Skip to main content

Penny’s Big Breakaway review: Fun platformer keeps its momentum going

pennys big breakaway review pc penny s yo
Penny's Big Breakaway
MSRP $30.00
“Penny's Big Breakaway isn't one of the genre's greats, but it's a very unique and fun 3D platformer.”
Pros
  • Unique control scheme works
  • Clever yo-yo mechanics
  • Encourages gameplay mastery
Cons
  • Unmemorable characters
  • Bad boss fights
Penny throws a yo-yo in Penny's Big Breakaway.
Private Division

At the end of the first world in Penny’s Big Breakaway, the titular character and her sentient, aggressive yo-yo are presented with their first boss-like encounter: a giant rolling ball of penguins. I had to run for my life, swinging with and riding on my yo-yo at pivotal movements so I wasn’t smushed by the ball of a boss, proving to myself that I understood and had started to master its dual-stick control scheme.

While that all probably sounds ridiculous if you’re unfamiliar with Penny’s Big Breakaway, this encounter is where this platforming adventure from some of the developers behind Sonic Mania started to sing. Evening Star nails the game feel, creating a fluid, momentum-driven platforming experience that controls in a unique, yet intuitive manner. No other platformer looks or feels quite like Penny’s Big Breakaway. While this studio’s first outing doesn’t nail things like its narrative or arena-based boss encounters, the developer pedigree behind Penny’s Big Breakaway is evident in this well-designed, surprise-launched platformer.

Moving on from mania

In Penny’s Big Breakaway, players follow the titular character, a performer forced on the run after her sentient Yo-Yo tears off King Eddie’s clothes during an audition. Throughout the adventure, Penny tries to evade Eddie and his compatriots, and meets an eclectic cast of characters along the way. In subtle ways, I could tell that the story of Penny’s Big Breakaway is processing the feelings of the developers who had to “break away” from Sega for unknown reasons, which resulted in this game instead of Sonic Mania 2.

Penny rides her yo-yo in Penny's Big Breakaway.
Private Division

While that meta theme did catch me by surprise, little else did narratively. Penny’s Big Breakaway is a vibrant and colorful game with a large cast of characters, but outside of Penny, none of their designs stand out as that memorable. Some don’t have the simplicity of characters like Sonic or Mario, and each character individually feels like they could have been designed for different games.

Its script certainly got a few chuckles out of me – one of the villains repeatedly calling Penny “Miss Felon” was my favorite running gag – and flavor text throughout each level does give the stages a sense of place. Other than those bright spots, I probably won’t be thinking much about Penny and her friends now that the credits have rolled on Penny’s Big Breakaway.

However, story and characters aren’t why most people come to a game like Penny’s Big Breakaway; how good the platforming feels and how well-designed obstacle course levels are is what they seek. Thankfully, when it isn’t locking players into an arena for a boss fight, Penny’s Big Breakaway nails that.

Expert platforming design

Penny’s Big Breakaway‘s gameplay is all centered around using a magical yo-yo. While you can run and jump like you normally would in a platformer, the yo-yo is used for a variety of different offensive and movement skills. By using the right stick on a controller, you can send out the yo-yo in any direction; this will grab, interact with, or break any objects it comes into contact with. You can also use it to dash or swing in midair by using the right stick while jumping or use the trigger to ride on the yo-yo if an incline or jump gives you enough momentum to move forward. I had to learn to use and mix together all of these abilities to complete linear levels across 11 different worlds.

Penny rides a yo-yo zipline in Penny's Big Breakaway.
Private Division

These unique controls initially take some getting used to; I dashed off the edge of almost every stage in the first world. After some time with the game and being forced to use these skills in high-pressure situations, Penny’s Big Breakaway gets a lot more intuitive. It isn’t as fast-paced as Sonic the Hedgehog, but it incorporates momentum into a robust moveset. There are some pretty wild level shortcuts that even I’ve found by stringing moves together across seemingly impassible gaps.

As players spend more time with and get better at the game, I’m excited to see what other shortcuts or neat platforming tricks are discovered. Penny’s Big Breakaway encourages players to get better in many different ways. For instance, penguin enemies all chase Penny and slow her down after touching her rather than dealing damage; this encourages players to keep moving and to learn how to use the different yo-yo skills to shed themselves of the penguins.

