Tag Archives: Platformer

Kirby and the Forgotten Land Review

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I knew as soon as they announced this Kirby game was coming out that I would need to buy it day 1. I’ve been waiting a little while for the next Kirby game and while I may not be caught up yet..I’m close enough. Outside of the first 2 levels, I ended up playing the whole game through in one batch. Not to say that it’s super short (Took around 5 hours) but Kirby games are not usually known for length or difficulty so it wasn’t all that difficult to do. It does speak to the enjoyment levels of the game too.

So the story starts with multiversal Kirby walking around when some kind of hole in reality appears and sucks everyone inside. Kirby’s now in a whole new world filled with vicious beats and monsters. He has to help this little blue creature along the way as he finds out who did this and how he can possibly get home. Will Kirby be able to get out of this in one piece or is it curtains for him?

In a way you almost would think this is still Planet Popstar if you skipped the cutscene because the first world definitely has that classic Kirby feel. It’s a green forest kind of planet that has an upbeat feeling to it. The level designs are all on point and there is a lot of variety here as we have the classic water planet, fire planet, etc. Each world has 4 levels and then the boss at the end except for the second last world which has 5 levels plus the boss and the final world which only has a boss. So you can see how you can go through the levels pretty quick.

I did die twice to one of the last bosses though. That one was deceptively tricky as it’s tough to dodge the ballerinas and the big guy’s spin move. Your best bet here is to rely on your quick dodge which is R2 and then pressing A at the same time. I didn’t even know about that until near the end of the game but it’s quite handy. There is an easy mode too but I recommend sticking to Wild. Having a little bit of a challenge is always a good thing and then you can really appreciate the bosses.

The gameplay is your classic 3D adventure. You can’t really spam Kirby’s flying too much though. The game developers probably figured you might cheesing the whole game so you can’t go too high and still have to use the ladder. You have over 10 copy abilities you can use though and each one can be evolved twice. You can even power them up further beyond that which is handy. Obtaining rare stones can take a little while but you will at least get enough to evolve everything by the time you complete the game.

I highly recommend focusing on the fire blast ability. It causes lasting burns to the villains which means that you are dealing constant damage even when you aren’t attacking. The ability is extremely useful. I would say they all mostly are but I didn’t care for the spike ball much. It tends to lag behind the other abilities in terms of how useful it is but you should still try to get used to it since you will need to use it for treasure road.

So it’s time to talk about the replay value here. Don’t mistake a short campaign for a short game as Kirby has tons of modes to keep you busy. Aside from the main levels you have Treasure Road which are a series of 8-10 challenges in each world. If you complete them then you will be awarded a rare stone and these are how you power up your abilities. You also earn extra gold to buy things with. Completing all of the challenges will buy you some time. Each one’s about a minute or two but there are a lot of them.

Then you have the tournaments. While Meta Knight sadly misses out on the story, you get to fight him here. He was reasonably tough even on the intro level so I imagine the more difficult tournaments could get crazy difficult here. You shouldn’t underestimate them and this could absolutely take a while. Finally you have the collectibles of which there are a ton. There are 300 Waddle Dees here and a ton of trophies. I’m assuming you unlock some kind of bonus content for getting everything so that’s some incentive to keep going for.

There’s also a bonus world for the post game here. It directly continues where the main story ended so you won’t want to miss that. The levels are considerably longer than the normal ones and have more parts so you should go in prepared to really give it your all. At the time of this review I’m still going through the post game so I look forward to seeing how it all goes. Between all of that, this game will take you a long while to achieve 100% completion that’s for sure.

The graphics are naturally top tier here. All of the characters look sharp, the designs are great, and as I mentioned the stage designs are really quite nice. You feel like each world is different and it doesn’t feel like they’re reusing levels. No corners were cut here. The soundtrack is also fun. There’s no theme that quite matches the classic Nightmare theme but it’s hard for anything to top that. There is a lyrical song that plays twice in the game which is fun but it would have been especially good to have had something in the climax too.

