Klonoa: Empire of Dreams

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams on Gameboy Advance is a spectacle of game design. It has fluid controls, a colorful and clean art style, and it is fantastically paced. Most levels require a linear solution, but there are many opportunities to tweak the solution, allowing the player to test their dexterity and strategy while solving puzzles. The game provides plenty of precise visual feedback as the player experiments, but the game’s graphics occasionally grow boring due to the lack of unique details in the levels. The game’s story is told through picture book-style cut scenes, and scarce story development is experienced through player interaction. The story shares themes and tone with the Playstation title, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. The music serves to offer a distinct mood to the gameplay and the sound design is clear and expressive, but the audio presentation is bland and lacks any notable features.

The game’s greatest strength is the level design. It is cleverly designed to push the player’s understanding of the game’s basic mechanic of grabbing objects and jumping off those objects to attain greater height. This simple mechanic is used in a wide variety of settings, where sharp timing and a well-thought strategy will always lead the player to success. The game can feel very difficult at times, as the layout of the level is limited to the Gameboy Advance’s resolution, forcing the player to mentally visualize various switches and enemy patterns before jumping into action. This can make some levels feel harder than they would be if the player was able to see a larger field of view.

Conclusion: Klonoa: Empire of Dreams is a very fun, addictive, and beautiful game that has much to offer the player if they are willing to endure a few moments of frustration as you work through its many puzzles.