Micro Mages Review (Evercade)

The indie revival has moved forward somewhat in recent years. For a long time, we have been reviewing games made to look like titles on classic systems. In the last few years though more and more indie titles are making the full jump and simply being developed and released on the original hardware. Micro Mages for the NES is one of the most high profile of these.

Micro Mages is a platformer where up to four players can help each other ascend a tower before existing the door at the top. Don’t worry though because it is perfectly playable on your own. Your little dude can jump and shoot and they also stick to walls. Some of the later levels require a few more advanced techniques such as a power jump (caused by fire a charged shot down while jumping), but it’s basically your starting skill set all the way through.

It can be tough as well as one hit kills and you aren’t exactly brimming with lives. More can be picked up along the way of course and you can also pick up a few items which protect against instant death. There are four worlds in total with a stand off against a large boss creature at the end of each. Once completed you unlock an advanced mode which remixes the levels enough to make it worth while playing through again so it will keep you occupied for a decent amount of time.

The biggest criticism is that your character and enemies are quite small on screen. It’s not such an issue on original hardware but if you are playing the rom on a handheld or the Evercade version it can be difficult to see what’s going on. That said, you are never in a position where things become impossible. 

The controls are wonderfully responsive as well and allow players to leap around the levels with the confidence that your character is going to respond in the way you think. This is handy as the game runs at an excellent pace and suffers none of the characteristic slow down or flicker often associated with NES games. 

Overall, Micro Mages is a welcome addition to the ‘original hardware’ indie scene. It’s one of the few games in this category that would have happily sat alongside the original systems releases. This new focus on simple but effective gameplay and the creativity that working with reduced memory is breeding is something we can get behind with Micro Mages being among the very best examples. If you’ve never tried any of these sorts of titles before this is certainly one to start with.

Overall 8/10

Battle Toads Review (Evercade)

The story goes that one day while the biggest and toughest Battletoad (Pimple), was taking Princess Angelica out for a spin in the toadster the evil Dark Queen ambushes them and takes them to Ragnarok’s world - the Queens home planet. 

The remaining toads, Rash and Zitz have to beat everything up that stands in their way and rescue their friends. Far from being the dull side scrolling fighter that this game could so easily have turned into, Rare and Tradewest have made sure that it is something different and fresh.

While the first level keeps the classic side scrolling fighter format, from then on each level offers something new. Level two has our heroic toads being lowered down a tunnel having to jump from side to side to avoid obstacles and enemies while Level three has you jumping chasms on speeder bikes, and the next level (if you make it), is a more standard platform affair, each level offering a different twist taking the game away from constant repetitive button bashing. 

Graphically superb, everything is well animated and presented extremely well. The toads themselves offer different facial expressions from time to time, for instance having their jaws drop to the floor and eyes pop out when a huge monster arrives on the scene. Enemies differ from level to level but are repetitive in their respective worlds with only a handful of different creatures per stage. But this slight lack of variety is more than made up for by the shear quality the game overall. 

The Game plays well, although there are areas in the game when the limitations of your toad become far too apparent. During fights you could not ask for better controls, and while they simply consist of hitting one button continuously the attacks vary from level to level - in one the toad may hit the enemy with a huge fist while another will see him knocking him into the ground before kicking the enemy away like a living football. What lets the game down is when you are required to perform precision jumps, with the game being set in a multi-levelled playing field it is hard to judge the depth of the field often meaning a fall to an untimely death. 

Another problem with the game is the insane difficulty level, unusual for Rare games the difficulty curve for Battletoads is extremely unforgiving and in fact if you manage to get past the third level without using a warp then I would be very surprised. But strangely, the difficulty of the game adds to the overall charm and though you will die over and over again you will find yourself returning for one more go. 

Battletoads is a charming and fun filled game, which for a moment in time kept the mighty toads at the top of the gaming pile. Alas, along with many other characters from the creative minds of Rare the Toads never made it past the sixteen bit generation. Although we doubt a new version would have the same sort of charm it would still make a unique experience for the modern gamer. Until the day the Toads rule again this serves as a good reminder that it was not all Mario and Sonic back in the good old days.

