Tag Archives: Platformer

The Bionic Commando Review

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Whenever you make a video game where your main character doesn’t have the ability to jump, it should raise some red flags. How do you actually plan your game around that? Surely it can’t be easy and that’s why I would usually recommend not even taking the risk. Well, this game decided to do it anyway and unfortunately it did not go very well. The game goes too far in being as non-linear as possible to the point where you have no idea where to go after a while.

The game starts out with the world’s greatest agent being taken out of the picture. So the world’s second best agent is forced to get in on the action. He has to find the first guy and save him as well as stopping the villains from taking over the world. It will be difficult but this guy has a whole lot of training up his sleeve so it’s nothing that he hasn’t seen before.

The gameplay is your standard 2D platformer at first glance. You can move and jump as well as firing your blaster at folks. As I mentioned before, there is no jumping though. Instead you have an extendable claw that you can use to grab onto walls and mount your comeback. You will have to time the claw throws very carefully because your momentum only lasts for a quick instance. Once it is gone, then you are back to normal and often times you will be in a worse position than when you started.

Each level has a computer room that you must access before you can complete the level. This is a place where you can swap out your current equipment as well as learn some information about the villains and their movements. So this still sounds straight forward right? Well, where the wheels come off is you have to move through the hub world to the last level but you have multiple paths to get there. There are around 19 levels and the numbers are on them but it can be difficult to follow them in order.

You have to endure extra battles based on the enemies who are patrolling those areas. That’s not the only problem, you then have to factor in that you need the right items equipped for different levels to get through. You have up to 3 walkie talkies for example and no clear indicator on which one you need to use in order to proceed. You also have obstacles that can only be broken by specific guns. So there’s a lot of things to consider and none of them are all that fun. I would say that’s the main problem here.

I want to just get to the levels already. The combat is fairly decent and I enjoyed the boss battles. The shine starts to leave as you have to complete those same levels and bosses over and over again though. They keep on respawning and it just feels like that goes against the whole point of the adventure. This should be a fast paced battle to save your friends, not an ever lasting war against foes who refuse to go down. It just doesn’t add up.

The graphics aren’t bad. I do appreciate that we have actual cutscenes of sorts here as well. There is a real story and so this game put in the effort, it was just unfortunately overwhelmed by the fact that the gameplay mechanics were no good. Unfortunately I don’t believe there are a whole lot of ways to get around that. This game was not able to accomplish such a feat after all and that’s why I didn’t really want to rush back to it. The way I see it, this game just failed on a basic level in terms of being really fun to play.

The game’s length is fairly good for such an old game so I can give it some credit in terms of lasting value at least. The soundtrack was okay too so it had some fundamentals here. I think this would make for a good film and I would definitely play a remake of it someday. In the meantime though, this is going to be remembered as one of the weaker Game Boy games. The title just got a little bit too clever for its own good and so the whole thing backfired.

Overall, The Bionic Commando is not a game that I would recommend. It’s not like it’s bad or anything like that but to me it wasn’t that much fun and that’s the biggest thing you need in a game. Actually, I guess I could call it bad in that case as anything under a 5 can earn that title. If you ask me this game should have either kept in the ability to jump or it should have made the levels linear. Either option would have made this better but the whole guessing game doesn’t really work in a game like this. I wanted to be right there in the action, not left to guess on what was going on. Props to folks who figured out how to complete this game back in the day. If you have the Switch Online, I’d recommend playing Kirby instead.

Overall 4/10

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos Review

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This is easily one of the toughest games that I’ve ever played. It’s clear that this is the kind of game that would take many, many hours in order to really master. My hat’s off to anyone who actually beat this one without any rewinding or anything like that. It feels like a near impossible task to me and I like to think that I’m pretty good at platformers. This one will absolutely take you to the edge and back. By the time you conquer it, the title will have either driven you mad or you will have high respect for it.

The game follows Ryu as he ends up going on his toughest journey yet. His friend Irene is kidnapped by a mysterious demon lord and a special agent with a gun warns Ryu that there is something extra dangerous about this mission. Ryu isn’t going up against mere ninja this time, but instead he will be fighting demons and deities. Fortunately Ryu isn’t the kind of guy to ever back down from a fight.

