming adventure for those looking for something that isn’t from a big AAA developer. When it comes to the execution, though, Big Hops sadly comes up short due to frustrating glitches and a lack of substance.
Reject Modernity, Become Frog
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Big Hops focuses on a frog named Hop. Deep down, he wants to go on an adventure and see the world around him, but his loyalty and love for both his mother and sister have kept him from venturing outwards. That is, until a mysterious figure named Diss takes matters into his own hands and kidnaps Hop, forcefully sending him on the journey he’s always wanted. Now, it’s up to Hop to find his way back home and try to understand what other motivations Diss had for taking him away from his loved ones.
The story of Big Hops is pretty simple; however, that’s not exactly a bad thing. In these sorts of games, the brief narrative premise is supposed to just be a way to motivate you to explore the world around you. In that aspect, the game succeeds. It was hard not to be compelled by Hop’s more aggressive character in comparison to other protagonists in the genre. He is constantly pushing back against Diss and prioritizes his mission to go home above all else. It’s a refreshing change of pace, and I was quickly curious to see how the simple narrative would progress.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper 3D platformer without multiple worlds, each with a diverse set of characters. Starting with the characters, all of them follow animal themes. For instance, when you go to the desert area, you’ll meet characters who look like rabbits. The beach area primarily features otters, while the mountain section has bats. The characters are all fully voiced, most of whom are voiced by beloved voice talent such as Steve Blum. Diss himself is played by Ben Diskin.
You’ll be interacting with multiple characters in each area quite frequently as you find airship parts, a key collectible that will help Hop get back home. There are three total parts and three total areas, meaning you’ll need to help solve the problems of the NPCs of said area in order to get what you need. Thankfully, the actual main story quests and characters are fun to engage with. I especially liked the punk rock bats you could find in the final mountain region.
As for the areas themselves, this is one of the aspects in which Big Hops ends up being slightly disappointing. Most 3D platformers will opt for relatively small hub areas, teeming with collectibles, interactive NPCs, and countless opportunities for some good old-fashioned running and jumping. These small zones are fantastic for replayability and memorability, as I can easily remember and recount the layouts of areas from some platformers I haven’t played in over a decade.
Big Hops instead opts for bigger, more open areas. This is especially obvious with the desert section, but both the beach and mountain zones highlight this design philosophy. As a result, a lot of the game’s areas feel very barren. In the desert, there was a point where I was running around for minutes trying to get to my destination, and there was nothing to do except roll and jump.
As a result, even though there are plenty of smaller sections within each world that have interesting designs and aren’t as empty, I still didn’t really enjoy exploring all three major areas within the game. Not just because of the desolate zones, but because of how cliched each section is. The desert area, water area, mountain/underground area, these all have been done to death in countless 3D platformers for decades.
When it comes to the levels and graphics, charming though they may be, there really isn’t anything new or interesting that separates Big Hops from its contemporaries. It doesn’t help that even the music feels slightly uninspired. While I could hum tunes from numerous platformers over the years, whether 3D, 2D, indie, or AAA, I can’t remember a single musical jingle from the game, other than the main theme.
Despite the areas lacking in interactivity, Big Hops suffers from another massive problem: frame drops. The beach area in particular had moments where the game stuttered every few seconds, making for a frankly nauseating experience, even after a few patches. While these issues can be fixed, the aggravation that they caused me isn’t something that can be so easily shrugged off.
The story, presentation, and world design for a 3D platformer are just as important as its gameplay. When these aspects come up short, the entire game suffers as a result. This issue is extremely apparent with Big Hops, and it’s such a shame considering how strong the visuals and premise are. That raises a question: if the presentation and level design are lacking, then how does the gameplay fare? Sadly, while there are some fun moments, it suffers from the same lack of substance as the rest of the game.
Compelling, Yet Undermined by Frustration
To start with, I will say that the base gameplay mechanics of Big Hops aren’t bad at all. At first, running around, doing a roll, and jumping afterwards to propel you forward feels satisfying. Further, there are plenty of additional features that the game uses as part of its level design that are almost enough to make up for the frustrating emptiness of each world.
For starters, Hop’s identity as a frog plays a key role in the way he maneuvers around the environment. As you’d perhaps expect, his tongue is essential to all aspects of the game’s mechanics. There are plenty of mid-air orbs to latch onto with Hop’s tongue that can be used as a grappling hook, for example. Several puzzles also take advantage of the tongue, such as an admittedly fun set of scenarios unique to the desert area, where you can pick a lock with just the tongue.
