So I got this game a while back, and tried it out today, and would like to share my first impression thoughts after an hour or so of gameplay...

A platformer where essentially, every area is a puzzle, and there is some stereotypical story about the protagonist being a hero of prophecy who must defeat a new evil, and rescue the prince...well the story itself is pretty blah, but it does have a charming presentation, as you are a famous thief, and are being blackmailed by the king to rescue his son, and pay back the debt you owe to all the nobles you've robbed...the dialogue is actually pretty hilarious, presenting said premise as everyone "hypothetically" stating what will happen to the "thief" if she she fails to do what is bid of her...only they all pretend that it is not her, but it is so blatant that everyone knows...it is pretty comical.

So far, this fun little bit saved the story from not being paid any attention to, otherwise.

That, and the meetup between Anise, the notorious thief turned hero and her guardian fairy who assisted some legendary hero centuries ago basically consists of Kukri, said fairy, calling you a zombie the whole time after she concludes that you died in the introductory accident but then regain consciousness.

I chuckled a whole lot, and I certainly hope this keeps up.

The gameplay however, is something else...the controls are extremely awkward, everything is so slow and dodgy, it gets really frustrating, even after mastering the basics, and this does not even include the annoying weapon switch/pick up scheme the game has.
(You even have to press the Y button to pick up health, gems and power ups, instead of merely walking over them.)

Each stage has three different time limits which award you medals depending on how fast you finish it, but the animation which shows the door to the exit opening after you insert the key into a keyhole takes away four seconds from the timer and really frustrates me.

Maybe it gets better, or I will develop more acute gaming skills after a while, but for now I am a little disappointed in how the gameplay and controls seem so shoddy for something which should essentially be child's play.

I enjoy and appreciate the challenge of trying to obtain all the gold medals, but I really wish that said challenge would revolve around innovative stage content rather than fighting with the controls.

Has anyone played this? Does it get any better, or is there just no way around these horrendous controls?