Overall 8/10 

 

Simon the Sorcerer Origins Review (Switch)

With all the retro revivals that have been going on for the last decade or so it’s a bit of a surprise that we haven’t seen Simon the Sorcerer reappear sooner. The point and click genre is long past its heyday but we’ve had big hitters such as Broken Sword and Monkey Island both release new games and remaster older ones. Sam and Max had their own comeback as well and there have been a host of solid new games in the genre. Simon the Sorcerer is a decent enough franchise though (well, the first two games anyway), so we were happy enough to see a new game appear.

As the name suggests, Origins is a prequal game to the series and sets the scene of how Simon first acquired his powers. It’s a classic styled point and click game which has wisely kept away from the unfortunate 3D phase a lot of franchises tried to implement. It looks quite different to the original games with the pixel art replaced with a more clear-cut cartoonish look. It took a little while to get used to but works well enough.

There are a few things to help the player out. For instance, you can hold down a button to highlight all the interactable objects in a location. For anyone who has played a point and click game before you’ll know how much of a help this is and actually something that doesn’t affect the challenge of the game.

There’s also a map which means you can fast travel to different locations which helps reduce back tracking. You can also use the new control system which involves moving Simon around and highlighting objects he’s near, though we found it easier to switch back to classic controls which puts an on-screen cursor on screen to move around. Call us traditionalists but this just made the game seem a lot more controllable and enjoyable.

The game itself does start quite slowly. You’ll control Simon as he wonders around his new house. The environments are a little dull and you’ll soon be glad when he manages to move into the more fantastical world. Here, things look a lot more interesting, and you’ll get some interesting puzzles to overcome. The overall design of the game though is a little sparce with the environments lacking some of those more personal touches that help brings games like this to life. It is fully voiced though, and the script is decent enough as to not harm the lineage of the past games. You even get Chris Barry back to reprise his role which really is both a nice and respectful touch.

Overall, Simon the Sorcerer Origins is a solid enough return for the franchise. The humour and script retain the distinctly British humour and the puzzles and world work well enough. The environments may lack a little charm but there’s enough here to keep fans of the point and click genre interested while the game is also gentle enough in the beginning to bring in players not familiar with the genre. If anything, it has whetted our appetites to see the first two games given the HD remake treatment, even if this doesn’t quite match either of them.

Overall 7/10

Lumo 2 Review (Switch)

Somehow, almost ten years have passed since the original Lumo graced us with its presence. The original indie darling was a charming isometric platform game that encouraged players to explore its 400+ rooms while drawing on a host of nostalgic references from systems going all the way back to 8-bit computers such as the Spectrum and C64. It is still an original oddity with few other games choosing to go down the isometric nostalgia route, despite just about every other avenue of retro themed games being explored.

Lumo 2 keeps the viewpoint but moves the world from the 8-bit up to 16-bit. So now, instead of Solstice, you’ve got Equinox, and if you get that reference, we salute you. Referencing older video games is still very much the order of the day though and your familiarity with them will likely define how much you are going to enjoy the game. You explore Lumo’s world, collecting pickups and solving block and button-based puzzles, many of which involve taking on some sort of mini game.

To give you an idea of what you are getting into, the first of these is a pretty spot on recreation of some of the sections from Impossible Mission. A great homage for those that get it. For those that don’t though, we do wonder how long the interest will hold. There are other high profile retro classics references as well such as Prince of Persia, so just because you don’t get one doesn’t mean there’s nothing here for you.

The main areas of the game play well enough of course, as you move your character around avoiding the cute creatures trying to zap you. It’s perhaps a little slow and imprecise at times but there’s nothing particularly frustrating here as you jump around and pick up objects in an isometric space.

 You’ll gradually gain new skills such as a double jump which adds a very lite Metroidvania-esque elements as this often allows you to access new areas. There are not often multiple routes to go down though as, aside from some collectables, this is a largely linear experience, but then there isn’t really anything wrong with that. These skills do add more game elements to the main bulk of Lumo 2’s game world as well. It’s not all references to the 80’s as you’ll be jumping around and avoiding enemies in the main game world as well. Unlike the 80’s though, Lumo 2 is quite well balanced in terms of difficulty, and while it can be challenging, you’ll normally progress with some patience and forward thinking.

What is more impressive is that all the homages and changes in gameplay work well. The game never falls into frustration, and while it is relying heavily on nostalgia, it has also clearly had a lot of care and attention put in to make sure everything being referenced is also fun to play around with. This results in the player experiencing a continual loop of experiences that keep things fresh and also raise a smile.