There’s another mechanic I really like too, and that’s the ability to climb on walls. Similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, every time you attempt to climb a wall, you need to be aware of a small stamina bar. This will quickly deplete until you either make it to a level platform or you climb over certain materials that prevent the loss of stamina. The stamina bar also applies when you’re swimming. However, unlike the two Zelda games, you can’t increase the size of the meter.
My other favorite unique mechanic is the trinkets. The main collectibles are dark drips, small orbs that Diss is looking for. However, as you collect the smaller dark bits, you can eventually generate a dark drip. Unlike just collecting a dark drip by itself, if you accumulate a set amount of dark bits to make a drip, you will get a trinket. These trinkets add modifications to your gameplay, whether it’s giving you invincibility, the ability to add more items to your backpack, less stamina drain, and so on.
There are plenty of other, smaller mechanics that are unique to each area. Easily my favorite part of the game was a section in the mountain world, where you pilot a minecart along a mineshaft in a thrilling puzzle sequence. Additionally, being able to utilize plants to materialize tightropes, branches to climb on, and for other creative uses helps to create limitless possibilities for progression. The gameplay foundation and mechanics are all solid and work well, but it’s all undermined by the glitches and frustrating level design mentioned previously.
While running around and experimenting with the different mechanics are fun, it’s all in service of a world that isn’t fun to explore. I never had the desire to look around and find all the dark drips, blueprints, and mixtapes scattered throughout the world, because at the end of the day, all of the running and jumping is to get to a destination that feels lifeless. For example, at times, you can complete random tasks for NPCs in the world, and once you complete those tasks, you get nothing for your efforts. Furthermore, the constant glitches are just so infuriating.
At one point, I was running around in a key segment of the game called the Void. Here, gravity is completely inverted, and it’s a huge challenge to navigate because of just how disorienting it is. In experimenting with how to reach a platform in the distance, I fell off the edge of the map. However, when I respawned, I kept falling down the same abyss over and over again, to the point I died within moments. Then, when I tried to do a similar jump later on, the exact same thing happened again. Trinkets would disappear and reappear, sometimes I’d phase through objects, and that, combined with the aforementioned frame drops, made for a game that was usually more annoying than fun.
Even the ending, after a certain character is redeemed in a strangely abrupt way, ends with the credits being completely glitched out. I was in a black void while the music played, but none of the actual names of the people who worked on the game appeared. It made it really hard to appreciate all the good moments throughout Big Hops when there are countless others out there that have handled the same ideas with far less frustrating elements.
That is the problem at the core of Big Hops. The technical glitches can be fixed, and the gameplay mechanics are good in a vacuum, but the frustrating world design and a lack of motivation to explore are so key to what can make or break a 3D platformer that I often couldn’t help but wish I were playing anything else. At the end of the day, Big Hops has all the pieces for a game that could be truly special, but comes up short in all the ways that matter.
A Crushing Disappointment
Contrary to popular belief, 3D platformers are extremely hard to get right. There is a reason that the genre was put on ice for quite a long time. All too quickly, the entire experience can fall apart if you don’t have a good level design, fun gameplay mechanics, and collectibles that feel satisfying to collect. If even one of these elements is off, the rest suffer for it. It’s the difference between a great game like Donkey Kong Bananza and a poor game like Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Sadly, in this case, Big Hops has more in common with Nuts and Bolts.
There are elements of a good game here. The gameplay features are somewhat unique and fun on their own, such as with Hop’s unique moveset. The visuals also look quite nice, and the narrative premise is appropriately charming. However, despite the numerous NPCs to interact with, each world felt completely barren and empty. Further, they’re all based on pre-existing areas, like a desert area, a mountain area, and a beach area. The music is forgettable, the NPCs that offer certain quests give no significant reward, and thanks to the frustrating glitches, I never quite had the motivation to try and find all the collectibles.
This is the inherent challenge of the genre. All of the good elements of Big Hops are easily forgettable and negligible when you consider how frustrating the design choices and technical issues are. There were countless moments when I was playing through a section of Big Hops that was fun and enjoyable, but in the very next moment, I had to put my controller down because of a glitch that halted all my progress. In those moments, all I could think was “I wish I were playing a different game.”
When all the technical problems with Big Hops are solved, maybe then it will be a game that platformer fans around the world can enjoy. That said, due to the issues that are apparent with the game’s level design elements, a lackluster presentation, and elements that are devoid of any substance, I would personally say you might be better off trying your luck with other indie 3D platformers.
Disclaimer: Luckshot Games provided a PlayStation 5 copy of Big Hops for review purposes.