Kirby games are known for really getting out there with the climaxes so you’re probably wondering about this one right? Well, I can safely say that it does go high tier. You don’t have to worry about that here. While I was underwhelmed with the big villain’s design initially, the super form makes it all worth it. You’ll certainly raise an eyebrow when you see the villain’s official title. A certain Sega villain will immediately come to mind. There’s always a lot you could do with Kirby lore and while this is not that kind of game, I’m always glad to see any kind of big plot climax like this. It works well and helps to really make sure you don’t forget this one.

Overall, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a pretty fun game. The story could have been longer but even at 5 hours it’s still a bit longer than Sonic Forces and Star Fox Zero so Nintendo’s still got the lead there. I’d like to see a proper 15 hour Kirby game some day as long as they can get to that length naturally and without forced collectibles. This game had a good amount on that front as you need to get some, but not enough where you feel like you have to go out of your way to grab them. The game’s fun enough where I went back and beat most of the treasure levels and am going through the post game so it succeeds there. I would definitely recommend checking this one out. You may want to wait until there’s a price dip but this is Nintendo so you may be waiting a very long time. In that case, just take the plunge and have fun here. You won’t be bored, that’s for sure.

Overall 7/10

Maximo: Ghosts to Glory Review

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Maximo is a game that I sort of just bought on a whim. It showed up when I was looking at various PS2 platformers and I figured it’d be a good pick. The gameplay is solid and there’s a lot of interesting things here but also some gameplay mechanics which have not aged well. Ultimately I would call this a very good game but you should be warned that it is also a difficult one so this will not be a cakewalk.

The game starts with King Maximo running into the treasure room but he’s too late. Achilles has taken over the kingdom, kidnapped all of the princesses and then murders Maximo. Fortunately the Grim Reaper isn’t a big fan of how this all turned out so he decides to help Maximo. He will prevent the lead’s soul from leaving so he can keep coming back to life. In exchange Maximo has to take Achilles down for the count. Honestly it’s not really a bad deal. Maximo wants revenge either way so now he’s ready for action.

The gameplay here is that of a classic 3D platformer. You can double jump and slash at your enemies. Along the way you’ll get different equipment like a shield that you can throw and elemental additions to your sword so you can fire some energy blasts. The weapons aren’t breakable per say but they run out eventually. For example, you can swing your fire sword 2 times before it turns normal and you can use your shield for around 20 times before it vanishes. SO you have to use your techniques wisely.

Now here’s the first main change to the average formula. You start off in a level and then have to get to the end to clear it. There is no save option within the levels, only when you get back to the hub world or when you defeat a boss. Sometimes that means you will have to defeat several areas in a row before you can save. Also, saving costs 100 coins which can actually be a little difficult to obtain. Throughout the levels there are power ups and equipment you can buy but you should always skip those and just save up for the save points.

Save whenever you can because you never know when you’ll lose. The game is deceptively hard here. Sometimes what looks like a simple jump can take you out of the running. If you fall into a pit or lava it’s an instant death even if you have 3 health bars. This is definitely the worst mechanic here. It just adds a lot of extra stress to the levels when you really just want to calm down and keep it moving. It does force you to get really good at the controls though because replaying areas is always rough. So just go slow.

Most enemies you can outrange so hit them as they approach. I never figured out how to hit the bomb enemy without taking damage unless I have a shield though. Making any kind of contact with him ends up hurting you too so you have to really decide if this is what you have to do. If you can skip the enemy then you probably should. The bosses can be tough to learn to you’ll also want to take your time there. For the final boss you really just have to focus on your reaction times. Don’t try and chase the opponent or you’ll always be behind. Instead wait until the attack is coming through and then quickly counter.

I have to give a special shoutout to the final boss because it’s executed really well. The screen goes dark and all you can hear is your heartbeat as the creature gets closer and closer. It’s the kind of boss you would expect in an Alien or Resident Evil type game. The horror elements worked out quite nicely here. In general the bosses had a good amount of effort put into them.

