Miraculous: Paris Under Siege Review (PS5)
Summary: Miraculous: Paris Under Siege is a great action adventure game for fans and newcomers alike. There is plenty here to enjoy like the entertaining gameplay, diverse levels, and extravagant powers. Even though the game is rough around the edges with odd audio moments, graphical glitches, and faulty design, the mellow pace and gratifying combat encounters create a well balanced and amusing time for younger audiences.
3.5
Pound It!
Run through the streets of France and fight crime as superheroes in this incredible adventure to save your friends and the world! Miraculous: Paris Under Siege is an action adventure game developed by Petit Fabrik, published by GameMill Entertainment, and released on October 25th of 2024. The animated show Miraculous first aired in 2015 and quickly became admired by a younger audience for its diverse characters, relationships between the characters, and dynamic story beats. It became so incredibly popular that the franchise received toys, books, a movie, and games. Miraculous has appeared in Roblox, Just Dance, and on mobile phones as an endless runner game. In 2022, Miraculous: Rise of the Sphinx released and showcased Ladybug and Cat Noir like never before in a fully 3D environment. Paris Under Siege acts as a sequel to 2022’s game, taking place somewhere during Season 4 of the show, and sees you playing as Ladybug or Cat Noir on another mission of preventing evil from winning once again. Spots On!
The story begins with Marinette following a robotic enemy dashing through the alleyways of Paris. She transforms into Ladybug while in pursuit, thinking something may be awry. Her gut feeling ends up being correct after running into Stormy Weather who has got her hands on an ancient Egyptian necklace that grants her incredible power. Stormy Weather hypnotizes Ladybug’s friends and sends the city into chaos. Now it is up to Ladybug and Cat Noir to rescue their friends, save the city, and topple the reign of the wicked Stormy Weather and the overarching presence of their nemesis, Hawk Moth. The story feels like it’s ripped right from the animated show and looks that way too by the game having very cinematic cutscenes and dynamic camera movements. The voice acting is well done and the nuanced body language displayed by characters really does a good job at expressing their thoughts and feelings.
The gameplay is straightforward, but action packed. As Marinette, you can run around, jump, and talk to others around the city. Ladybug and Cat Noir have more parkour and acrobatic abilities like double jumping, wall jumping, and combat related powers. You have a normal attack, a special attack, and you can charge up your special attack for a flashy strike that you can unleash on your adversaries. You can use Ladybug’s yo-yo or Cat Noir’s staff to swing or lunge yourself across gaps or to hit unreachable buttons. You’ll be wall jumping, teleporting from place to place, playing 2D segments across trains and through buildings, and leaping from rooftop to rooftop. The movement and fun never stops and the game makes you feel like you are actually playing as this superpowered duo through their maneuvers alone.
Combat feels just as robust as darting around. You’ll be up against a wide variety of enemies from hopping statues to dashing zombies. Enemies do a great job at bum rushing you and making you stay on your toes. You can dodge to get out of the way of incoming assaults and you can also stagger enemies if you beat them up enough or knock a barrel or other interactable object into them. After saving one of your friends, you can call them to fight with you as an assist. These assists run on a meter that replenishes by attacking enemies and really come in handy, like one that automatically staggers the foes in your vicinity. Also, getting high combos increases the damage output multiplier so there is an incentive to actively participate in battle as best as you can.
You can level up Ladybug and Cat Noir by obtaining XP (experience) orbs. You can snatch these floating colored spheres by finding them spread out and about in the levels, taking down enemies, or breaking the destructive environmental objects like chairs and tables. Ladybug and Cat Noir have separate skill trees where you can level up their different abilities like health and speed. Orbs come in different colors that represent a certain value of XP that the orb will give you. Scouring the stages for hidden orbs behind a stack of barrels or finding optional paths with a group of enemies guarding a bunch of orbs feels rewarding since your efforts are instantly paid off.
There is some nice replayability here. There are battle arenas to wrangle in and there are scores at the end of each level. Your score is determined on different things like how long it took to complete the level or how many enemies were defeated. You get a certain amount of stars and if you want to get a perfect score, you can replay the level as much as you please. These things aren’t anything particularly special, but it gives you something to strive for which is nice in an action adventure game like this. Graphically, the game looks great. The levels are vibrant and intricate which advertises the show’s whimsical nature perfectly. There are metallic railways you jolt across, large book filled libraries to have clashes in, and gloomy graveyards to saunter through.
I did have some odd problems with the audio at different points during my playthrough of the game. All of the music sounded good, but it would cut off abruptly at times and play over other music weirdly at points. The confirmation sound also sounds off and detached from the game overall. There were a few moments where dialogue glitched and would stutter or promptly stop for no reason. Characters seem to warp around if you hit an edge of an object sometimes. There’s a lot of pop in with enemies, characters, items, and the environment in general. I had some major slowdown issues and there were instances where I couldn’t pick up XP orbs. Sometimes I would get stuck on pieces of the environment and other times enemies would stop moving or stop attacking completely. Despite all of the game’s flaws, it surprisingly never ruined my enjoyment. The game’s simple pick up and play vibe and manageable attitude makes it a pleasant beat ’em up adventure that’s really fun to play.
Final Thoughts?
Miraculous: Paris Under Siege is a game about pure simple fun. From the generous checkpoints and no consequences when you lose all your health to the extravagant combat that feels awesome and the showboaty flair during traversal. The game is a perfect example of why the show is as popular and loved as it is and fans are lucky to get a game that is so genuine to the heart of the series. The only way you can enjoy Miraculous: Paris Under Siege more is to play co-op mode with a friend or family member for an even better miraculous superhero time. With fun gameplay, true to nature graphics, and valiant music, you can never lose with Miraculous!
About the Author
Nay Clark Gaming holds a special place in my heart and I never stop talking about video games. I really love all types of games and have an interest in games that have complicated stories and lore because I enjoy untangling the mystery of it all. When I'm not gaming, I unsuccessfully try to control three amazing and incredibly bright kids.
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