Parasol Stars Review (Switch)

We’ve seen a marked change in retro Switch release recently. It used to be that these sorts of games would be released via Arcade Archives or one of the other retro companies but more and more they are becoming larger scale releases. Taito has released a couple of retro collections, but Parasol Stars is being sent out on its own into the ever-expanding Switch market for a modest price.

For the uninitiated, Parasol Stars is the third game in the Bubble Bobble franchise, it’s also as different to Bubble Bobble as the second game in the series, Rainbow Islands. The biggest thing that sets this one apart in terms of history is that Parasol Stars was never released in the Arcade and instead went to console such as the NES and PC Engine. The Switch release is seemingly a new version (it’s certainly not the NES or Amiga version), so we assume it’s based on the PC Engine release and updated. Information is mysteriously vague on the subject.

In terms of gameplay, it’s very much in the classic single screen arcade platformer mould of the time. Players need to eliminate all enemies on a stage to progress and collect fruit and sweets to pick up points. You are armed only with your trusty umbrella which can be used to pick up enemies and then fling them at others.

It won’t be long before you’ll see rain drops falling onto the stages. These provide an unlimited source of projectiles to throw and if you collect enough can unleash a flood of water that surges along all the connecting platforms taking any enemies with it on the way. At the end of each world, you then face off against a cartoon styled boss where you’ll need to grab lightning bolts to fire out of your parasol in order to defeat them.

Generally, controlling your character is a little awkward but nothing out of the ordinary for games of the time. You can only really walk and jump but Bub and Bob are a bit sluggish and have the worst leaping power imaginable. But then it’s all about using the Parasol and setting up chains of enemies to be dispatched for high scores.

In terms of modes and options the game is limited. You can play through both the US and Japanese version of the game with unlimited continues or play the normal mode which adds in a rewind and save function but gives you limited lives and continues. There is also a challenge section where you can rank on an online leader board. There are a few cheat options that can be activated as well as various display options and borders. More in the way of museum content would certainly be welcome. Alternate console versions of the game would have been nice but sadly it was not to be.

Overall, it’s nice to see Parasol Stars taking its turn in the spotlight and it’s certainly reasonably priced. It is perhaps the weakest of the three Bubble Bobble games but then we certainly still have good memories of it, and it holds up well. If you are a fan of retro arcade games, then this is still one of the best and we are keen to see what else gets spotlighted as we move into the later days of the Switch.

Overall 7/10

SCHiM Review (Switch)

It’s not often you get an original take these days. Most indie games have settled into the Rogue lite, Metroidvania, Soulslike mould or gone down the retro nostalgia route (or both), but SCHiM is actually trying to do something a bit different. It’s an arty, isometric platformer where you play a little shadow creature, separated from your human who needs to jump from shady spot to shady spot to find your way home.

The style of the game is the first thing that really draws you to it. It’s set out in a sort of clear, minimalist way with the environments mainly panted with a single colour and strong lines used for shapes and objects. This not only gives it a sort of ‘arty’ feel but also allows the shadows cast by the objects, people and creatures to be clearly seen as there is no clutter. It’s through these shadows that your little SCHiM creature must move in order to reach the goal at the end of each level. This is normally a bus or over vehicle which then takes it off to the next scene.

Levels start small and focused but soon get much bigger. This allows for some exploration to find hidden objects but can also be a bit frustrating as it can be unclear where you are meant to go at times. You can hold a trigger which will zoom over to show your next goal, but we found ourselves needing to this a little to often. Finding hidden objects helps other SCHiM creatures find their way home as well which is a nice touch.

The concept is simple. You need to jump from shadow to shadow and landing in direct light will see you die after a few seconds and revert to the nearest checkpoint. If there are connecting lines cast (such as lamp posts), you can zoom along these and as you progress, you’ll find things like telegraph lines cause you to bounce and objects such as signs and trampolines can be used to fling you around. You can also interact with objects to do things like turn lights on, change traffic lights and fly drones. It adds a distinct puzzle element which for the most part works well, although some checkpoints are a little too far away.

