On the budget end of the platforming spectrum, while there are some standouts that have managed to chart a path of their own, there are also quite a lot of more middling efforts on down to what you could argue are roughly shovelware. Somewhere in the middle of that pack though, there’s an odd collection of titles that aren’t necessarily bad on their own, but that also feel practically identical to each other in their structure, style of play, and even stage layouts to some degree. I’ve sort of struggled to figure out how to score these since, again, they aren’t necessarily bad in and of themselves, but I also wouldn’t suggest that anyone would buy more than one of them since there’s so little meaningful difference between them.

As far as I can tell, Dimensional Animals feels like a cousin to these titles of sorts, sharing a great deal of the same base DNA, but at least managing to add an element that helps to distinguish it… at least a little bit. Added to your ability to engage in some basic platforming and moves, you’re able to perform a small warp that can function in a few different ways. Used while you’re working on platforming you’ll be able to get through walls and proceed through some sections that you’d otherwise be stuck with, you can sometimes find secrets with it, and it is also useful in what combat there is.

Of course, though that does add an extra layer of interest to things, some of the rules with your warp and the way it’s implemented aren’t always ideal. In particular, with boss fights I understand that simply being able to warp into them repeatedly wouldn’t make for a very satisfying time, but your limits and how it should be used aren’t always as clear as they could be. Similarly, if you use the warp enough and attempt to be creative with it you can manage to get some odd glitches on occasion that make the degree it was play tested more questionable. In the end though, despite this new ability adding a little flavor, it still can’t do much to pull this title from feeling a bit phoned in and generic when compared to its more ambitious peers. It works well enough, but that isn’t all that much of a compliment when you’re competing in a space with hundreds of other options.