A press of a face button, an X or a Y, would have worked wonders. Mapped to a press ‘up’, they often trigger late or end early, and we found ourselves cursing the decision to put them on the direction pad. The floating balloons, used early and repeatedly through Ayo the Clown, are also a tad inconsistent. Ayo the Clown can’t discern between some of the controls, and it can lead to unwanted deaths. The problem comes from that layering: too often, we wanted to climb down a rope but found ourselves bottom-pounding, or floating in a balloon when we wanted to be climbing up a ladder. Soon, he is able to slide under doors, bottom-slam switches and float with balloons to higher platforms. But it comes undone as more and more abilities are layered onto Ayo. Basic platforming feels great in Ayo the Clown. Ayo the Clown is initially an easy character to get to grips with his jump is easy to manage, and there’s no latency to any of the inputs.

It hits some hurdles in terms of controls. Some of the characters are a little bland, but generally this feels like being fired out of a circus cannon through world after world of colours, invention and giant gingerbread men.

Graphically it’s got a high-quality if slightly plasticky sheen, making it feel more towards the AAA end than budget end. As the first game from developer Cloud M1, you wouldn’t know it was a debut.

Ayo the clown youtube