While I don’t always tend to dive deep into challenging precision platformers, I’ll admit that some like Super Meat Boy (and the lesser-known Flat Heroes) have done a fantastic job of getting me hooked anyway. At least in my case, I’ve found that while general design and elements like the aesthetics are important, in the end it all comes down to tight controls. I want to know that every time I fail and/or die, that I have only myself to blame, and nothing about the control scheme or in-game behavior is a contributing factor.

Thrill Penguin is obviously aspiring to be placed in that same category of high-quality precision platformers, and at least in some areas it gets things right. For one, I do appreciate that its feel is quite different from the norm, placing as much of an emphasis on trying to use technique to get faster times as in trying to simply stay alive. Doing both well is undoubtedly a challenge, but at least to some degree the game is successful. With some determination and work you’ll not only be able to survive stages, but also do so at least fast enough to earn a medal, even if not the elusive gold.

The problem is that while many competitors have managed to refine their controls to the point where they feel tight and satisfying, Thrill Penguin comes in a few rungs lower on the ladder to greatness. It’s one of those games where everything works just well enough to keep pulling you in if you appreciate a challenge, but that can be frustrating enough with its quirks on a consistent basis that you can’t see placing it at a high level with the best in this category. 

It would be one thing if the issue were just feeling like the controls themselves were a bit sloppy overall, but it also regularly feels that predictable consistency for essentially doing the same things over and over can be problematic. If the goal is to have people speedrunning every level, trying to eke out the best times possible, you don’t want there to feel like there are any obstacles to always feeling like your effort alone is what’s determining the result. Unfortunately for techniques like sliding in various ways, which in theory will consistently make you move faster, the results feel inconsistent at best. Put this all together, and while there’s room for some satisfying challenges, the game fails to reach the high bar the space’s top titles have established, relegating it to the decent-but-flawed middle ground with a host of other titles.