Paper Monsters Recut Review

In an unusual vein, Paper Monsters Recut is a mobile port of a Wii U game that was based on the original mobile game. Regardless of such a complicated history, Paper Monsters Recut is gorgeous to look at and kind of fun, too. It’s perhaps a little too familiar to regular platformer players but it’s still quite likeable.

Each level is made up of paper, cardboard, and other things you’d see scattered around a desk. It’s immediately very charming and evokes a kind of LittleBigPlanet kind of feeling. Imagination is ripe here, even if the game itself is pretty straight forward.

You leap from platform to platform, collecting up coins and paperclips, before reaching the conclusion and moving onto the next stage. Controls are simple with a sweep from the left side of the screen helping you run, while a tap to the right initiates a jump or double jump. There are enemies to dodge or destroy, as well as, eventually, jetpacks to don and enjoy. Things do get trickier but it’s not particularly hard to get anywhere here. It’s got that Mario vibe going for it, difficulty curve and all. Instead, it’s simple stuff and often quite untaxing for those used to the genre, or at least you rarely have to worry about running out of lives. There are at least plenty of secrets and unlockables to find, which add to your reasons to come back for more.

However, such straightforward gameplay is kind of the problem with Paper Monsters Recut. It oozes charm and really does look delightful, especially on the iPad’s Retina screen, but it is pretty simple. Shadows in particular ensure that everything about it seems quite lifelike. You’ll certainly enjoy what it has to offer but if you’ve played many platformers over the years, you might be a little disappointed at how straightforward it is to complete.