When choosing a potential life companion, one factor comes into play pretty early into the relationship and will likely be a make it or break it decision as to whether this person is willing to put up with you until death do you part. No, it’s not the size of their wallet or any physical attributes. What you have to ask yourself is, “can I live with the rancid smells and horrible sounds that originate in this person’s rectum?” Lucky for Sigi, Melusina must think his gas smells like roses, despite the unfathomable amounts of greasy food he eats during his breakout adventure Sigi – A Fart for Melusina. 

The story follows our hero Sigi, the love child of Ghost n’ Goblins’ Arthur and everyone’s favorite Italian plumber Mario, on his quest to save his beloved from the clutches of evil. While the story is not overly original, the writing contains enough fart jokes to keep even the most stoic of gamers laughing. If you were going into this expecting Shakespeare, I hate to burst your bubble, but the name should’ve given that away. On the opposite end of that gastric system, I didn’t hear any of the raunchy sound effects I was hoping for, which will likely be just as much of a disappointment to those looking for a gross Boogerman successor.

The game comes across more as a remaster of Ghost n’ Goblins than an original IP. With little introduction, you’ll pick up on the basic (yet responsive) controls, having our hero throwing spears or other upgraded weapons at the undead, all while collecting coins and letters strewn across the game’s 24 levels. The biggest change is that it’s extremely accessible; GnG is one of the most difficult NES era games I’ve ever played (I’ve never beaten the first level). Sure, the difficulty increases as you progress, but even the last level of the game compares in no way to the first encounter in GnG. If you happen to meet death mid mission (likely due to a failed jump, as the enemies pose little to no threat), there are plenty of checkpoints in place, not to mention a crazy amount of extra lives you can acquire. Per the standard set by Super Mario Bros., you’ll earn an extra life every 100 coins you collect and as a bonus, by finding all of the letters making up SIGI in each of the levels. By the time I reached the fifth level, which contains the first boss encounter, I had over ten additional lives stored up.

What the game doesn’t tell you is that the standard levels are so easy to allow you to save up lives for the often challenging boss battles. Each of these are varied and offer up unique enemies to battle, with standard patterns that can easily be overcome once you hit your stride, even though you’ll likely progress into the next arena with only a handful of lives. This makes the game much less frustrating to play than its NES inspiration, although the grind associated with going back to earlier levels and earning more lives in preparation for the next boss battle is a bit of a pain due to how basic the levels are in terms of difficulty.

The game provides some replayability, tasking the player with achieving 100% completion by locating the complete name on each level. Outside of this and trying to speed run the game, you’ll likely see the end credits in just over an hour (depending on how often you need to go back to earlier areas to grind out lives), and then end up leaving this like a fart in the wind. Sure, most of these old school styled games are meant to be replayed time and time again to make up for the length, but in this case, the visuals left me less than eager to jump back in once I completed the game.

The individual levels you play are varied in terms of the platforming sections and enemies you face, but all of the backdrops are repeated much too often, leaving you in what feels like a perpetual first level throughout the game (with a few of the boss encounters being the only exception). I found the art style to be pleasant to look at and not overly distracting from the gameplay, but the repeated backdrops come across as lazy and ruin what would otherwise be a great experience, even if you run through it a single time. Should you take into account the lack of proper gassy sound effects, the presentation is a bit dull, especially when taking into account all of the missed opportunities had they taken the time to run with the material. Why doesn’t Sigi fart when he jumps? Why is there not a gas based NPC? Maybe an AoE attack where he rips one after eating one of the many fatty foods? Maybe I am a bit obsessed with farts, but all of these were expectations the title put forth but never delivered upon.

At the end of the day Sigi – A Fart for Melusina is a fun little platformer, even if it does not meet all your gross expectations. If you found Ghosts n’ Goblins to be too difficult for you, this is a great alternative that provides a similar experience without the frustrating difficulty.

7 out of 10

Pros

• Often Hilarious Writing
• An Accessible Option to Ghosts n’ Goblins
• Outstanding Controls

Cons

• Perhaps Too Easy
• Grinding Lives is Boring
• Repeated Backdrops
• Many Missed Opportunities Regarding Subject Matter

Sigi – A Fart for Melusina was developed by pixel.lu published by Sometimes You. It launched on PC and Android in 2017, as well as NS, PS4, and X1 on September 7th, 2018. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Sigi – A Fart for Melusina, check out the official site.

 

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