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A quirky personality and story can’t compensate for technical issues, and a lack of compelling gameplay
You know, almost more than any other type of game on the system I get excited for the weird ones. Off-center, silly, or sometimes outright bizarre, I enjoy games that defy expectations and norms, just doing their own thing. That said, I think there are also games that use their weirdness and/or humor to plaster a thin veneer over poor gameplay and other issues in the hopes people will somehow just walk away thinking of it as “quirky” or somesuch. Unfortunately, I have a hard time not considering What the Duck the latter. I suppose it has an odd charm to it that it wears on its sleeve, but while perhaps the slightly off dialogue is meant to be weird or funny (I’m guessing it’s unintentional though) a host of technical issues, pretty bare spaces, awful textures, and general jankiness overwhelm any odd charm you could choose to assign to it. It’s a bit tedious, inexplicably has a poorly-implemented rhythm game in spots, and doesn’t seem to be terribly well-constructed in general. I’m honestly a bit at a loss, wondering how people tied to the project thought it was ready for prime time in this state.
Justin Nation, Score:Bad [5.2]