Simply good: Kaze and the Wild Masks surprises in the test - the pretty, straightforward platform game impresses with its strong level design. If you grew up with Sonic or love the Donkey Kong Country series, you can hardly get past this pixel-hopper.
You don't have to be a child of the 90s to recognize at first glance that Kaze and the Wild Masks evokes the golden jumping game era of the 16-bit era. Back when big Disney licensed games automatically became colorful bouncy adventures when anthropomorphic animal heroes still filled game and magazine covers in good conscience, and when people argued over whether the SNES or the Mega Drive was the cooler console. Title heroine Kaze is a brave lady rabbit who must traverse five worlds of Crystal Island to rescue a cursed friend. If at the beginning of the game you think you're in a Sonic homage due to the snappy animations and the backgrounds with check patterns, hopping pros soon realize that another series with even better gameplay was the godfather for Kaze and the Wild Masks: Donkey Kong Country. Whether it's a nimble roll after a hop onto enemy heads, passages with launching devices for your character, or the sections in other animal forms - all of these already made Rare's late SNES hits excellent platformers.
Kaze can't do much, but makes a lot out of it: she walks, hits while standing or running, can glide through the air with an ear propeller, and stomp on the ground. With this manageable repertoire, but a damn nimble and precise control, you whiz from one jump'n'run platitude to the next. Sounds boring, but it's not. Because Kaze's debut convinces with strongly designed stages, many changes of pace, and a great learning curve. You slide down ropes, have to fight the wind, dash across crumbling platforms, use catapult-like devices, get a lift from warm air, or slide across the icy ground.
Kaze can master three optional additional tasks in each stage, which are then marked as completely done in the overview (and unlock some half-baked artwork with a story): She collects - exactly like her monkey role model - the four letters of her name, which are always waiting for her at somewhat tricky locations. To do this, she has to pick up at least 100 purple shards, which, unlike Sonic's rings, don't provide life insurance. Kaze doesn't need them either, because her general life supply is infinite. There is usually one checkpoint per stage, and the bunny can pick up a heart to arm herself against an enemy hit.
Conclusion
Kaze and the Wild Masks manages the amazing feat of staging an entertaining game even without any great ideas of its own - and that in this genre full of established standards. The pixelated scenery is pretty, but always tidy enough to make all platforms and enemies super recognizable. Moreover, the camera's distance is just right so that you have enough time to react. The slightly exotic melodies play happily, while the difficulty level increases pleasantly. The controls are great, the level design always introduces different elements, the transformations lighten up the action and the boss fights are fun as well.