THE NEWZEALAND STORY: Untold Adventure - Review - PC STEAM

There’s a particular kind of nostalgia that doesn’t just tug at you, it ambushes you. Booting up THE NEWZEALAND STORY: Untold Adventure, I felt that ambush immediately: the bright yellows, the bubblegum-pastel skies, the earnest determination of a tiny kiwi named Tiki who still believes he can save the world with a bow, a balloon, and sheer stubbornness.

This remake doesn’t just resurrect a 1988 arcade oddity, it tries to reinterpret it for players who grew up with it and those who’ve only heard whispers about “that weird kiwi platformer with the laser guns.” The result is a game that’s often delightful, occasionally clumsy, and always unmistakably itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keCLIsgUvNI

The first thing that hits you is the colour. Not modern, hyper-saturated digital gloss, but something closer to a children’s book that’s been lovingly scanned. Environments feel airy and whimsical with floating platforms, maze-like caverns, and New Zealand‑inspired backdrops that lean more into fantasy than actual real world geography.

Tiki’s animations are a little stiff, a little bouncy, and completely charming. Enemies wobble, flail, and explode into feathers or sparkles with a kind of Saturday-morning-cartoon energy. It’s not pixel art, nor is it fully modern 2D, but it's more like a hybrid that respects the original’s simplicity while giving it a contemporary sheen.

The moment you take control of Tiki, the game reminds you that beneath its pastel sweetness lies a platformer with real bite. Movement is light, almost slippery, demanding a level of precision that feels straight out of the arcade era. Every jump has a touch of unpredictability, every floating platform dares you to misjudge its edge, and every enemy patrol feels like it was designed to punish hesitation. The maze-like structure of the stages reinforces this tension: you’re not just moving left to right, you’re navigating twisting paths, hidden pockets, and branching routes that reward curiosity as much as they punish carelessness. Balloon-riding remains the perfect encapsulation of the game’s personality as it's whimsical, airy, and absolutely chaotic the moment an arrow or fireball enters the frame. It’s a rhythm of hop, shoot, float, panic, recover, and repeat, and once it clicks, it becomes strangely addictive.

Combat in Untold Adventure embraces the same playful spirit as its platforming. Tiki’s weapons are straightforward on the surface with arrows, lasers, bombs, fireballs but the game delights in how these tools interact with its environments and enemies. There’s a scrappy feel to every encounter, as if the game wants you to experiment rather than strategize. One moment you’re firing arrows in tight corridors, the next you’re piloting a bizarre vehicle that looks like it was sketched by a kid during recess. Enemies flail and burst with cartoonish flair, giving battles a lighthearted energy even when the screen fills with hazards. It’s never deep in a modern sense, but it’s consistently entertaining, and the remake’s subtle tweaks to responsiveness and hit detection make the chaos feel fairer without sanding down its retro charm.

The soundtrack walks a tightrope between retro melodies and modern instrumentation. Themes are recognisable but fuller, warmer, and more dynamic. Sound effects retain their arcade punchiness and every pop, ping, and squeak feels like it escaped from a cabinet in a seaside beachfront arcade.

What ultimately makes Untold Adventure work is its sincerity. It doesn’t chase trends. It doesn’t try to reinvent itself into something unrecognisable. It’s a quirky, heartfelt revival of a quirky, heartfelt classic, warts and all. If you grew up with Tiki, this remake feels like meeting an old friend who’s cleaned up nicely but still tells the same jokes. If you’re new to the series, it’s a window into a stranger, more playful era of platformers, one where logic was optional and charm was everything.

Pros

• Gorgeous, whimsical art direction

• Faithful platforming with modern polish

• Playful combat and vehicle variety

• Strong sense of identity and nostalgia

• Soundtrack that respects the original while enhancing it

Cons

• Difficulty spikes may alienate newcomers

• Some visual clutter in busy stages

• Occasional stiffness in movement

• Limited accessibility options

THE NEWZEALAND STORY: Untold Adventure is a lovingly crafted revival that embraces its eccentric heritage. It’s not a flawless remake, nor does it try to be. Instead, it’s a celebration of oddball arcade design, of earnest mascots, of games that dared to be colourful and strange. If you’re willing to meet it on its own terms, it’s a delightful, feather-fluttering journey worth taking.

XPN Rating: 4 out of 5 (GOLD)

THE NEWZEALAND STORY: Untold Adventure is available now!