Overall, Lumo 2 remains both nostalgic and fresh feeling. There is certainly enough here for players to enjoy even if they aren’t going to get all the references to games from the 8-bit computer era. For players old enough to remember though, or those who have tracked down these classic retro games it becomes much more of an unmissable title. If you liked the original game, you’ll likely love this as well and if by some way you’ve not played it then this won’t let you down either. It’s a fun, creative and reflective game that’s easy to like.

Overall 8/10

Hades II Review (Switch)

Supergiant Games have a reputation for creating games which are nothing less than amazing, and most of the time highly original and unique to boot. Bastion remains a masterpiece of isometric action adventure, Transistor a stylish mix up of turn based and hack and slash and Pyre is just nuts in about every way. The one thing they haven’t done until now is produce a sequel, I mean where can you go when you’ve already perfected what you are trying to achieve which each title?

So, it’s brave decision to not only make a sequel, but a sequel to one of the most highly regarded indie games of all time in Hades. It’s a good thing then that they have done it right.

Hades II, thankfully doesn’t stray away from the ancient Greek roots of the original. While that story focused on a son trying to escape the depths of hell (and the grasp of his father), Here we have a female lead, Melinoë the princess of the Underworld, trying to defend her home against Chronos the Titan of time. There are a host of new characters here for the studio to play with and each is beautifully written- if you wish to really dive into the law and setting.

Of course, the real heart of the original Hades was the Rogue-like structure and the flexibility of the combat. In this regard not much has changed in terms of the scope. This is still a Rogue game where each run is designed to have you gather resources for permanent upgrades which in turn allow for players to get ever so slightly closer to their goal on the next run. If anything, there are perhaps too many resources to manage here. There are seemingly endless things to change and upgrade and numerous currencies and trinkets to collect and trade for other currencies and trinkets, which in turn can be used to invoke spells, create new areas in the hub world or upgrade your character, weapons and several hundred other things. It really did take a good few hours for us to start to get to grips with everything that was going on.

In terms of your arsenal, you start out with one weapon and unlock other options as you progress. Each of these react differently with the various attacks you have. Players can perform and chain basic attacks, perform a ‘cast’ which creates a ring on the floor which can be used to halt or entrap enemies (among many other things). Special attacks can be initiated by holding the attack button down, and there’s a range of close combat moves as well. You can also pick up a ‘hex’ attack which needs to be charged in each location and has its own development path as well. If you are going to master all this, it’s really going to take a while and for those of you that thought Transistor was complex you are in for a shock. Oh, and you have a dash/dodge as well.

At the outset Hades II is quite a tough proposition. Our first few runs didn’t really yield much progression at all. But as these things go, you slowly start to break the back of the first area and suddenly more options open out to you. The game does seem tougher than the first one though with the second level being a real baptism of fire on the first few runs. But while you may be beginning to get frustrated at not getting past a rock band made of Sirens, the game has something else up its sleeve. You see, the hub world is the crossroads and, initially, you can only descend into the depths. But after casting a particular spell at the cauldron it removes the ward on the stairs that go up as well.

From that point you can continue to forge your way down to Hades or alternatively head to the surface and make for Mount Olympus. This initially comes with a curse which drains your heath, but once you have cleared that the surface world provides a very different approach to the game.

While the downward dungeons remain much in the same format as the original game, the surface world mixes things up a fair bit. The first area for instance, is set in a city of interconnecting rooms. Here you can roam the central areas and decide which door you are going to go through in whatever order you wish. After besting a Cyclops, you are sent to the docks where instead of changing rooms you decide which direction to steer the ships. These surface realms are much larger and wider and require some consideration in approach if you have been used to the cramped caves of the subterranean route. It provides some much-needed flexibility and variety if one location is causing you a lot of issues.

Overall, Hades II is as good as its predecessor in its own ways. It takes a slightly different approach but retains the soul of the core concept and develops it well. It doesn’t make the original game obsolete as it feels different enough while also being strong enough in its own right for both new players and those familiar with the original to dive right in.  

