Developed by Blowfish Studios
Published by Blowfish Studios/New Holland Publishers
Released for Xbox One (11/20/2018)
Also on Android/iOS/Mac/PC/Switch/PS4
Storm Boy is based upon a children's book from 1964, which was written by Colin Thiele and shares the same title as the game. The book has also been adapted into 2 live-action films, first in 1976 and again in 2019. The Storm Boy game was released in November 2018 for a wide variety of platforms and, as expected, we'll be looking at the Xbox One release for this review.
Storm Boy has you playing as a young boy, who discovers 3 baby pelicans in a nest while walking along the beach. After seeing that the birds have no mother, he helps raise them and eventually sets them free into the wild. Later on one of the pelicans returns to visit the young boy and from there he develops a close friendship with the bird. The Storm Boy game is about adventures that the young boy and his bird friend had over the years. There's no voice acting here and the story is delivered in text, mostly as you walk along the beach to your next destination. While the game is short and can easily completed in under an hour, the story is well-written and you get a good feel for the friendship between our two characters.
Gameplay consists of walking along the beach until you discover a thought bubble, at which point you'll enter into a sort of mini-game. There are 9 different mini-games to discover, with a decent amount of variety among them. A majority of the mini-games don't really have a definitive end, they just sort of let you mess around until you're ready to move on to the next thing. For example, one of them has you flying around as a pelican from a side perspective, allowing you to go left, right or turn around. The screen scrolls on endlessly until you decide to hit the B button to back out. Another mini-game has you drawing in the sand with a stick. While there's certainly not much of a challenge factor to the mini-games in Storm Boy, the laid-back and relaxing style of gameplay make this a good one for those just looking to unwind. Upon completing the game, a new option at the main menu opens up, allowing you to access any of the mini-games or chapters on the fly.
Storm Boy is a nice-looking game, featuring bright and colorful environments to explore, though the frame-rate tends to be a bit erratic at times. Most noticeable is the opening segment, which has our character walking along a beach and the frame-rate really struggles to even maintain a smooth 30 FPS, even when played on an Xbox One X. While I stated the game looks nice, and it does, the graphical style is quite simple and should not be this taxing on the console that it couldn't run this game without a hitch if it was properly optimized. The next sequence, which has you walking along the beach during a sunset, runs much smoother and hits closer to 60 FPS, so the frame-rate is all over the place. These frame-rate issues don't break the game, but it is definitely noticeable and worth mentioning.
Outside of the slight issues with the frame-rate, Storm Boy was an enjoyable time. For a game of such a short length, there's a surprising amount of heart in the story. There's not much of a challenge here, so those looking for something a bit more relaxed should like this one. Those who have read the book or seen the movie will also want to have a look at Storm Boy.
Final Verdict: Storm Boy tells the story of a young boy and his pelican friend's time together. It's extremely short, consisting of a series of mini-games to play. If you're looking for something a bit more laid-back or a fan of the source material, give this one a shot.
Related Links:
Buy Storm Boy - Microsoft Store
Blowfish Studios - Official Site
Storm Boy (Novel) - Wikipedia
Storm Boy (Full Movie) - YouTube
Storm Boy - Metacritic
Storm Boy - GameFAQs
Storm Boy - True Achievements
Storm Boy Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
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