You may be surprised at just how cosmic the game gets. It really isn’t afraid to have Ryu go up against foes that are out of this world. This may as well be a full on sci-fi title. The core gameplay is the same as always though. It’s a 2D platformer where you have to slice away at your opponents as you gradually gain ground to the end of the level. You can avoid enemies but often times that may wind up getting you taken out. The villains also respawn almost immediately if you retreat and then go forward.

The combat itself is fairly straight forward. You have a sword and can slice right in front of you, you can also crouch and hit enemies who are trying to go low. You have a basic jump and can climb up on walls. There is also a whole item system but it really confused me so I didn’t invest much time in it. Basically there are tons of bubbles in the air throughout the level and when you slice them, a power up falls out. Sometimes it will summon an energy clone, other times it will let you shoot out fireballs. Each power up has a symbol but there are so many of them that it is really hard to keep track. You will quickly be overwhelmed unless you really take a lot of time to test them all out.

I decided to just plunge ahead. The bosses are all incredibly difficult but the final boss is in a league of his own. He has multiple phases, each one more deadly than the last. If you want to take them all down, it is not going to be an easy adventure for you. The one thing keeping you going will be the story itself which is really impressive. I would even say that the technicals around the board are super impressive here as it doesn’t look or feel like an NES title. It’s all about a generation above that.

The graphics have aged really well for starters. The colors are striking and the backgrounds are really good. The soundtrack is also better than it ought to be. The game has actual cutscenes and quite a lot of them as you get near the end of the game. So what you’ve got here is a very compelling title but I imagine most people did not make it to the end because of how punishing the game is. You essentially have to be frame perfect a lot of the time and a few good mistakes will completely take you out of the fight. There isn’t an easy checkpoint system here either so you will be seriously sent back if you end up losing.

It’s a little too brutal for my liking. I enjoy a difficult game to a degree but it does need to have quality of life features. I never want to be sent too far back and I like for there to be a way to get stronger. You at least need one or the other and this one doesn’t really have either of those. So without the Switch Online, I don’t really expect this is a game that I would have devoted a whole lot of time to.

Still, if you have the Switch Online then it makes for a perfect chance to play this one. One tip I will give is that the final boss has so much health that it can’t fit on screen. So you must keep on attacking. It may feel like you are not dealing any damage, but you actually are. You have to attack for several minutes before you can see the health go down and then from there you are set. I still expect you will die hundreds of times during this experience though.

Overall, Ninja Gaiden II is a really impressive game. It is obvious that a whole lot of care and detail was put into this game. You will get an enormous sense of satisfaction if you can beat the game without rewinding but you will definitely have to put a lot of heart into it. It’s not my favorite title but I can definitely say that the gameplay is smooth. It’s a fun ride even if it goes too far in being as unrelenting as possible.

Overall 6/10

Landstalker Review

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Landstalker is a game that is definitely a lot longer than you would have figured. The game is filled with lots of puzzles and platforming challenges that will really keep you guessing. Completing them is no easy feat and I tip my cap to the gamers who managed to complete this one back in the day. It is incredibly difficult and any time you choose the wrong passageway you have to fight a bunch of enemies once again. That was a really rough mechanic.

The game follows a treasure hunter named Nigel who is searching for the ultimate treasure. Unfortunately it won’t be an easy journey and along the way he meets many people who are having issues and dealing with corrupt leaders. Nigel didn’t exactly sign up to be a hero but he won’t let these people fall without a fight. His trusty spirit companion is also around to make sure he doesn’t get distracted by matters of the heart. She wants Nigel all to herself but he doesn’t seem to truly notice her.

While the game’s story isn’t super detailed, there is more dialogue and plot than you may have normally assumed from such an old game. So I can definitely appreciate that. The world is also quite large and that contributes to how long the game’s story ended up being. It is not a game that will end too soon, it’s going to take you a little while. Part of the reason for this is that there is no quick travel system until you reach the final dungeon. So you have to be running back and forth a whole lot. You better hope you have the routes more or less memorized too or that will also add onto the extra time. There were several times where I had no idea how to get back to an old town.

The game has no good map system after all. There is a general world map but it doesn’t give many details. There are a few guideposts but they are rarely around when you need them. So that is a quality of life feature that could be addressed in a remake without a doubt. The game’s combat system is pretty basic. You have a single sword strike…and that’s it. So keep on spamming it as much as you need to until you win. Often times the best thing to do is just spam the attack and wait for the minions to walk into it.

