I’m sure there has been a time when you have been really excited for a game. You have followed its progress for a few months and watched every video that’s been released. You have told yourself just how great this game is going to be, only for you to get your grubby mits on it and find that you have built it up beyond all expectations and your mouth is filled with that bitter taste of disappointment. Derrick the Deathfin is a game that I have followed for several months now and after getting my hands on it all I can taste in my mouth is the sweet, sweet taste of the dinner I just ate (fajitas).
Derrick the Deathfin, a PSN exclusive title from Different Tuna, tells the story of Derrick – a shark whose parents were sucked up into a machine and turned into shark-fin soup for the enjoyment of humans. Of course Derrick doesn’t like this one bit and hopes to travel the world, through 32 levels, seeking revenge on the evil global corporation responsible devouring anything in his way… while destroying some corporation structures and jumping through flaming tyres, obviously.
With there being so many games available now each new one that comes to market needs to have something that sets it apart. Just look at the screenshots of Derrick and you can tell the bright and beautiful paper craft style is something that puts it on the map. Add in the fact it really does keep you chuckling all the way through, with some hilarious phrases popping up on the loading screens and that you’re just munching on little paper craft turtles, people and walrus’! This might be a controversial statement but for me Derrick is the best looking game available on the PS3 right now – it’s nice to see a colour palette that isn’t grey and brown.
Enough about how it looks, it’s time to talk about how it plays. There are a few different level types in Derrick; Point to Point where you get Derrick from the beginning to the end of the level, jumping through flaming tyres and collecting mopey diamonds to help progress to the next areas, Time Trials where you need to get through a level as quickly as possible with different medals available for different times and also some simple puzzle levels where you need to blow up some structures. With the Point to Point levels the key to survival is keeping Derrick fed by chomping away on anything that presents itself. The hunger bar drops rather quickly and at times I felt myself really urging myself on when just meters away from the end of the level with only a slim bit of health left – it really can get tense. As mentioned, flaming tyres and diamonds are key to moving on to other continents and when you are first playing through the levels you need to take the risk of trying to collect them all in one go, which usually leaves food scarce… or get as many as you can in one play through and then concentrate on the ones you missed by replaying the level. These are Derrick’s strongest levels and where I found the most enjoyment – throw in the odd boss fight and it just keeps things different to stop it becoming samey.
Time trails on the other hand can be a bit infuriating. I found that a lot of the time I was getting caught on the environment, which had been designed to trip you up and it just felt a little unfair at times especially when coming into the more twisting and turning levels. This may just be me not being able to handle Derrick like a pro and for the most part Derrick handles well – it certainly takes a little while to get used to how he moves in the water and doing some of the tyre jumps will take you a few attempts, especially when there are a row of diamonds to collect at the same time but when it comes to the tight twisting and turning you just don’t feel like you have that much control. Finally the puzzle levels are very simplistic and mainly help push the story along by destroying corporation structures.
With a nice variety of levels, a beautiful art style and solid gameplay Derrick is another fantastic Playstation Network game. It’s only real downsides are the lack of online leader boards, so when you have finished it unless you are a real completionist there isn’t that much reason to go back – Derrick can be a pain to control at certain times. Otherwise this is a game you should really try out, especially when it is very cheap to pick up (and with 30% off for another week at least with Playstation Plus) I don’t really see a reason not to try it.
- Gorgeous, original art style
- Fantastic sense of humour
- A nice variety of level types and designs
- Cheap to pick up in the PSN Store
- Derrick can be a pain to control at times
- No real reason to replay unless you must 100% every game
- Puzzle levels are a bit simplistic
I’ve been sat here for about half an hour re-reading this review to try and think what score comes across when reading it. I struggled for a while before settling on an 8. It’s kind of become a running joke behind the scenes here that when Joey reviews a game it gets an 8 (before Lee left he even said he takes a point off a Joey review). 8 on TheGameJar scale means it is a great game and for the price that you can purchase Derrick, the art style, the humour and for 80% of the time the gameplay and controls it is a great game. It may not be a game that you come back to very often but in a world of blandness Derrick is a welcome change that I feel needs to be played.
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Derrick the Deathfin is the world’s first underwater papercraft game. The star of the show is a teenage shark orphan named – as you probably already guessed – Derrick, who embarks on a worldwide rampage of destruction upon witnessing the death of his parents. Derrick is coming to PSN this summer. Dev ... Read More »
Derrick the Deathfin is the world’s premiere underwater papercraft game. It’s a fast-paced arcade action title set in a unique aquatic world made entirely out of paper & card. In the game Derrick rampages around the globe munching on paper creatures and destroying everything he sees under the guise of avengin... Read More »
Derrick the Deathfin is the world’s first underwater papercraft game. The star of the show is a teenage shark orphan named – as you probably already guessed – Derrick, who embarks on a worldwide rampage of destruction upon witnessing the death of his parents. Derrick is coming to PSN this summer. Dev ... Read More »
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