Man I love being teleported by moving boxes

A whimsical, charming collectathon featuring an adorable protagonist.

Niko's cute expressions and poses give her (them?) a lot of personality, making your interactions with the various characters more memorable than if Niko had simply maintained a flat (heh) depiction the whole time ala Paper Mario. The character designs in general are pretty nice, especially the Axolotl family with plenty of detail that makes them standout. Such as the buck naked deer in naught but dignity-leaves. It's good the cast has some strong characterization since Niko themself is rather quiet for most of the game barring a few letters you can find in bottles and a couple brief monologues.

The controls are simple with jump and dive buttons that can be used to both get around and cross reasonable distances when timed correctly. This includes Niko's ability to cling to or jump off walls, though sometimes the physics don't work quite the way you'd like and instead of going higher you wind up rebounding backwards. On that note, once in a while I would be exploring and Niko would inexplicably warp to a different location; the best example was being teleported from the pier in Turbine Town to the shipping containers along the far beach.

For the most part, however, the game plays very well. Doesn't stop Long Volley and Wet Volley from feeling awful compared to the other volleyball minigames. That isn't an issue with controls, they're just not fun.

Still, if you like frogs, angry cats that like flowers, or turtles that get lost than this is a great little game. I had a lot of fun with it, almost wish there had been more to it. More characterization for Niko, more interacting with Pepper, and so forth. Maybe we'll get a sequel someday.