Towards the end there are a few minions this doesn’t work on so for those cases I recommend doing a lot of jump slashes. Keep on pulling those off and eventually you will win. Some of the bosses are incredibly durable to t point where you might wonder if you are attacking them correctly. No worries, if they flash then you are doing it right. This is why I do like to have health bars though, so there is no guessing game.

The puzzles come in many variations but the penalties are too large. Like I mentioned, the enemies all respawn when you exit a room and most of these puzzles revolve around going through a bunch of different locations. So that means backtracking and re-defeating the enemies to activate switches and the like. I had to do this so many times and it’s not like the enemies are ultra easy. They will deal you a ton of damage and then you’re sunk.

I died dozens and dozens of times throughout the game. So like I said it’s no picnic and it’s really rough to be dying thanks to a puzzle. Those puzzles absolutely needed a whole lot of work and they just aren’t fun to solve. Why are the villains using so many puzzles? Lets just jump into the combat. If the system focused on the combat more then this could have absolutely been something great.

Meanwhile the graphics aren’t bad. I will admit that the game looks really solid for its age. The colors are striking and the character designs stand out. That’s certainly never a guarantee for a game like this. Meanwhile the soundtrack isn’t anything amazing but works well enough. You won’t be remembering the tunes though. None of them stick in your head and I will ultimately have to blame the game there as you should have a ton of great themes at the ready. The best theme would probably be the background music for the final labyrinth. It felt suitably final at least.

There isn’t really any replay value here as the game ends when you defeat the final boss. At least the campaign is long enough though so if you have the Switch Online it might be worth playing through. I just warn you that you have to love the puzzle aspect or you really won’t be having fun here. It’s absolutely the focus of the game but since that involves a lot of combat then you are stuck playing through a lot of battles which was clearly not a development focus.

Overall, Landstalker is a game that has not aged particularly well. It’s a game that feels old and the gameplay elements just aren’t as good as they could have been. The puzzles tend to be super annoying the whole time and the game overstays its welcome by the end. The lack of attack options makes the combat become repetitive as well. So those are quite a lot of reasons why you will want to stay away from this one. I’m afraid that it just did not manage to succeed in spite of these instances.

Overall 4/10

The Gex Collection Review

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Gex is one of those series that I was not overly familiar with before playing the collection. I knew about him in a vague kind of way but I can’t say that I knew the story behind the games or even the gameplay. Well, now I got to play through the trilogy and it is definitely an example of a game series that has aged well. The first game is definitely the weakest since it’s in 2D, but as soon as it went over to 3D, it was off to the races.

The first game is your classic platformer, only there is an extra objective. You have to find various TV remotes in order to clear each level until you make it to the end. If you finish the level without it, then you don’t unlock the next level and in a way all you’ve done is waste your time there. So you don’t want to let that happen. They aren’t that hard to find once you’re really looking for them but if you don’t know about this objective, you will probably waste a little time when you complete the level the first time.

It’s a pretty quick game all around though. It doesn’t take you very long to beat all of the main levels. There is a bonus world at the end which does take more time since those levels intentionally go crazy. I ended up going through them for the Platinum trophy but otherwise they aren’t quite as fun. I enjoy a good 2D platformer as much as the next guy but it’s just not as satisfying as playing in 3D. You aren’t able to rush on through and do what you want because there are always pitfalls to watch out for. There is also a bit less of a story in this one as the original. So all in all it’s fun, and certainly brings in a good challenge but it doesn’t hold pace with the next ones.

The second game is where things really kick it off. Gex is called back into the TV worlds to beat his arch nemesis and we get our first look at the 3D environments. They’re definitely quite a bit of fun and feel like something out of Mario 64. You have different worlds which each have multiple remotes to obtain. So you will be completing each world several times until you’ve really gotten the knack for it. You need to complete most of the missions in order to reach the final boss, but not every one. So if there’s a mission you don’t like, you can just skip it.

The gameplay is smooth and without any real issues so you’re able to just enjoy it. The game is much easier than the first but that is pretty hard to avoid with the 3D environment. The jumping and tail spinning are both mechanics that are handled really well. You will be moving with purpose the whole time and the only tricky thing can be the camera at different points.

