Do You See The Waving Cape: The Butterfly Effect

Before you buy Do You See The Waving Cape (no question mark), let me share some first-hand experience of the game, as it wasn’t what I had expected. Actually, I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this clicker-like game, regardless of whether it was innovative.

Developers, publishers and PR wizards often send out a review code before the release date, allowing reviewers to give their opinion on the day, hopefully persuading gamers to part with their cash, but I bought this. It’d be naive to think that people solely rely on reviews, what with them being opinion-based, but to put it bluntly, I wouldn’t have bought this knowing what I know now. 

Aarrghh! It’s a bad review! Not necessarily, but it was hard to connect with for several reasons. Do You See The Waving Cape is a very personal tale by the developer, Luo Zhi En, and though it’s their story, we as the audience should find parts we relate to or at least enjoy the ride. Alas, I could neither identify with the story nor enjoyed the gameplay. 

And, that’s why we don’t put too much weight into reviews: because I couldn’t relate to the story, it gets a bad review? No, but it was very abstract. Essentially this is about childhood – the usual aspirations of being a superhero and what-not, but instead of looking up to Superman or Black Widow, the hero on the pedestal is Wokman.

Through 11 or so chapters, you play a dog that tracks down the notorious Wokman, completing a series of, I guess, mini-games. We’ll write off the story here as it was mostly incoherent, and the language was often awkward. Lines like:

Jiagui received a set of “Dragon Suit” on his birthday.

climbing to the shoulders of giants

I think I fall into rock bottom of my life.

The meaning was there, so it’s not about berating the structure (coming from a goon of a writer who always breaks the rules), but all of the text pops up like a Final Cut transition. It’s clunky and, in a lot of the scenarios, unneeded as it didn’t add value to the story. At least, from my perspective.

When it comes to Do You See The Waving Cape gameplay, you only need your left mouse button. It’s not like Great Hero’s Beard, but a hidden object game as you have to click on hotspots to solve puzzles. Some of these were infuriating as there was no clue as what to do – despite the ‘hint system’, and if you get it wrong, you fail and repeat the level. By the way, each time you fail, you lose a flower. Achievement hunters will need five flowers for every setpiece, which you can replay at any point.

There are a few recurring mini-games such as clicking the mouse to create a flight path, martial arts sections where you click to jump – rapidly clicking trees to jump up to them, plus other activities such as finding all the ‘sparkles’. I’ll just say it: it’s boring.

If Do You See The Waving Cape were a review game I received, I’d ensure to stick it out and give it a fair appraisal, but I bought this as it was on my wishlist for some time. Bizarrely, it permanently says ‘trial version’ in the bottom right corner. What made me buy it in the first place? The sentimental aspect appealed to me, but truth be told, it was the art style. The hand-drawn elements were the saving graces and did not disappoint. The main character was incredibly likeable (on the surface), and the scenery was great too. Do You See The Waving Cape is very much like an interactive storybook.

However, this was not enough. The story is always an incentive for me, but it was often erratic, using metaphors out of context. It certainly has heart, but it was too distant to connect with it, mainly due to the gameplay. I must have exited the game a dozen times in frustration – even looking at the chapters to see how long it was until it was over. 

I’m sorry, but Do You See The Waving Cape was a chore. Yes, it looked terrific, but it was more of a concept – like an extended game jam. I would like to see this as a storybook, though maybe outsourcing the writing, so it’s easier to follow/identify with. As pointed out at the beginning of this review, this is opinion-based, so you may end up loving it. For me, it was one of those rare games where I was keen to move on to the next.