Another gampelay element I should mention is you will obtain many temporary power ups as you defeat enemies and go through the levels. You keep them until you lose a life. There is an exception to this though and that is that you can put some abilities into a locked slot so they stick with you. For example you may start out with about 4 locked slots and 14 normal ones. As you beat each boss you get a new locked slot. You’ll always be losing some abilities when you lose but make sure you are always transferring the best abilities to the locked slots so that you don’t lose them. It’s really handy to always know that you’ve still got the best tricks at the ready.

The story is pretty solid here. I would have liked some more cutscenes to be honest but we had full voice acting a lot of action going on so I was still engaged. There’s even the solid cliffhanger at the end that gets you hyped for what is to come next. They didn’t really spare anything on the budget here without a doubt. The soundtrack is less memorable since I can’t recall a single tune. I guess it all just blends into the stages but I would consider that to be a knock against the game.

The graphics are really good and those have certainly aged well. Maximo is very much a game that encourages exploration so it’s fortunate that it looks good. It would be sad if you were travelling around and every area looked the same or something like that. It may not have been a massive blow but I’m always glad when the graphics are on point. There isn’t really a lot of replay value to be found here though. Once you beat the game there is really not a lot to do so make sure you have fun on the playthrough. I wouldn’t say the game is very long either but you should be able to get it at a good price. Plus the difficulty will probably make it last a bit longer.

Overall, Maximo is a fun game. The title is challenging without being too frustrating. If you try hard enough you can certainly beat any level. I just think that the save feature should be after every level. Additionally it should not cost money. That mechanic doesn’t add anything to the experience and just holds the game back. There are tokens you can get to obtain more continues but even that is more tedious than just doing it normally. So if this game was being used as a test for a new kind of saving system then I can say that it didn’t work for me. I’d stay with the classic saving methods. If you are prepared for a challenge and want to play a solid platformer then I definitely recommend this one.

Overall 7/10

Vexx Review

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Vexx is one of those platformers from a million years ago that nobody has really heard of. It should have become the next big thing but ultimately just couldn’t make it that far. While the gameplay can be really fun at times, there are some clear issues here and I suppose those were just big enough to keep this from being rated higher and selling more. Having more cutscenes would have also done wonders for the game if you ask me.

The game starts off strong as we see the villains show up and take over the world real quick. Vexx being forced to work in this cruel world where the villains currently rule. He ends up revolting after the villains murder Vexx’s grandfather. Vexx will need to uncover a bunch of demon hearts in order to put an end to this but will it really be so straight forward? Why does he have these incredible powers, why is there a witch who seems to be in the way and why is this old man so eager to help Vexx? All of these questions will have to remain on your side for a while as the game only has a few cutscenes in the whole game. For example, after that intro there is not another cutscene until very deep into the game and then you get some for the ending.

This was a bit of a missed opportunity as the intro hinted as a grand plot. It was going to be daring, emotional, and dramatic. Instead you are left to quietly play through the various levels until you get to the end. There are some good levels here and I’ll get into that in a second but the story ends up being more of a bust. There is a cool cliffhanger for the sequel at least but that’s probably never going to show up anyway. I mean, we have been getting a lot of revivals lately but I feel like Vexx would not be at the top of the list.

Gameplay is the most important part of a platformer though right? So lets get into that. The game is modeled after the Mario style, I would even say Mario 64 in particular. You have the various portals that lead into different worlds. Each one has between 8-10 hearts in it and when you get one, you are immediately taken out of the level. (Mario Odyssey did well to change that) You then go back in to get another one.

The tasks for the hearts are all different. Some come from beating a minigame, others are for finding collectibles, and then others are just scattered around the world. Ideally you want to grab around 7 of the hearts in each world so that you don’t have to backtrack later on. You only need 60 out of the possible 81 hearts in the game to reach the final boss so if there is a heart that you are having a lot of trouble with, I would say not to worry about it too much. Just keep on going to the next one and you’ll be just fine. I thought this was a good way to handle the collectathon part since you never feel too stressed as a result.

