Raccoo Venture – Review - Treat Your Geek

Get ready to play as a racoon called Raccoo as you embark on a charming adventure through this self-proclaimed 90s-style 3d platformer. Raccoo is not just a simple raccoon, he is the last heir of the Guardian Power, who has protected the Holy Relic for many years, maintaining harmony in Verta. Unfortunately, the evil Tattooed Tatus has stolen it and now Verta is in great danger…er…

Hoo boy where to start, as a kid of the 90s I was no stranger to colourful mascots for video games so when this decided to pop up in my awareness bar I immediately jumped on the chance to live my best trash panda self.

The story (as most early platformers were at the time) is just kind of there. You are greeted with an opening cutscene telling you about the world’s lore with magical relics, which I must admit I didn’t find engaging, before you are thrown into the shoes of Raccoo the raccoon. You explore your home after the antagonists have stolen the sacred relics leaving only a single piece. It is now time for you to pick up the mantle and reclaim the stolen pieces, but are you up to the task?

The gameplay is super simple with minimal controls. You can jump, ground pound and pick up items to throw at enemies or to solve puzzles. As far as mechanics go it’s nice and simple. The puzzles can be fairly tricky to overcome yet will give the “Eureka” moments when you finally solve them with some good hard-to-spot hidden areas.

Despite being a self-proclaimed 90s platformer it plays and feels a lot closer to Nintendo 2011 Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS, I’m not saying this is a bad thing but from camera angles to gameplay feel, it definitely feels more in line with that title. The actual platforming does at times feel a little wrong, but it’s hard for me to pinpoint why. It could be the angle of the camera making some of the platforming challenges trickier than they need to be or maybe I’m just getting old. Either way, it was less intuitive than I would have liked.

Aesthetically this game is incredibly pleasing, from the bright vibrant worlds you explore for collectables to the character designs, it’s an absolute delight for those who miss a good ole “collect-a-thon” and accessible for those of a younger gaming age and limited capability. The soundtrack and general sound design are also not to be ignored. Again for those who played this type of game, you know what you’re in for which is some light-hearted and poppy music that will most likely get stuck in your head for hours to come (Banjo-Kazooies lair music still lives in my head rent-free).

Now I’ve mentioned collectibles a few times. And of course, being a collect-a-thon you will be spending most of your time gunning for these. The main collectables are called relics, and these take the form of chessboard tiles and pieces (these are what were stolen at the start) and it is your job to recover them. Naturally, on top of that you have coins to collect that become your extra lives. Each time you perish you will lose 50 coins, so better hope those pockets are deep. Personally, my favourite collectable is the costumes. Through various puzzles and hidden areas, you can find new outfits to put Raccoo into as you venture throughout the world. One of the best collectables is possibly the checkpoints as they are floating boxes complete with raccoon ears and a tail, it’s just so cute.

All said and done this is a very enjoyable experience which harkens back to the collect-a-thon day’s of games with challenges and puzzles to solve. It’s not overly long with around 17 levels to complete but the playtime will be increased if you’re going for that 100%.

Racooventure is an absolutely charming little platformer that’s available on most modern systems. You should check it out.