The jumping works for the most part but it can be difficult to judge where you are going to land. This can be frustrating as you don’t get much flexibility if you land outside of a shadow and when you are trying to jump from thin lines to other small areas it can prove clumsy. The isometric viewpoint doesn’t really help with this, and it can also be difficult to see where you are at times. You can rotate the play field around through some set angles, but we still found a few places where there just wasn’t an optimal line of sight. Generally though, everything works out fine.

Overall, SCHiM is a charming game that has a lot to offer to those looking for something a bit different. It’s certainly not as relaxing as it looks at first glance but there is a consistent logic to the game and a well thought out obstacle course of things for you get around on each level. It’s one of those games that is bound to be referred to as ‘charming’ in the weeks to come, and it is. But there's also a whole lot more here as well.

Overall 8/10

Cobra Traingle Review (Switch/NES)

As far as we can tell there is very little in the way of plot that surrounds Cobra Triangle. For some reason there is a bloke in a boat who shoots things, but this is the NES, a more simple time when it was all about gameplay.

Developed by Rare, the game is set across a number of levels, each of which is different from the last. One level may have you simply racing to the finish, whilst another could involve removing mines, saving drowning people, jumping waterfalls, going through an assault course or even taking on a huge sea monster in a titanic life or death battle. Variety is definitely the name of the game and it's this that helps to excel the Cobra Triangle to greatness.

Graphically, this certainly isn't the prettiest of games. The boat is a triangle shape coloured in with two colours, the backgrounds fair little better, mainly consisting of blue for the water and green for the land. It's animated well with the boat tipping up at the back depending how fast you are going and boss monsters being suitably large and imposing.

Importantly though, everything moves along at a high rate and slowdown never once appears to ruin the gameplay. The biggest problem is flickering, which is apparent a little more than it should be, this is mainly because in certain areas there is so much on screen and it moves very quickly. Flickering aside, the game holds up pretty well.

The game may look a touch drab but the boat is superbly controllable and allows you to make near handbrake turns and other manoeuvres with ease. This is essential to the gameplay as the pace never lets up from start to finish. Furthermore, every level really feels like something fresh - meaning you never get bored of just doing the same thing over and over again and you look forward to seeing what the next level will bring. This element helps make it highly addictive.

Overall, Cobra Triangle is a stunning game. Graphically, it's certainly not amazing, but they do the job and it allows the gameplay to really shine. Upon release it was mostly ignored by the gaming public, mainly due to poor coverage from magazines - this is probably why it was never remade for the new consoles. In years to come it would be great to see a remake as this has all the style, and a lot more originality than most retro franchises. It stands as another example of why Rare were the hottest property around back in the gaming golden age.

9/10

Rauniot Review (Steam)

Review by Thomas G.J. Sharpe

Finnish point n’ click Rauniot had me boycott it for so long, and so early that I wanted to uninstall it. I’m glad I didn’t, because once this throwback gets into its stride, there is something wholly compelling and unusual about it.

At once familiar and a bit off, this is a mutated bit of nostalgia. The game world reflected in it’s feel. There is some fun diegesis with menus and GUI that remind me of other effective retro-futurism-immersion like Alien: Isolation. For some mad reason, the next one that came up for me was Crusader: No Remorse (it is far prettier, no shade intended). Something about the perspective and the mid-late 90’s graphical smoothness. Rauniot hits notes of shareware slideshows on PC Gamer demo discs graphically, yet it’s whispered, violent world is more akin to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or Disco Elysium. It is, however, no way near as garrulous as those two titles.

The pitch is you play as Aino searching for a companion on horseback. The world is a stalled 1970’s after an apocalyptic event. Some decent indicators that everything has gone to Hull in a handcart is the proliferation of dog food, the bleak and oppressive lack of trust, and a haunted, reverberant world. The protagonist is barely audible and spins an atmosphere more dissociative as Finnish is not a language my ears are lucky to hear very often. Whispering asides that brood and menace are the soup of the day.

The litmus test of any point n’ clicker is the puzzles. Immediately I feel into a trap of having to pixel hunt. An almost first encountered item eluded me for far too long, which gives our first pause; there are mild outline hints on rollover for items, but do not expected things to be pointed out with neon signs. Take this how thy wilt, I suppose. I personally would like items to be in places where I can guess where they may be through inference, not through clutter. Other puzzles are marred by gating each other but with little nudging. Again, we could enter the puzzle vs intelligence vs brootal-git-gud thing, and I wish to be above the left-right paradigm, don’t we all.

