Before I start, let me tell you that I absolutely love indie games because more than once indie games have showed me that you don’t need loads of cash to make a high quality product. Some of this generation’s most acclaimed games are indie games. But that is because since an Indie studio doesn’t have the wealth and resources of big first and third party companies. They have to put a lot of care and polish in the final product to find success, even more in a platform like the Nintendo Switch. Now, we have another indie denizen in the “nindies” world, but does it stand the chance against others? Let’s find out.
When I started to play Sigi – A Fart for Melusina, surprisingly I liked what I saw. You play the role of Sigi, a knight, that during one of his knightly strolls he is captivated by a beautiful song. As he gets closer to the voice, he notices that the singer has huge…lungs. He starts to feel the pressure build up and…he knocks her up with a fart, and that is where Sigi lost me. Is not that I was offended by how the events unfolded. I found them funny actually, but the fact that the developers depend too much on the farting, (whenever you find food items or when getting to the goal in each stage after a small dance there is a fart) to the point of being annoying makes the experience less than memorable.
But not everything is bad in Sigi. I must say that graphically, the game looks good. The character icon they caught my interest, for which I must say that it looks a lot like Super Mario Bros 2 cartridge art. Sigi takes inspiration on classic games like Mario, Ghost and Goblins, and even Donkey Kong Country.
The objective is simple: jump and battle your way through hordes of enemies that range from zombies to pooping birds, while avoiding pits and traps in some levels. Here is where Sigi excels since the controls are really good. They are super responsive to the point that at times due to the successive jumps and attacks, it felt like a runner game. Holding down the attack button makes Sigi attack automatically. However, you can’t move, so it’s better to just press the button rapidly. The way Sigi looks and the different weapons he uses gives a nod to ghost and goblins, the solid platforming action to Mario, and the fact that you can find four letters in each level forming the word SIGI that grants you an extra life, and some tires that you can use to jump higher screams DK.
The music is okay, but the tracks are so few that it gets repetitive fast. However, since the game is only 20 levels with bosses thrown in the middle of them, you barely notice.
This is my other issue with Sigi: the game consists of only one map and 20 levels. When I got to the last boss, I was disappointed with how anticlimatic the ending was. I honestly was expecting another world to continue, but alas, I was greeted with the ending screen and the completion percentage (was 84 percent on my run), and that was it. You could say that for the asking price you are getting your money’s worth, but I would have preferred that the devopler included more content even if it was more expensive.
Bottom Line: Sigi – A Fart for Melusina is a good idea that was poorly executed. The farting fun can only get you so far, and the lack of content is really a downer because I honestly liked the idea. It had potential, but ultimately that potential was taken by the wind like a fart.