Newt One

I want to start this review by wishing Spanish heartthrob Antonio Banderas a happy 59th birthday. What you may not know is that the star of Desperado shares his birthday with Kylie Jenner, Justin Theroux and Newt, the titular star of the brand-new 3D platformer -- Newt One. And while I'm sure they're all going to have a great day, only Newt is going to go on a life-altering journey to bring color back to the world and save the elders. That's fun and all, but who wants to work on their birthday?

Newt One is a delightful new platformer starring a new tone and their rhinoceros friend. We're told at the start that the Elders have gone missing and a Great Slumber has engulfed the world. It's up to the two friends to travel to all corners of their world bringing color back in an effort to save the Elders and have a happy birthday.

You do this by simply walking over darkened platformers and touching the trees. The self-contained stages are usually large and floating up in the sky, so the goal is to color everything in without falling to your death. But don't worry about enemies coming after you, because this is a non-violent adventure about collecting music notes and coloring in the world. Pretty much the only thing you have to worry about is missing a jump, and even if you fall into the cold recesses of space, you'll respawn a second later with no lasting harm.

To make your job easier, some levels will feature a drum that will allow a mighty charge attack. This will not only paint in a large section of the world, but also impact certain platforms. For example, Newt can use the drum to turn the water into ice, allowing them to safely slide to the next section. They will also find a pair of wings that will allow Newt to jump higher and float to previously hard-to-reach platforms.

Perhaps the most useful pick-up is a staff that will automatically paint nearby tiles. This allows you to run through the stage without worrying too much about touching every single thing and saves Newt so much time. No matter how thorough you think you are, it's easy to accidentally miss a flower or tiny platform. Having the staff around helps find those hidden areas, and boosts your chances of getting 100% on pretty much every stage.

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Speaking of which, Newt One is split up into four main sections that are separated by theme. We start out on what seems like green grass, but will quickly get thrown into the desert region, a cloud area and a part of the map made up entirely out of ice. Each of these sections offer six levels to explore, all of which have music notes to collect, a bird to save and hidden areas to unearth. It's a short and simple experience, but there's a nice variety of stages and a few different obstacles to overcome.

The problem is that there aren't enough obstacles to overcome. I'm fine with the choice to keep the enemies and combat out of the adventure, but that doesn't mean the level designs can't fight back. It would have been nice to see the game go beyond the usual floating platforms and spinning sections. About the most the game does to spice things up is to add bubbles you can't color until you break the stone, but that's never a problem. You barely have to work to find the stone, so protective bubbles feel more like a nuisance than a real hinderance.

Between the non-violent approach, colorful graphics and simple gameplay, I get the feeling that this is designed for a much younger demographic. This is an incredibly easy game that you won't have trouble beating in a single sitting. The most challenging part of Newt One is the gameplay, which is a lot floatier than I would have liked. Our hero basically slides around the level, and sometimes right off the side. Even when I got used to the loose controls, I still found some of the platforming to be trickier than it should have been. But don't worry, even if you miss that jump a thousand times, you'll just respawn right next to it like nothing happened.

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But even with the easy difficulty and floaty gameplay, I was still charmed by Newt One. I like the colorful world and music theme. I wish it was a bit more challenging and offered more variety in the stage designs, but this is a solid game for the younger set that has a lot of personality and a good message at the end.

While it's a bit on the easy side and won't win any awards for originality, Newt One is a delightful 3D platformer with a likable hero and a colorful mission. It's fun sliding around these floating levels while painting every nook and cranny. Unfortunately, the loose gameplay and repetitive stage designs get in the way, but there's enough here to recommend to younger gamers looking to get into platformers. This is going to be Newt's best (and most exhausting) birthday ever.