Shiny is a game that tells the story of robot Kramer 227 which has been abandoned after humans left the dying planet. Kramer now has to fend for himself and rescue other robots that have also been abandoned. Kramer runs on batteries, so you need to race against the clock to help it save himself and his friends as you collect the much-needed batteries along the way.

You start the game as Shiny with very little explanation, other than a small tutorial as you go along the first level, you will be taught how to jump, open doors, reactivate your robotic friends and the purpose of the batteries you collect. Your main goal is always to get from point A to point B, collecting a set number of batteries along the way, as well as reactivating the many robots you will find. And yes, this does mean the game is a bit repetitive, but it didn’t get in the way of me being able to have fun.

The only real challenge is finding all the batteries to keep Shiny fully recharged to prevent it from dying, which is also an important part of your run if you want to 100% the game and do a Platinum run. That’s right: this one has a Platinum trophy for you! The best part is that no trophy is missable since you can go back and replay levels to collect anything you’re missing.

Everything you in the game uses up some battery juice, be that moving, jumping or opening stuff – even reviving robots eats up part of your battery meter! This is why it’s important to keep your robot fully charged at all times. You also have an overheat meter to worry about because if it reaches its maximum, it’s an instant death.

The first seven or eight levels of the game are very easy, and you can probably finish them without dying, not to mention that the game has a very generous checkpoint system. But after that set of levels the difficulty will ramp up, and it is then that the overheat meter will come into play, bordering a bit on becoming a frustrating experience if you’re not patient. You will find an item later on that helps you cool down, but until then you're going to die a fair bit just from overheating alone.

The music is a nice mix of classical piano and new age, and while I’m not big into either genre it definitely fits the space adventure theme of Shiny. I feel the graphics are not the game’s biggest strength, but this is not a deal-breaker and doesn’t get in the way of the sidescrolling fun.

Shiny is a solid effort from the indie team at Garage 227. The game has some interesting gameplay mechanics and a difficulty curve that doesn’t kick in until level 7 or so, and there are plenty of objectives to complete during your run towards getting to 100% of the game to unlock your Platinum trophy.

Disclaimer
This Shiny review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by SOEDESCO.