🤡 Ayo the Clown | Nintendo Switch Review | 6.5/10 | "Pastel Palettes, Twinkly Music and a Cast of Toy-like Side Characters" 🤡 @cloudm1 #IndieGames #GameDev

Ayo the Clown was given to me as a game my kids might enjoy. Having watched the trailer I was inclined to agree, the younger one anyway (the older one is currently obsessed with Zelda and recently finished Breath of the Wild, so might need a bit more challenge). 

The trailer is narrated by a soft-voiced American who sounds like a kids' TV host and introduces us to the word of Ayo. He's a clown who has lost his best friend, his dog Bo. You accompany Ayo through multiple brightly coloured levels, taking on a host of enemies in order to get Bo back.

It was hard at first to look past the extremely cutesy nature of this game. Pastel palettes, twinkly music and a cast of toy-like side characters made me grit my teeth a bit. You start out, unusually, with no abilities at all. Even a jump is withheld until you can find the shoemaker who is working on your shoes. 

This works well for kids, as each mechanic is introduced separately, giving them time to get to grips with the game. Of course, it's a little bit frustrating for the seasoned (old) gamer, but I found it quite fun after a while, especially as the levels are designed just right for the abilities you have. 

Eventually, you unlock the jump, plus a balloon ability to get you slightly higher and further. Further moves, like a wall jump, come along later, and you can upgrade at the between-level shops. You can also find weapons to help you dispatch enemies, like a balloon sword or a water bomb. Most enemies are susceptible to the old jump on the head, too, for the traditionalists.

This is standard platforming fare for the most part, but there are some nice surprises here and there to spice the game up. At one point Ayo ended up with a beehive on his head and had to virtually sprint through the level avoiding the bees, who would knock off health if you stayed still. 

At other points you can pilot a helicopter, or a tank, breaking up the game a bit. That's not to say the gameplay is boring, though - it feels like the devs have come fresh from some of the non-Mario Nintendo platformers like Donkey Kong Country, shown in an appetite for secret areas and the overall level design, which is really worth mentioning. 

Each 2.5D level, broken down into short stages, is unique, with very few reused enemies or background elements. You'll journey through a village, a dark forest and eventually end up at the circus for the final showdown. The graphics are really reminiscent, again, of games like Kirby or the Yoshi series. And I promise there is more to the colour scheme than pastels.

Ayo the Clown has a lot of features that make it a really good game, but the controls let it down a bit. You end up with quite the decent move set by late game, but a floaty jump, niggly ground pound and a fairly naff wall jump mean you can plunge to your death, or at least lose ground, more than you feel you should. 

I'll keep an eye out for Cloud M1's next game with interest.