The game continues with Gex’s smooth sense of humor and boundless confidence. He’s always got something to say about everything. The lines do run out early on so you will be hearing the same tunes quite a few times, but that’s fine. It’s still better to have reused lines than to not have voice acting in the first place after all. It’s all about that balance.

Then we have the third game which changes up the flow quite a bit. Gex has gone from being ultra confident to being a very pleading guy as he begs for the attention of a girl who’s been kidnapped. She enjoys making fun of him while waiting to be rescued and it’s definitely a real crazy dynamic. That being said, the gameplay is still really solid here. The game is even easier than the second one as there are even less levels that you need to play through in order to unlock the final boss. You can skip a great chunk of them and so I had to go out of my way to at least get to play one level in each world. The war level is probably the best one in the game. It’s definitely a lot of fun and shows how the game could really tackle different genres.

Control wise it’s basically the same as the second game so it really stayed consistent there. I’d definitely have no real complaints on this end. So the Gex Collection was definitely solid and the graphics have aged well. The art style works and everything is very clear. Additionally, the soundtrack isn’t bad although it could use a few more all timers. The tunes we have here are good, but I doubt you will be remember any of them a few years from now.

The only weakness is that the third game’s story is not able to hold on as well as the others. The nonstop flirting between Gex and the captive gets old quick and the game is leaning a bit too hard on the fanservice angle here. I would argue it even makes Gex look a little out of character since he was always in control for the first two games and suddenly he is ultra desperate in this one. It may be hard for you to be a fan of the guy by the time this one ends.

There isn’t a ton of replay value here because the Platinum trophy is very easy to obtain. I got it upon beating the third game and so your game’s length will really be based purely on the story modes. Fortunately, that’s the advantage of being a collection. You’ve already got 3 games lined up here and clearing them all will still take some time. Between the three of them you’re probably looking at around 10-12 hours or so and that’s definitely not bad. The games are all individually fun as well so this won’t feel like a bad purchase. I’d definitely say to check it out when you have some time.

Overall, Gex is definitely a fun character and the collection ended up working out pretty well. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a solid platforming experience. The story in the third game can definitely be a bit of a weak point as it’s rare for a video game to be relying on fanservice but as long as you can get around that you will be okay. I think the series would definitely do well with a modern reboot someday although we’ll have to see if that’s in the cards. For the most part this does feel like a forgotten series all the way through.

Overall 7/10

Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure! Review

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This is one of those games that I would pass by all the time. I never took the plunge and actually bought it though so now that it was added onto the Nintendo Switch Online, I knew it was my chance. Now I could finally see what all the fuss was about. Ultimately this is a good game although I wouldn’t call it a pretty good game because it is missing some solid quality of life stuff. If it can fix those in the sequel, then we can really be in business here.

The game starts out by introducing us to a really dysfunctional family. The daughter believes that she is a frog while the parents are always fighting. Their marriage has grown really strained thanks to the father always spending their money on toys and then lying about it. Not a really good idea at all and you can see why she would be super upset. Well, Chibi Robo exists to spread happiness and joy so this is really his big chance. His partner Telly is a nice little tv bot that provides moral support. Chibi has to find a way to save his family and may even have to go up against some serious spider bots. This will not be easy at all.

The core gameplay is really about walking around and seeing what everybody needs. It feels like an RPG in that respect. Your ultimate goal is to become the best Chibi Robo in the world in order to unlock your super mode and you do that by collecting hearts. You need thousands of hearts for this and you get them by breaking boxes, helping your friends, and picking up the trash around the house. It’s steady work that will gradually get you to the top although there are also main story quests that you have to accomplish. You won’t be able to get the top ranking without completing them all so you want to be doing both at the same time.

There is also a day and night system to keep track of. Initially the time changes every 5 minutes but eventually you can buy a power up that extends this to 15. Trust me, it’s a mechanic that you will find annoying almost immediately. Sometimes you need the day to end early or to stretch a bit longer and you’re just out of luck. I think this was definitely a mechanic that should have been skipped.

You also have to watch your energy meter. If it goes to 0, you will lose a ton of money and be sent back home. At the start of the game you don’t have a lot of energy at all but by the end you have a sizable amount. This means a lot of recharging at the various sockets scattered around the house. This can get rather monotonous fast and mixing that in with the day/night timer, you are always in a rush. You can’t afford to just survey the area and try to plan things out. For an exploration game like this, it’s a really questionable strategy.

