Funk Unplugged Demo

Platformers used to be a lot more popular in the past, especially on consoles like Nintendo 64. You only need to remember the Super Mario franchise to understand how big the genre was back in the day, although it’s slowly making a comeback in the last couple of years. Indie developers are constantly releasing 2D and 3D platformers, some of which get incredible amounts of exposure.

Funk Unplugged is a third-person platformer with 3D graphics and a pretty straightforward set of gameplay mechanics. While most of your time is going to be spent running and jumping, there are other activities you can engage in as well. Hence, it is also possible to interact with a variety of objects and manipulate them in various ways, as well as fight enemies and collect all sorts of neat items.

The story puts you in the shoes of Ampy, a weird creature that happens to be on a mission. After being brought back to life by some kind of ethereal being, Ampy must fight against a terrible music band and its minions, using a variety of special powers. Granted, the story is not a strong point in this case, but the events are amusing enough to keep you mildly entertained and interested.

Your main offense against unruly enemies is to throw stuff at them, by picking up objects and facing the desired target. The system is not yet as refined as it should be, but it has the potential to turn into something a lot smoother and easier to handle. There are some power-ups that come in handy as well, especially during the more difficult boss battles that await you.

On the other hand, the general gameplay mechanics do not seem very friendly at the moment, which is especially true when it comes to the platforming itself. The camera is way too jumpy and imprecise in certain circumstances, while the controls fail to be accurate more often than not. You also have to deal with many invisible walls that block the much easier alternative routes, which is a sign of bad level design.

Even if Funk Unplugged is a bit too rough right now to be enjoyable, the foundation is solid, and things can turn around with enough work and dedication. It is very important that the gameplay mechanics are as smooth as possible, otherwise frustration kicks in too quickly.

Note: You can support the developers by donating money in their Kickstarter campaign.