My favorite parts of the game were the minigames as they felt like something out of Mario Party. You could have made a good multiplayer mode out of that without a doubt. There aren’t many in the game so you should saver them. For the actual platforming, the jumping and combat are both good. Combat could be a little more balanced but you can cheese it in a lot of ways that save you time so it’s something I don’t mind overlooking a bit. The camera angles are certainly the weakest part here. It will sometimes just randomly change so you end up falling to your doom.

I think the game is a bit stingy with how it kicks you out of the levels the whole time. It’s rough to have earned 80/100 of the eggs only to be thrown out of the level because you cleared another mission. It’d be nice if you could just stay in the world after you got a heart and keep on going because some of these levels are long so getting 100 eggs can take a long while.

As long as you go with the hearts you find easiest for your particular style then I expect you will be progressing through the game at a fast rate. The toughest part of the game by far is the final boss. You have to beat 3 phases of the boss in one shot as losing at any point sends you to the beginning. The boss plays out like a beat em up as you have to fight numerous opponents and it seems partially luck based with how RNG the super fast fireballs are. That boss took forever to beat and I wouldn’t love to have to fight him again. My biggest tip is to defeat the hordes by doing constant jumps and striking the ground below you. Don’t try to fight them head on. For the second phase, don’t move. Let the boss circle you and only jump when he’s about to attack. You have to strike the head and then go to the back and flip him over and then strike from the top. You have to do this several times so good luck. I don’t expect you will be completing this battle on the first try, far from it.

Either way you can see the potential behind this game. Mix in a better camera and some quality of life updates and this really could be like Mario 64 or Mario Sunshine. The game’s really going for that angle with with a wide range of levels to choose from, I would say it succeeds for the most part. What holds it back is that some of the hearts are more annoying than fun and losing sets you back so long in some of these. Mario always ensured that every level was fun even if it took a while. SO if we get the level designs a bit more polished then this would be ready for the next level.

The graphics are also good here. I liked the designs and the worlds had a lot of uniqueness to each one. The attacks look good and the game just holds up well here. Then you have the soundtrack which is solid. There are quite a few solid tunes within the game and they have that old school rock feel to them. Something that I always like to see in any game.

In terms of replay value I guess there’s a bit. You can try to get the two bonus suits in the game which give you fire and thunder abilities. They are even needed for grabbing some of the hearts. I just couldn’t figure out where to find either one of them so I was glad that I could skip those missions. Apparently the fire suit is somewhere in level 1 but I ran around that place for ages and never saw it so I wonder where it is. As you play through the game the hearts get a bit easier since you know what to expect so maybe the same would have been true of the suits if I could have found at least one of them.

Overall, Vexx has good gameplay but it could have been better with just a little more polish. Throw in more of a story mode as well and that would have really been a winning combination. It’s a shame that it couldn’t be better but in that case I probably would have played it years ago. The platforming genre is one that always has a lot of competition so if you aren’t first then you might end up being last. You can get this game for a fairly cheap price so I would say you should make a play on it. It’s still worth the price and I had fun with it. The game is fairly short at well under 10 hours long but that’ll do the job.

Overall 6/10

Ruff Trigger: The Vanocore Conspiracy Review

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Ruff Trigger is one of those games where you can tell that there wasn’t a lot of playtesting for balance. The controls are fine enough but everything can be cheesed really easily and the difficulty level ends up being very low. The plot will have you scratching your head at times with how random it is. So all in all this doesn’t have that AAA feel but the gameplay itself is pretty fun and the game gets some points for having so many cutscenes.

The game starts with Ruff being put on another mission. He has to round up the Piglots that have been scattered across various planets. These look like little gerbils that will follow you around. Ruff isn’t thrilled at having a mission and complains about it, but the guy complains about everything in this game so the boss wisely ignores him. Can Ruff manage to track these guys down? Meanwhile there’s a mysterious Hulk-like creature who keeps showing up to get absolutely destroyed by Ruff before retreating. What’s his deal?