The graphics are fairly good. I do think the art style has aged well and the special effects are solid. Some of the animations/unskippable cutscenes can get old quickly but that’s not the graphics fault. This game does opt for the made-up language/random sound effects of dialogue which is definitely unfortunate. It’s not as bad as in other games but will still get grating rather quickly. The whole time you will be hoping that you don’t have to see the characters talking too much.

Although on the other hand you are glad to have a real plot here. The soundtrack is mainly forgettable although there is a good track or two in there. The game isn’t generally combat heavy btu we actually do get a full boss fight near the end so that was pretty cool. I’d like to see more combat in the sequel since Chibi has his own blaster and everything.

While I didn’t find it to be too captivating, I give the game credit for establishing some lore and actually trying to tell a full story here. It could be a bit too repetitive, but the attempt was at least made. I also think the concept of a platformer that revolves around you being tiny is really good. You just don’t need the other gimmicks along with that. Let me enjoy running around cleaning up the house without putting some kind of a big timer on it.

Overall, Chibi Robo is a game that suffered from its own ambitions. It would have been a great calming game if they had just stuck to the core concept. It reminds me a lot of De Blob in terms of the cleaning efforts but that game was many times better because you could actually take your time and have a lot of fun. While cleaning games won’t be for everyone, I would bet that a large amount of the core fanbase would agree that they want to be able to have fun without constantly rushing the whole time. At the very least I know that’s how I feel about it. If you don’t mind being rushed the whole time, then you should check this one out. I would even say that it can be reasonably difficult at times. At least in finding out how to reach certain areas. You really have to keep a close eye on every part of the house and memorize the layouts for day and night to get to the bottom of this. Things change every few chapters as well so you want to keep that in mind.

Overall 6/10

Hi-Fi Rush Review

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It’s time to look at a game that made a whole lot of waves when it first came out. This one was a really big deal and looked like a lot of fun, although it took a while to get ported. The physical release still isn’t out so it was time to take the plunge on this one. I can say that the game was even better than I expected it would be. This is an elite title with great artistic direction as well as excellent gameplay. As long as you like the beat em up style then you will have a great time here.

The story begins with a kid named Chai breaking into a government area in order to fix his arm with a robotic enhancement. The only problem is that he ends up falling inside the machine along with his IPod which gets embedded into him. Chai must now always move in tune with the beat and is also on the run from corporate. A mysterious cat shows up and offers to help him get out of the area as long as he also helps her. This may end up being a longer partnership than he had bargained for.

The first thing that was really impressive was the large extent of cinematics within the game. We get whole fight scenes within the cutscenes and a good amount of character development. The game isn’t even all that long and yet they still managed to cram a whole lot of content in here. You really can’t go wrong with that and it makes the whole thing fly by. The game even tries to pull off the emotional ending which could be tough since you barely know the characters and yet it actually works.

The script is very witty and all of the characters are very likable so that’s a winning combo. Meanwhile the soundtrack is pretty solid. The tunes all fit in with the gameplay as they are very fast paced. The graphics are most excellent as you would expect. Definitely no issues at all there. Then we have the gameplay which is of course a key element and I can safely say that this was also really great from top to bottom.

The main gameplay is a 3D beat em up as you smash your opponents with a guitar. You also gain the ability to summon your partners who can defeat specific types of enemy obstacles like barriers and shields. You want to strategically use them to complement your own fighting abilities and then win the day. By the end of the game you have 3 different allies who help you out here and basically make you a one man army. Now I will admit that this also made the game a bit easier than the devs were probably thinking.

The characters only have a cool down of around 3-5 seconds per use. So the best way to fight is by constantly spamming all 3 of the summons as you fight. Between switching from character to character while landing your hits, it makes for an unlimited stream of attacks. Yeah you still can’t close your eyes as they can land some shots in but for the most part you’re going to have a hard time losing. One of your special attacks restores 70% of your health and hitting enemies also makes them drop health containers. Mix the two things together and it really increases your overall fighting potential.

There is also a fairly extensive shop that lets you buy various power ups and badges to use. It’s so extensive that I didn’t touch close to 80% of it before I beat the game. There is an absolute mountain of things to buy and you simply won’t have enough money for all of them. The reason for this is likely in connection with the trophies where you are intended to complete the game 5 times in order to get the Platinum. So with the items carrying over, I could definitely see how you would have money for everything after playing through the game 5 times. How could you not right?

