Monday 29 December 2014

Low G Man Review (NES)


You are low gravity man! The instruction book shouts at you as if it was a statement of fact. What a way to promote a game we thought, and what is a low gravity man anyway? Well, that’s something that’s never really explained, but this is the NES after all and epic plot driven stories did not come into fashion until the sixteen bit generation.

The story, and we use the term loosely, consists of having to capture a robot producing planet from evil aliens. Normally used for exploration, these aliens are trying to reprogram all the robots so that they will hunt down and destroy the whole human race.

Graphically, the game is nothing special, on screen characters are very small and made out of a limited range of colours. Backgrounds fare a little better with at least five different colours at one point. What exists though is clearly defined and moves smoothly with slowdown hardly ever occurring.

What is impressive for a game developed early on in the days of the NES is that it manages to scroll not only left to right, but up and down as well, Indeed as the back of the box says ‘Jump one and three quarter screens high’. What makes the game stand out though is the amount of invention to be found in the gameplay. Instead of just shooting enemies in the tried and tested fashion the player must first freeze the enemies with an ice gun, then jump at them stabbing them with a lance.

On top of this you have the usual power ups for the ice gun that create multiple and stronger bullets as well as four collectible weapons, boomerang, mine, shock wave and a fireball making it all add up to being an incredibly enjoyable experience. There are also a host of different vehicles you can use, one of which allows you to climb up walls like a giant spider, Innovation all the way and an enjoyable game because of it.

Controlling little Low G Man is an absolute joy. Jumping is easy to control, meaning you can shoot, turn in mid air and spear something all in one go, pretty essential to the enjoyment of the game with the monsters you have to defeat not giving an inch. The game is split into four worlds made out of three parts with a boss that must be defeated at the end of each. Most bosses are the standard fair and offer nothing new. One or two though require you to scale about two screens in height, climbing up their gigantic bodies until you reach a part that you can happily hack away at kind if like a 2D shadow of the Collosus.

Overall Low G Man offers eight bit platform gaming at its finest. Apart from the Mario games it's hard to find anything that plays as well as this on the NES. You'll find yourself coming back to the game again and again as it's incredible addictive and so much fun to play. Gaming gold, cheap and not that hard to find, snap it up quick.

Overall 8/10

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