Wait, what about the Vanocore Conspiracy?? Well, that doesn’t come into play until the final 2 levels and it pretty much meaningless to the plot. There’s no time to process what the two villainesses even want to do so I don’t know why this was included in the game’s title. I guess it sounds cool though and maybe some parts just didn’t end up making it into the final product. There’s enough lore and characters here where this could have been a cool series. Alas, that was just not to be this time.

So the gameplay is your classic 3D shooter but with a little twist. Rather than running to the end of the level, you will periodically be stopped to go and grab some Piglots. You have to transport them to a teleporter which will get them out of the area. Sometimes this will be mandatory and other times it will be optional. It’s usually a good idea to warp all of the ones that you see though because they get you a lot of money which you can use to buy more guns and armor. Money is a resource you will have a whole lot of by the end so don’t be cheap and just buy the maximum armor every time. It’s like having a permanent second health bar.

Your guns are also incredibly powerful to the point where you can beat most bosses in under a minute. The only exceptions are the bosses that you have to beat with Piglots rather than firepower. Those bosses usually have you pick up the piglot and drop them into a teleporter in the middle of the field. As long as you run and jump the whole time then you’ll be one step ahead of the boss so don’t worry about being taken down for the count. The game is really not that hard as I mentioned. Just stick to your guns and you’re good.

Just lock on so you can move from side to side and that will dodge all enemy attacks as all they can do it fire in a straight line. When there are more than pone opponent, just knock them off one at a time. Now, there is a Werewolf mode in the game but you never have to use it. Seriously, I didn’t see any reason to do so. The attacks are very slow and none of them are as efficient as the guns so why bother? This is what I’m thinking of when I’m talking about game balance. The werewolf form is seemingly supposed to be very strong considering that it has a short time limit and you have to look for bottles to replenish this. Then why is it better to be in human form? It doesn’t make any sense.

Also, don’t bother using hand to hand combat. If a bunch of enemies attack you then just jump and do a ground pound. I guarantee that this is the much better way to handle those enemies and the best part is that you will hit them all at once. This way you’re never in any real danger. None of the enemies can hit you when you’re above them like that so I found this to be a good way to get some space. It’s extremely handy in the final level of the game. There are also a handful of racing levels. They aren’t super polished but it was a nice change of pace, I definitely had fun with those.

As for the graphics, I thought those were surprisingly good. Not saying the game looks amazing or anything but it does have quite a few cutscenes and the character models are on point. There are 1-2 levels which are intentionally dark which can be cheesy but the rest of the game looks good. The sound isn’t as good though as there is no decent sound mixing. Some cutscenes are super quiet while others suddenly get loud. That part felt really unpolished. Likewise, the dialogue could use some work. Ruff comes across as a really annoying kind of guy who is constantly complaining without having any good reasons for doing so. It’s hard to even see what the dynamic is between him and the main heroine. I guess they’re kind of together but still like to talk tough the whole time? Naturally she gets kidnapped right away which hurts her hype.

There isn’t really any replay value here. Continuing the game takes you right back to the final level and there’s no stage select. So this is one game where you’ll be putting it down for good after playing through the end. It’s not exactly out of the ordinary but replay value is always a good thing to have. You can get the game for fairly cheap right now though so there’s enough value here to still have a good time.

Overall, Ruff Trigger is a fun game. It’s got solid gameplay and graphics going for it. While the game isn’t super polished and the story isn’t very well thought out, the gameplay is the key thing here. You’ll feel very nostalgic playing through this PS2 experience and I do think that a sequel could have really helped to iron out the rough patches. It’s a shame that this one didn’t do better but I can’t blame people for not buying it. Look at how many years it took me to buy this game right? It serves its purpose as a fun little platformer and you’ll get some humor out of the story cutscenes. At the end of the day it’ll end up being rather memorable thanks to all of this.

Overall 7/10

Beast Quest Update

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At long last I have obtained the Platinum trophy for Beast Quest!! While this is a great accomplishment, the somber part is that means I’ll probably never pick this game back up again. There’s just no reason to play it since everything has been done. Time to work on getting some trophies from other games.