The Platinum trophy may not be extremely difficult but it does look to be a very lengthy one so I imagine that most people wouldn’t bother. Still, it does mean there is a lot of replay value here if you are wanting to get the most out of the game. The story itself is not particularly long but still gives you enough bang for your buck. I’d say the biggest advantage it has is in how much fun it is.

I tend to enjoy rhythm games like this and it definitely worked really well here. You will have a fun time rocking to the beats the whole time. Every bit of this game clearly had a whole lot of work and heart put into it. I’d say the only way you would not enjoy it is if you realllllly did not enjoy the beat em up genre. In that case it’s not like it would really be the game’s fault though. There would really be nothing that it could have done about that.

The game did add some mild platforming elements to the levels, maybe anticipating that people might think it was too straightforward. Honestly that’s the part that I could have skipped but it’s not like it was bad or anything. It just felt a bit unnecessary since the fighting gameplay was where the game really shined. There is a clear progression system and lots of achievements within the game to earn you more money to buy things. That’s why fighting always felt so rewarding.

Overall, Hi-Fi Rush is an elite game. Perhaps in a few months I’ll have cooled off on it or it’s just because I played this game after a bunch that all had some quick flaws. Regardless, this was just an absolutely epic game and the kind I could really play all day. It was a true blast and I definitely recommend you pick it up as soon as possible. It’s only around $30 right now which is a great price and also makes the shorter length not feel as bad. You don’t see a whole lot of games like this either so the originality will really stick out for you.

Overall 9/10

StarTropics Review

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StarTropics is one of those games that definitely comes off as real strange and different. It’s certainly not your average title but at the same time this also means that it can often times be a little too ambitious for its own good. There are a whole lot of puzzles here after all and they tend to break up the gameplay. The gameplay itself isn’t bad for the most part but some of the bosses can randomly get annoying. It’s the type of game that you probably would not have had a whole lot of fun with if you had played it without the rewind feature.

The story is at least pretty crazy in a way you wouldn’t see in newer games. You have gods and monsters, robots and aliens. All kinds of different lores smashing together here where a kid has to basically contend with all of them as he travels across the world trying to find his uncle who went missing very suddenly. You’d think a boy and his yoyo would not go far but that would just mean you never played Earthbound. This main character is as tough as they get and even knows how to pilot a submarine.

The game is wacky and fast paced so if the gameplay could keep up then we would be all set. Mainly it uses a top down style like Legend of Zelda although some of the fights become more turn based. It’s a game that desperately needed more quality of life features though. For starters the game isn’t always very clear on where you are supposed to go next. It is extremely easy to get lost and the NPCs don’t tend to offer very clear advice.

It’s not as if the world is huge so you will eventually get unlost but it isn’t always even about the location. Sometimes you have to talk to people more than once in order to get them to open up and really talk to you. It puts you in a paranoid state where you have to keep on talking to people over and over again just in case something is different. I got stuck early on because I didn’t realize you had to talk to the chief twice in a row. Yes, you heard me right “Twice in a row”.

So if you talked to him and left the hut, when you got back he would still start with the first line. You had to click twice and I don’t understand how anyone is expected to reasonably know this. The game has a lot of moments like this where it feels like the rational move just wasn’t thought of. The game design just shouldn’t work like that as nobody normally talks to NPCs twice. At the very least, I can say that I don’t tend to go out of my way to do anything like that.

It’s why the best kind of puzzles are found in games like Professor Layton. You use clues and logical deduction to put the pieces together. It’s a puzzle that has a concrete beginning and ending. You aren’t just told to go find something in the distance. You have a puzzle in front of you to solve and then you solve it as smoothly as possible. It’s why puzzle games stick to their lane and you shouldn’t mix the genre with platforming. That just doesn’t tend to work.

The graphics aren’t all that bad. Yeah they definitely look super old but the game itself is very old. The art direction for it was about what you would expect and there’s nothing wrong with that. The soundtrack is on the forgettable side as well. In short, it’s not the kind of game you would generally pay money to play nowadays. I’m not sure if I would have paid much money to play it back in the day either to be honest but the times were different.