Overall 9/10

Goodboy Galaxy Review (Evercade)

So called homebrew titles have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. Now, we have reached a place where developers can create titles for older consoles and have them fit perfectly into the indie marketplace. Indeed, we think it’s only a matter of time before one of the big developers decides to dive into the world of retro consoles with a fully-fledged retro release.

We’ve covered an ever-growing number of these games including, Micro Mages, Alwa’s Awakening and Witch N’ Wiz, as well as some of the compilation which have made their way to Evercade, who could forget the excellent Tanzer after all? The latest of these to reach our door is Goodboy Galaxy, a platform exploration game for the GBA.

The plot is simple and follows a space dog called maxwell as he fly’s around various planets solving quests and making friends. It’s all one large collectathon, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. Each character you meet along the way will require help in some way (normally finding things) and will then give you their friend card upon completion. Some also give you other items as well to further aid your exploration and allow you to get deeper into galaxy.

Goodboy Galaxy is not a Metroidvania game though, thanks to the well-placed gates around each planet. Maxwell can jump, has a shield which will absorb damage and has a blaster. However, when you pass through one of the gates on each level something will be disabled. This could mean losing your jump, meaning you must think creatively about switches or platforms, or losing you weapon or shield meaning you are much less protected. It’s a gimmick that lasts throughout the game and allows a series of short but interesting puzzle platform sections to be thrust on the player. There are of course ways of getting around these to reveal secrets as well.

It's good then that Maxwell handles excellently. You must get used to the game as it has its own mechanics such as the firing pace of the weapon and the jump working slightly different than how you would expect, but once you’ve played it for a while it all becomes second nature. It’s cleverly done and shows real thought has been put into how players are expected to traverse around the worlds.

The look of the game is classic Gameboy Advance platformer. Bold colours and large cartoon like sprites are the order of the day and you can’t help but smile at the heavy nostalgia and generally joyful vibe. It fits the style of game perfectly, as does the character design which effectively takes animals and objects and puts bigger eyes and jackets on them. Each planet also sticks with the bright feel, while also being distinctive from each other to keep the overall look from becoming too samey.

Overall, Goodboy Galaxy is a fun game that would have easily found an audience if released during the original GBA years of handheld dominance. It’s like finding a hidden gem for the system and hopefully it will find a much larger place when it releases on modern consoles (Goodboy Galaxy is also currently available on the Evercade). There’s a lot of fresh ideas here and if you are looking for something new that seems like something old then this is an excellent place to start.

Overall 8/10

Glover (Evercade Review)

For a good few years now PQube has been tracking down and acquiring the rights to many cult hits and underappreciated gems across a host of retro platforms. The latest acquisition to be given a new lease of life is Glover, more specifically the N64 version of the game. The game also, impressively, has been released on the Evercade as part of the Piko 4 collection. And it works well, even on the original handheld.

Glover follows the model of the standard 3D platformers of the day. You have fairly large, open levels to explore, lots of collectibles and a slightly frustrating camera to fight with. The game has been given a slight graphical overhaul which makes it look good enough on modern displays. The general blur vision of the N64 is long gone, so at least eye strain is kept to a minimum. This does of course make the levels look a bit empty and brown but then that’s just a sign of times.

The controls have been mapped well to the Evercade though and the game doesn’t feel particularly awkward.  This is handy as the game is complex to navigate as you are controlling a giant glove moving a ball around. There is a save state function which is most welcome and something even the Switch version hasn't got. 

A lot of the platforming and puzzles require you to get the ball to various places by batting it, bouncing it or walking on top of it. All these things require practice to get right and early on you’ll likely be frustrated as you watch your ball role away for the hundredth time. When you get used to it though, it allows for a far more original take on the genre than many other games.

Aside from the ball physics, the other main gimmick is that you can switch around what type of ball you are using. You start with a standard beach ball, but you’ll soon get others made of materials that break on impact or that can traverse certain terrains. You’ll need to work things out quickly though because every time a ball bursts you’ll lose a life, and you only have five which seem to degenerate quickly.

Overall, Glover is a perfect example of an interesting but flawed game. The concept is clever and original, but you’ll need to put time into mastering how everything works in order to really appreciate what the game has to offer. It certainly has a charm and if you stick with it, it becomes a rewarding and fun experience. A quick save would have really helped though.