Due to the skateboarding game influences on the yo-yo dual stick controls, Evening Star implemented a combo system. Accrue enough points by the end of a level, and you unlock concept art. Three unique challenges and three collectibles are also strewn about each stage. These tend to require players to show mastery of the movement mechanics, so you get better by completing or obtaining them. Completing the challenges gives you a chance to earn more points in the end-of-level Busker Bonus, while found collectibles can be spent to unlock difficult Star Globe stages that put your skills to the test.

Penny glides through the air with her yo-yo in Penny's Big Breakaway.
Private Division

Add in the Time Attack mode, where players can speedrun for the best times and compare their times to other players on a leaderboard, and Penny’s Big Breakaway is a game begging players to get good at it. Having such fun momentum-based gameplay comes with the downside of making Penny’s Big Breakaway less interesting when players have to stop, wait, and deal with level gimmicks that don’t emphasize the best parts of Penny’s moveset. Frequently, this happens in boss fights.

Horrible bosses

The giant penguin ball I mentioned in the intro set the bar high for end-of-world encounters, but unfortunately, none of the others live up to that standard. Many of the boss fights after are more traditional and try to shoehorn the yo-yo mechanics into gimmicky fight-specific challenges, like playing pool with parts of a boss after damaging them.

These arena fights just aren’t nearly as engaging as the normal platforming stages, and poor checkpointing means I had to replay large, repetitive chunks of these fights for a mess-up late in the encounter. Good boss fights recontextualize and enhance the basic mechanics of the game, and the penguin ball encounter toward the start of the game understands this. That makes it all the more unfortunate that most of the other bosses that follow don’t build on that.

Penny faces a boss in Penny's Big Breakaway.
Private Division

Penny’s Big Breakaway was hard to put down, but looking back, frustrations with these boss fights are what caused me to end my play session and come back later. The same goes for stages where they needed more room to play around with all of the gameplay tools as they were too focused on a singular gimmick or obstacle. Those are real momentum-killers for a game where it’s vital to keep moving.

Thankfully, those issues are only speed bumps on the road Penny is rolling down on her sentient yo-yo. When Evening Star Games lets unique platforming mechanics and fluid platforming shine and reinforces them with the scoring system and enemy design, Penny’s Big Breakaway shines. Although I’m not sure that Penny and her yo-yo have the staying power of Sega’s iconic hedgehog, Penny’s Big Breakaway is an easy recommendation to hardcore platforming fans eager to see what the Sonic Mania devs are up to now.

Digital Trends tested Penny’s Big Breakway on PC.

Tomas Franzese
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
‘We were all ready to die’: STALKER 2 documentary reveals the war behind the game
Key art for Stalker 2. A character in a lit-up gas mask and a gun on their back.

War Game: The Making of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Documentary

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has been a long time coming. Not only have fans been waiting for a follow-up to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl since 2007 but an unexpected event further delayed developer GSC Game World's plans: Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Read more
Earth Defense Force 6 just removed its controversial requirement
The Diver class in Earth Defense Force 6.

While the response to Earth Defense Force 6, the latest in the gory sci-fi shooter series, has been generally positive, many PC users had complaints, specifically about how they were required to sign in with an Epic Games account to play online co-op.

The developers have good news for those players. On Thursday, developer Sandlot released a small update on Steam that removed that requirement. Now you can play online missions without the account. "This application has been modified so that you can play online missions without signing into your Epic Games Account," the post reads.

Read more
3 new Xbox Game Pass games you should play this weekend (October 4-6)
Sifu's main character at age 70 in Sifu.

Later this month, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will receive its biggest day-one release ever with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Until then, we'll have to bide the time with other recently added Xbox Game Pass games. Thankfully, multiple games came to Microsoft's subscription service during Tokyo Game Show in September and one particular highlight just landed this week. If you're looking for something to play this weekend, these are the games you should be looking for on Xbox Game Pass.
Sifu
Sifu | Sloclap | Night Club Gameplay Teaser | PS4, PS5 & PC

Sloclap's Sifu is an intense action game with intricate hand-to-hand combat that feels like it could've been pulled right out of John Wick or a classic kung fu movie. It's incredibly satisfying for that reason alone, but Sifu's most unique hook happens when players die. With each death, players get a little more powerful but age up and lose a bit of health. This gives Sifu a one-of-a-kind difficulty curve because it gets easier and more difficult in different ways with each death. With lots of content and accessibility updates under its belt at this point, you'll have a fantastic time checking out the complete version of Sifu now if you've never played it before. Sifu is available to Game Pass subscribers across PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It's also on PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.
We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie
We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie - Xbox Game Pass Trailer

Read more