Overall, I want to emphasize that this isn’t a bad game. It’s just not a good one either. It’s the perfect example of a game that would end up falling right in the middle because it just goes through a lot of stretches where it isn’t very fun. It really can feel like work to solve those puzzles but at least the story was good and it could have been worse. The technical details don’t really help it either. So right in the middle makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe some tropical music could have helped the game at least be more memorable in the long run.

Overall 5/10

Underhero Review

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I can’t say I had heard of Underhero until fairly recently. There are so many indie games out there after all that it can be hard to know of them all and that’s why you need those irl recommendations to filter out the crazy ones. Underhero makes for a fun platformer with some good level up elements and a good degree of difficulty. There are a few areas where it could have used some quality of life updates to smooth out the ride but I’d say it did really well for its budget overall. It’s an adventure you won’t want to miss.

The game starts with the hero finally making it to the big boss in order to save the princess. He has worked hard to get here and is currently level 99. Unfortunately right before he can make it to the final fight, he ends up getting squashed by a chandelier, courtesy of minion 745. The demon king is thrilled and tells the minion to go give the bosses their magical stones back. Then he will be richly rewarded. What the demon king doesn’t realize is that this minion feels rather guilty about what happened and the hero’s sentient sword Elizabeth has convinced him to help her out. He will now be gathering his strength to save the world. This will not be an easy fight.

How can a minion hope to defeat his boss right? Well, having a super legendary sword at the ready is certainly helpful for that and you get stronger as you take on the various worlds. One of the mechanics is even similar to Undertale which is that you can choose to destroy the enemies or bribe them using money. The latter cuts your exp point gain in half while the former corrupts you but gives a lot of EXP. Me personally? I decided to take out every enemy I came across because at the end of the day they are still on the villain’s side. That being said, I did spare the other minions who were just caught up in the chaos so I didn’t go too crazy.

Every time you get a level up you get to choose between increasing your attack power, health, or stamina bar. Personally I went for attack power every single time. It just felt like it made a massive amount of difference but you can make decent arguments for any of the 3. The game has a whole lot of freedom to it. You can also find various upgrades along the worlds and others within the shop. I was nearly able to buy all of the upgrades but I spent enough money during the game where the last few were just out of reach.

There isn’t a level select or anything like that so if you miss out on something then unfortunately you’re probably not getting it back. So try to be thorough in each of the worlds. The game took me around 10 hours to clear so it’s a pretty decent length. Additionally the enemies can be challenging so make sure you save whenever possible. I got jumped by a snail creature after completing a long series of ice skating events so then I had to beat them all again. It’s always a rough feeling so you want to minimize that whenever possible. It’s not always easy though as the save points can be rather far apart at times. That’s something I would like to see the game address if it ever gets a sequel.

The two things the game needed were a quick level select like fast travel, and more save points. I would also add respawning enemies but since this directly ties into the game’s story, it might be a bit unreasonable for me to suggest that. Either way the other things are easier to implement. The game’s difficulty mainly comes from trying to learn the parry timings and the opponent’s moves after all. So you don’t necessarily need high stats in order to crush the enemies. It just makes things easier.

By the end of the game we have quite a few noteworthy characters. I really liked the rival who gets a solid twist by the end. The villains were mainly pretty good and the true boss behind it all made for a good obstacle even if I wasn’t a big fan of the character himself. The game wasn’t afraid to break the 4th wall or subvert your expectations either. At one point the game starts to send you off on what sounds like a super annoying fetch quest but then a volcano blows up which skips the whole thing.

Or another time when you are getting ready to fight the boss but you are told to go back to the hub world first, the game just trolls you and you start the battle anyway. It’s little moments like this which help to make the game extra memorable so I appreciated that. The writing is good and the story is on point so the game had its fundamentals down. The graphics are also solid, this is a good looking sprite game with a lot of solid combat animations. The soundtrack is a bit more forgettable though. I wouldn’t say there were any big themes in the game that stood out, but I did appreciate the horror type jump scares near the end. The boss battles were definitely real creative.

Overall, Underhero is a pretty good game. It was well planned out and I wouldn’t say that it had any big weak points. You can get it for a good price online and it gives you a good amount of value. There were also quite a lot of trophies it gave you just for completing the game and the platinum seems doable even if it would end up requiring some extra playing time. I can safely recommend this to anyone looking for a solid gameplay experience. Due to the nature of the parry system, it’s also a game that anyone can beat so long as they keep on practicing and learning each of the boss’ tells ahead of time. Focus on conquering those and you will be all set.