Zapper: One Wicked Cricket! Review

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Zapper is one of those games that I happened to see randomly and thought it would be interesting. I was in the market for platformer ripoffs of popular mascots and this guy had some spunk. The game was also dirt cheap online so I couldn’t refuse. It definitely doesn’t mind playing out exactly like a Frogger type game with a minimal story. The adventure is over before you know it but the gameplay is certainly fun.

The game starts with Zapper deciding to use his brother as a living battery to power his TV. That’s when a notorious bird shows up and kidnaps the insect. Zapper must now go on a journey to save his bro from this villain but to do so he will have to travel across many dangerous lands. Can he pull this off or is it going to be game over right from the start? It’s hard to say but what he does know is that losing is not an option this time!

There is an opening cutscene and an ending one so don’t expect more of a story outside of that because this is all that you’ll get. From what we see, Zapper isn’t a particularly nice guy. He gets the job done and travels across the distant lands but he isn’t someone that you would want to have to trust. The villain seems interesting enough but it’s just hard to get a real feel for the personality and skills that he might have here. I’d definitely like to see a sequel so we could follow the cast around more.

The game is considerably easier than any of the Frogger titles though. So if you’ve played the Frogger games before then you will have absolutely no trouble getting past this one. The controls are simple, you can move in any direction which causes Zapper to move one square. Press the A button to move 2 squares t once which is how you jump over pitfalls and such. You can also use your thunder blast to wipe out small enemies. The goal of each level is to grab 6 eggs which automatically ends things. That’s the trick to each level aside from the first and only boss in the game.

That one’s actually really creative. You have to touch a bunch of orbs in the proper order and then inch closer to the villain. You can’t touch the wrong one or you’re sent back and the ground is crumbling as you’re doing this. You need to have quick reaction times and really think about what is going on the whole time. I rather enjoyed this part, it was just a nice gimmick and a good way to make the boss memorable. Because of that I really wish we could have gotten more bosses. It’s clear that the game was up to the challenge at any rate so why not right?

There are a lot of collectibles to get as well. Each level has 100 orbs and I can only imagine that getting them all will unlock something cool. I’m not actually sure about that though so you should look it up before attempting such a thing. None of the orbs are really hidden though so you should be able to grab them without a lot of effot. There aren’t too many levels in the game as it is. I cleared the game in under 3 hours and if you aim to get all of the orbs from the start then you could probably increase that to around 5-6. There isn’t any other replay value beyond that though so make the time count.

The graphics are nice enough. It’s got a very classic look to everything from the characters to the levels. The thunder effects are good and it’s always easy to see where you are going. The soundtrack is less memorable though as you probably won’t recall any theme in particular. On a technical level the developers seemed to be focusing on the gameplay above all else and that’s not a bad idea. After all the key is always to make sure that the game runs smoothly and that is true here. No matter what else you can say about the game, poor gameplay is not one of those things.

Still, the lack of content is enough for me to take off one point. I’m hesitant to call this a very good game when you can complete it so quickly and there isn’t much else to do. If there were more cutscenes or more of a story in general then that could have been different. As it stands, this is a game you should definitely pick up and have some fun with if you see it for a good price. It’s not the kind of game that will be a big investment or anything like that though.

Usually I might throw in a few gameplay tips around here but there isn’t much to say on that because the game is straight forward. The best word of advice is to just plunge ahead without hesitating. Due to the nature of the game, you want to always be moving so that you don’t get run over by an enemy. A single hit means that you will lose a life after all so just stay one step ahead of them. You get a lot of free lives in each level so don’t even worry about getting a game over.

Overall, Zapper delivers on what you came here for. You bought the game hoping to get that classic Frogger experience right? Well, you definitely get that in full here. You just don’t get any of the extra features or content that could have been used to amp up the game even more. It would have been nice to have had that as well but it’s what separates the big AAA titles from these knock offs. I can see why the game never got a sequel but hopefully that changes some day.

Overall 6/10