Where Rauniot shines is an uncompromising story of human interaction. The characters you meet as Aino, and her herself, are on the very edge, the absolute limit of their trust in anything. This is a love letter to staring over an interpersonal cliff and wondering if the thrill of descent is worth leaving others.

This world is packed to the grimy rafters with detail, and uncanny locations, that really sing this nearly old game vibe. The minor hiccups in puzzle design throughout, I can personally overlook due to the caustic writing, unnerving performances, and this thoroughly effective evocation of a bit of a lost point n’ click style. It should be noted there are modern quality of life touches, such as quick move and a sort of back-pack-y menu thing.

For those with a penchant for sadness, whispering, dog food and being worried about neighbours. A little mucky gem.

Overall 8/10

Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Review (Steam)

 

Buckle up, as you are about to take a bold adventure through time and space to a land of OLD GAME. In this remastering (freemastering?) of Star Control 2, you can feel the anxiety of gaming in the past as a gamer of the present as you game a past-present game. Widely lauded, the Star Control titles from the start of the ’90s broke ground on many forms of games we still see crop up today. If you read about it, people mostly concoct a family tree to Mass Effect or Stellaris, but also things like Fallout. The strongest a-likeness I felt was one of the games of the century, Faster Than Light: FTL, and Highfleet. At the time of Star Control coming out, I was just too young for it. It would be over the subsequent couple of years that I’d discover point and click adventure games, that led me into the world of games proper. While I would soon enjoy being baffled by Elite 2 and played such sci-fi milestones as Pickle Wars (shareware), I never encountered Star Control. Now, this new resurfacing allows us all to experience a bit o’ history and hopefully a charming resuscitation of a classic IP.

I’ll warn you, this is a strange and uncompromising title that is, so I understand, a faithful porting. Be prepared to do a little research around its unexplained edges. I especially came to confusion over controls. Piloting a wayward research ship returning to Earth, your first encounter will most likely be with an Ur-Quan surveillance drone that approaches when you close in to the planet. Being briefly informed that humankind is now enslaved, and Earth is a sort of zoo-farm, and the space-caterpillar police were soon en-route. After connecting with a human slave to have an exposition dump, we are launched into a mission to rally allies and compatriots to the cause of galactic riddance of the insectoid overlords.

The Ur-Quan, and all the creatures and characters, are colourfully voiced in this version, with joyfully ludicrous animated portraits. These were roundly imitated by Fallout, among other games, to good effect. The voice-acting is kitsch and camp and adds a lovely Ed Wood vibe. The typefaces for each alien species remind me of when the Neil Gaiman Lucifer comics helped provide accents visually with a vivid range of evocative hand-made type. It would be worth entering this game with a wry smile rather than a po-face, especially when you experience these aliens. I remember the abject seriousness (and punishing consequences of failure) of the Star Trek games such as 25^th Anniversary and Last Rites. This is not that, which was trying hard as it could to legitimise its game tie-ins. Ur-Quan feels more like the absurd bio-racer Vangers most of the time. Racing around different space-vehicular minigames for resource gathering, combat and traversal. This is an open-world survival game that has an alpine learning curve and, what feels like, 8-axis movement.

You can visit all sorts of planets, craft new ships, and primarily form relationships with the alien cultures. It plods along well, but simple mistakes are hard to recover from. I often found myself struggling to make ground on enemies, or turning at the wrong point and losing lots of progress (almost identical to the brutally gorgeous Highfleet, but for different reasons). It becomes a little repetitive, and I eventually ran out of steam, but for the time it endured, Ur-Quan was a wonderful experience, well ported. A lot of jaunts down Dos Box lane that I’ve had over the years resulted in games simply falling apart, or being themselves simply torturous to play. Enough has been smoothed, and some accessibility options are present in this “museum” piece that it is a worthwhile experience for curious gamers. It’s free, the hu-mans are not!

Overall 6/10