Overall 7/10

Alex Kidd In Miracle World DX Review

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All right it’s time for a really retro platformer. Alex Kidd is a title that just about everyone has heard of at some point but I would say a lot of people have probably not actually played it before or have seen what the gameplay is like. I can’t say that I knew much about it myself and so it was time to finally change that. This game is fun but the sheer lack of length and replay value does hurt this one somewhat.

The story follows a kid named Alex who was minding his own business when Janken the Great shows up and starts a lot of chaos. He invades the kingdom and defeats the King while also kidnapping the prince. Alex is the only one who can stop this menace but to that end he will have to take down the 3 Rock/Paper/Scissor fighters. See, it’s a play on words with Janken being some of the words in the Japanese spelling of the classic game. Fortunately Alex excels at everything he does.

First lets go over the good things about the game. It looks really solid. A lot of polish went into the modern graphics so it stands out and the game even gives you the option to switch back to the old style at any point. That was definitely impressive and I switched a few times for fun but the modern graphics are definitely the way to go. The levels are all bite sized with check points except for one really long level which was really difficult to beat. It takes a while to really master the controls and mechanics but there was a good amount of thought put into this one.

If the gameplay weren’t so slippery then this would be even better. As it stands, you will probably die more than a few times to what looks like a normal jump because the air carried you too far or something like that. Unlike most platformers, this one has momentum as a factor so if you jump forward and try to stop, your character won’t stop unless you pull back. As a result it is easy to overcalculate and even to the end this was difficult to work around. Expect to die a lot but eventually you will get the hang of it.

The soundtrack isn’t bad although it is mostly forgettable. i can’t think of any really hype tunes off the top of my head. It’s definitely going for a much more down to Earth kind of vibe. Nothing wrong with that but for any kind of sequel I hope they do decide to go all out a bit more. The game should also provide more explanations since basically nothing is elaborated on. You just have to figure it out the hard way.

Items are virtually useless in the game so I would recommend ignoring them. They don’t regenerate when you lose a life meaning you will lose this almost immediately. The items really didn’t make a difference here so I wish I had skipped them and could have gotten a nice trophy out of it. Perhaps you will find them to be more useful but I think they could stand to be buffed a little more. At the very least they should stick with you until a full game over.

The difficulty level for the game is fairly high but definitely not impossible. You really need to master jumping as soon as possible. Once you have that down then you can really start moving and not only will the levels get shorter but you can focus on the boss battles. While the rock paper scissors mechanic for each boss fight is not possible to know at first, they always follow the same pattern. So just memorize what they pick for the first two turns and you will beat them on all future runs. That’s really the only way to approach this.

As for the actual boss fights, they can be hard but they all lack in durability. So the best thing to do in every fight is rush in and try landing some hits. You just need to survive for around 10 seconds and your punches will take care of them. It doesn’t sound that bad when you put it like that right? Honestly the most annoying thing will just be in having to complete the stage again in order to get to the boss fight.

Even when the levels are short you can still feel the repetition. Getting all the trophies for the game will also take some time so that adds some replay value. All in all, this is probably not a game you would want to get for full price but on sale it is a good bet. The gameplay itself is fun after all as you run and jump across obstacles and levels. You can even punch but the range is so short that it is also easy to bump into an enemy by mistake and take damage. In fact, that is easily the toughest part of the game and how I suffered a ton of deaths. After a while you get the hang of the range though.

Overall, Alex Kidd is all about trial and error. The game is fairly unforgiving as one hit from any attack will take a whole life from Alex. That being said, you can also beat a lot of enemies in one hit. Play slow and steady as often as you need because there is usually not any kind of timer anyway. You can worry about speed running and everything after you beat the game. So that’s the game in a nutshell, some questionable game design decisions to be sure but it is a game that’s fun to play. Even when you die a whole lot, it never feels totally hopeless or anything like that. If they make a new Alex Kidd game at some point I do think it would be a lot better. There are easy ways to make the sequel a lot better after all. Put in a solid story as well and I’ll definitely keep an eye on it.

Overall 6/10