Miles & Kilo Review (PS Vita)

Game: Miles & Kilo
Genre: Platformer
System: PS Vita ( also on Switch and Steam)
Developer|Publisher: Four Horses
Age Rating:  EU 3+| US E
Price:  £7.19|€7.99|$7.99

Review code kindly provided by Four Horses

It doesn’t happen often that we review a game twice. But when Four Horses decided to release Miles & Kilo on the PS Vita after releasing it on Switch in the summer of 2018, we felt that deserved some attention. The PS Vita still holds a place in our hearts! So you will find Jonah’s Switch review here. Let’s see if Kishou likes it just as much! 

Right away the game catches my eye with its cute, 8-bit aesthetic and slightly witty humor. The story of Miles & Kilo starts with them flying through a storm, arguing that the weather misled Miles on it being supposedly dangerous. Then a mysterious, laughing black shadow named Ripple strikes down their plane and they end up crashing on an Archipelago. After more arguing with a dog that can emote but not talk, Miles begins his adventure to find the monsters that scavenged their plane.

Miles on the left, Kilo on the right, and a crab and a monkey in the middle.

Onward, to Adventure!

In Miles & Kilo, you play as Miles running from point A to point B in short levels less than a minute long. You can run, jump, and throw fruit. You can also punch rocks and slide through gaps when prompted. Some levels have Kilo in them, where you do auto-run segments of jumping and attacking with the dog as you reach the end.

The story is nothing to write home about, and that’s okay. You just need to explore the islands for your missing plane parts. There is no reason explaining how Miles & Kilo got their plane lost in a storm (let alone why a dog not named Scooby-Doo was flying a plane to begin with). The game knows to get the player just enough of a story to play through the running sections. That kind of hands-off approach is always welcome.

As a side note, Miles & Kilo is a sequel to a mobile runner game called Kid Tripp, but I didn’t realize this until well after I beat the game.

Gotta go fast!

Each level keeps track how many times you die. When you die five times in a level, a glowing dragon fruit will appear. Touching it gives you invincibility and double jumps for the rest of the run. This will make clearing the level much easier, with the caveat of not getting an official letter score of C to S.

I like that the developers gave a foresight to players getting an option to blaze through a tough level. It also helps that loading time for new levels is short. After dying, you instantly respawn back to the beginning to start over.

Only boss battles don’t have the dragon fruit pop up no matter how many times you die. They are auto-run stages whether you have Kilo running for you or not. They are mostly puzzles in figuring out when and how to hurt the bosses.

One more time!

I both loved and hated trying to get the perfect run in the early stages. Practice makes perfect as they say, and the developers for Miles & Kilo must have painstakingly tested their runs to decide requires the perfect run. You are graded on clear time, collected coins, and how many pieces of fruit you still have.

It’s all right to go right

Eventually, after many deaths through trial and error, I finally got the hang of Miles & Kilo, learning to time jumps and action commands at the faintest second. There’s a sort of joy in perfecting runs for the best grade after dozens of tries.

This game is for speed-run lovers and players that like to go for that perfect level clear. After beating the game, a time-attack mode unlocks where you have to play each level in order. A real challenge to see if you can remember how to optimally clear the game.

My verdict:

All and all, I like this game. However, it doesn’t hold my attention to go back to it later due to the length and minimalist story. The music was catchy for the runs, but ultimately forgettable. Regardless of the flaws, Miles & Kilo was still fun for a few days to play, and offers a good challenge in earning trophies.

Final Verdict: I like it

I like it

 

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