Charm is where Scarygirl scores many of its points. There is a good bit of variety in the levels and they're lushly drawn, ranging from forests to caves to underwater locales. There is a lot of detail in the background, like when I was wandering through a bandit-inhabited forest and seeing caged animals all over the place. Little touches like the "OH NO" (along with protagonist-themed skull-and-crossbones) that pops up on the screen after you've lost a life add to the grotesque-cute vibe this game pulls off so well. Each level is preceded by a bit of exposition, as a deep-voiced narrator gives you a hint as to what you'll be facing. There's not much of a plot, as the heroine seems to be looking for answers concerning the ominous nightmares marring her otherwise happy life with her octopus guardian, but with a game like this, does that really matter? Much like the classic Mario and Sonic games, the joy is in the playing…not in watching long-winded conversations.
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The story of a peculiar young girl, in an unusual world with a rather remarkable sleeve. This sentence pretty much sums up the narrative behind Scarygirl. It’s a 2D sidescroller with a twist, literally panning around corners as Scarygirl makes her way through the various levels of this storybook world. While I commend Nathan Jurevicius for his creative art style and character creation, I found this puzzler’s learning curve downright frustrating.
Warp Zoned writes:
Scarygirl is a project by Australian artist Nathan Jurevicius. Ambitious and haunting, the graphic novel follows the charming but strange orphaned girl raised by a giant octopus. The graphic novel is full of colorful, trippy illustrations – everything is very dreamlike yet whimsical. One of the most beautiful things about Scarygirl is the complete lack of any dialog whatsoever – speech bubbles have images, and thoughts and feelings are expressed through facial expressions and body language (as much as this can be done in a graphic novel). But everything about it just works – which is sadly not true for the video game adaptation recently released on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.