Overall 6/10

Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition Review (Switch)

Puzzle Quest first became popular when a host of match three style games were the go-to for mobile users. We first played it on the Xbox 360 and at the time it proved to be a decent distraction which successfully merged a simple but addictive puzzle mechanic with elements of the RPG genre. All these years later the series is still going and now we have this seemingly complete edition, backed with all the additions and extras added over the years.

The concept is simple, the interface of the game follows the template of a retro style RPG, something that reminded us of adventure games on the Amiga for a reason we can’t quite place. After picking from a preset host of characters that fall into the classic fantasy moulds of thieves, wizards and warriors, you move around a map going to locations of interest such as towns and castles. Here, you can find quests and information and visit shops to buy items and weapons to increase your stats.

Quests generally involve taking on a number of enemies in turn, sometimes with a boss monster at the end. These start out as things such as sewer rats and skeletons but quickly move on to more threatening members of the classic fantasy menagerie. All encounters are handled in the same way which is in the form of a match three battle. You are presented with a grid containing a host of shapes and colours. All of which do different things when matched. Three colours, when matched fill up bars which can be used for different types of special and magic attacks. Matching skulls inflicts damage on your opponent, while you can also get experience points and host of other bonuses.

The key is to balance attacking your opponent with making sure that you don’t leave yourself open. You also need to keep an eye on the potential to match four or more of a shape or colour as this allows you to take another turn. Matching is simply done by swapping a shape or colour from its current position with an adjacent one. It starts out simply but quickly develops into something with far more depth. Even early on the game moves quickly away from its basic format and introduces all sort of bonuses and special symbols. It’s often easy to find yourself in serious trouble even with middling opponents if you let your guard down so players will always have to be thinking a few steps ahead.

There are a host of spells and skills which can be utilised as well, and the effects are wide ranging and varied enough to have a major impact if used properly. It’s easy to amass many skills which do everything from causing more damage to destroying a certain colour or shape on the game field.

Despite its initial casual nature, it’s amazing how much of a time sink the game becomes. It may have casual roots, but we found hour after hour drifting by on occasion, and it certainly has that one more go appeal to it. The combination of the RPG elements and simple but addictive mechanics make this a difficult game to pull away from once you get into its zone.

Overall, Puzzle Quest remains a solid fusion between two different genres. It has enough depth to keep you playing for long periods but is also perfect for on the go play on the Switch. It comes to life in handheld mode and is packed with content that means when it sucks you in, you’ll be with it for hours. All the mechanics work well and there’s even concessions for colour blind players with use of both colours and shapes. If you haven’t played the game in any of its version so far this is a great place to start.

Overall 8/10

Lucy Dreaming Review (Switch)

While many genres from the old world of gaming have found new form with indie developers, the point and click adventure has, for the most part, been conspicuous by its absence. There have been a few of course, the recent(ish) Monkey Island game and Broken Sword 5, (and the re-release of the original) spring to mind. But, for the most part it is an often-unexplored genre in modern times. Lucy Dreaming is a valiant attempt at trying to change that.

Lucy Dreaming, developed by Tall Story games is a British point and click adventure with the ‘British’ aspect of it very much at its core, at least in terms of the accents and voices. Lucy and her family have crazy accents so thick you’d think they were coming to you straight from a Dickensian novel. Aside from that though there isn’t much else to this tag. The game is heavily influenced in terms of style by the Lucas Arts point and click adventure games, most notably the 8-bit ones such as Maniac Mansion which the game takes its graphical style from. There are of course multiple Easter eggs placed around to point this out as well.

The game follows the tried and tested route of point and click games. You move Lucy around using and on-screen cursor. Then you can look at, use, or pick up objects. Objects can then be used to solve puzzles allowing you to progress. In timed honoured fashion, a fair few of these puzzles require the most lateral of thinking to achieve. Telling jokes to a piranha plant so it laughs and spits out a key is a prime example of this. Some of the puzzles are a touch too obscure though, and you can descend into wandering around using every object on everything else until something clicks which isn’t ideal.

The main premise of the game is that Lucy is having strange dreams. This allows the developers to give us two distinct worlds to move between. There’s the dream world of course where things are much more surreal and stranger and the waking world where Lucy can explore her house and neighbourhood to gather items that will eventually allow the poor girl to get a good night’s sleep.

