"Colin Thiele's Storm Boy The Game"

"Colin Thiele's Storm Boy The Game"
Reviewed by: Carless Yen
Platforms: Steam, Mobile, Xbox, PS4, and Switch
Developed by: Blowfish Studios
Published by: New Holland Publishers

In 1964 in Australia there started a very popular book called Storm Boy, and in 2018 Blowfish Studios made it a videogame. You know here we don't like to bash games especially Indie ones like this. We feel it is some one's art, and always beautiful in some way. Storm Boy is certainly beautiful. From it's beautiful take on the beaches of South Australia, to it;s peaceful and delightful music. The thing is though everything else it just falls really , really short. Speaking of short I guess you can't expect much when you can complete a game in ten minutes. That would be okay if it was a fun ten minutes, but it isn't. Storm Boy is a mix of storytelling and mini games, and on both fronts it falls really short in those regards. The storytelling is done so by reading text that pops up on the screen. It is interesting to a point, but feel it would have been so much better narrated by some Australian voice actor. How hard could it get some one to read a few lines for a ten minute videogame.To me this is a major minus for the title. With the beautiful backgrounds, and music would have felt so much better delivered by nice narration. So on to the mini games. How hard is it to throw a couple fun games together, to actually make the game playable, or replayable even. There is even an achievement for playing them over, just to make you suffer the boredom a second time around. The mini games are made up of really boring things like picking up seas shells, drawing in the sand with a stick, and throwing a ball out into the ocean so a Pelican brings it back to you. Not a single one of them is fun or make you want to play them again. To be honest I feel this was just a cash grab of the success of a really popular book. The story of the book is delivered some what, and there is a moment of enjoyment, and sadness like the book, but it just falls really really short of it.
The only real reason I can say to purchase this is if you want easy Achievements or Trophies. Can't really base a game or score on that. Ratlaika games make these easy to complete Achievement/Trophy hunter games, but least they make it fun, and make a cheap indie that you don't regret purchasing after. If you actually purchased this game I could see you being upset. I see why there is so many 1 star reviews in the marketplace, because it just isn't worth the purchase. I've seen some really good reviews, even people talking "Game of the Year" I guarantee they didn't purchase this game. I know a lot of hunters will grab this one, play it once and uninstall. like I did. I bet a lot will go to their marketplace and ask for a refund. I didn't because i used some credit I had, If I grabbed with real money would be very tempted. So if your an Achievement hunter I certainly recommend this for a quick score grab, but your not going to have any fun with it. It just falls short on all levels.

Pros: Looks Beautiful
Enjoyable Soundtrack and Sounds
Easy Achievements

Cons: Boring and lifeless Mini Games
Bland Storytelling
Beyond Short, under ten minutes
No replay value


Overall: 3.0 A game Achievement hunters might want to pick up, but will more than likely regret. A retelling of a classic book, delivered in a boring and lifeless game.