In the recent years there have been many games that have
taken on Super Meat Boy in an attempt to emulate the short bursts of high
intensity (and high difficulty), found in its adrenaline pumping platform
levels. Cloudberry Kingdom is the latest game to take on the mantle and it
certainly has a challenge on its hand to compete in an ever growing genre.
Cloudberry Kingdom follows the story of Bob, an ageing hero
who is called into action to save his princess. It sounds like a traditional tale
but in this universe it’s a highly ironic and twisted take on the story. That
said - the best thing to do is put the hokum of story to one side and
concentrate on the levels.
In Story mode you make your way through seven chapters which
are each split into around forty individual levels. Each level is a combination
of pits, moving platforms, fireballs, and spikes and swinging wrecking balls.
Throughout the chapters the basic ingredients don’t change too much put it is
the placement and change to Bob that brings in the much needed variety.
Starting as ‘Classic’ Bob who can run and jump, every ten
stages he changes into something else. The changes in Bob are numerous and each
of them alters how he handles and the approach you need to take to a level.
Some of the more inventive versions of our hero see him strapped to a rolling
wheel, wearing a jetpack or simply putting on weight which greatly affects his
jump height. These constant changes add variety and keep the stages feeling
fresh as you progress.
It’s fair to say that the story mode levels don’t really get
going until you have cleared the first world. From then on it’s a full on
gauntlet of pixel perfect jumps between lasers and spikes. Some levels will see
you race through first time while others will have you stumped for try after
try. This can be frustrating but you rarely feel like there is no way to beat a
level and you’ll always be pulled back to try and squeeze through. If it does
get too much you can exchange gems found for a few helpful features such as
slowing down the level or showing a route through the danger on the screen while you play.
As well as the story mode there are a number of other options
to try. Time Crisis pits you against an ever decreasing clock in small three –
five second focused levels. The aim being to see how far you can get before
time runs out. Another option of note is the free play mode where the much
touted random level generator kicks in the most. Here you can set a number of different
options such as level length, difficulty and type of Bob and the game will continually
generate new levels for you to test yourself against. There are also a number
of avatar customisation options and even the ability to have other players join
the chaos.
It’s worth saying, that this isn’t a game for everyone.
While you can lower the difficulty in the randomly created levels you are going
to need a serious amount of skill and some super quick reflexes to get the most
out of the game. Cloudberry Kingdom has never claimed to be anything other than
game that will test you. If you enjoy the challenge of games like Spelunky and
Super Meat Boy then this should be right up your street.
Overall, despite being a little uneven in places, Cloudberry
Kingdom is a great example of the challenging platformer. Once the initial
levels are out of the way it becomes and addictive mix of twitch gameplay and
searching for Bob sized gaps in the many dangers you face. It’s well worth your
attention and we can’t wait to see what the studio comes up with next.
8/10
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