For the most part the writing and humour is good. The characters Lucy encounters are just the right side of zany to be amusing without descending into it being too on the nose. Lucy herself has enough sharp responsive to things to make sure you are unlikely to get bored clicking on things as well.

Controls wise it’s always difficult to move mouse-based games onto consoles, but the Switch version handles quite well. The analogue stick isn’t completely ideal, but it just about holds up. There is also the option to go touch screen but then you’ll be covering your screen in more smudges than you can possibly imagine. The streamlined commands keep things logical and although it invades the view screen, having your inventory and other information available at all times is incredibly useful. There aren’t that many concessions for players who may struggle though.

Many of these games now have hint systems but all you’ll get from Lucy Dreaming is a button that highlights interactive objects in the room. This is of course essential on the Switch when in handheld mode, but it’s not going to help if there’s a puzzle you just can’t get your head around for a few hours. Lucy does give decent hints as well, but we certainly found ourselves stuck on a few occasions for far longer than was comfortable.

Overall, Lucy dreaming is mostly successful in trying to bring an old school style point and click adventure to a modern audience. Long term fans of the genre will get on well with it and will likely not be as phased by the occasionally obscure puzzles. Newcomers though would be better served starting with something a little more up to date in terms of mechanics. One thing we can say though, is that this would fit neatly into the output when point and click games ruled the gaming world, and that alone should be applauded.

Overall 7/10

Boulderdash 40th Anniversary Review (Switch)

Hands up anyone who feels old at the fact that we have reached the 40^th anniversary of Boulderdash. The classic rock dropping and gem finder has gone on to influence a ton of games and dates back all the way to the 8-bit era. While we were always Repton fans ourselves, it’s undeniable how iconic the game is and now it’s been brought to new systems in a comprehensive package.

For the uninitiated the game revolved around the player navigating a maze of dirt, rocks, gems and moving enemies from a flat 2D perspective. You can move freely through the dirt, but any rocks perched on top will then fall. If they hit you, you get crushed and die. Rocks will also fall off other rocks, sometimes creating huge landslides which can easily trap you in and cause a level restart. Once enough gems in a level have been collected an exit will open allowing progress to the next stage.

We certainly can’t complain about the number of levels included. As well as the first three games, there are a ton of new levels created with more up to date graphics. We do think the new look has a very ‘mobile game’ quality, but this isn’t the most deep of experiences so it’s not the end of the world. While most collections now seem to include emulated versions of original games that isn’t strictly the case here. You can play the games with either a C64 or Atari filter, but these aren’t the original versions of the game. You would be hard pressed to tell though.

Controls wise everything works well. Before a recent update you had to use the left stick to control movement, which was incredibly twitchy, but you can now use the cursor keys which is transformative in terms of precision movement. This has made the games a lot more friendly to play and means you are rarely overshooting when moving around. With a game this tough it really didn’t need anything else getting in the way of progression.

Boulderdash 40^th anniversary does fall between two audiences though. If you haven’t experienced the game before there probably isn’t much here that’s going to really draw you in. While fans may feel a little shortchanged by the fact there isn’t much in the way of archive footage or that more versions of the games haven’t been included. When you think to the extensive retro collections now filling the Switch this does begin to look a bit bare bones in terms of content by comparison. That said, there’s a lot of Boulderdash here, so if you are a fan or into these types of games there’s certainly enough to get into.

Overall 7/10

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Review (Switch)

With all the recent retro revivals and intense 2D nostalgic throwbacks recently it’s hard to believe that we haven’t had a proper Shinobi gave for a long time. There was of course a 3DS game that wasn’t the best and most of the back catalogue has been made available, but Art of Vengeance is a resounding return to form.

The thing that stands out straight away are the gorgeous visuals. The game has been designed to look like a Japanese style painting and the colour and detail present throughout are stunning. In motion, everything flows as well as it looks with the game moving at an intense speed without faltering, even in handheld mode. It allows for a flow and momentum that every ninja game is crying out for.

The combat is much more involved than previous games as well. Historically, Shinobi games have limited the player to a jump and attack button, with the occasional special move. Here, there’s a combo system in play with light and heavy attacks and constantly upgradable and changeable special moves that can be bought from an in-game shop. There’re also instant kills and a host of movement options such as dashes and wall slides that wouldn’t be out of place in the latest indie Metroidvania.

To clarify, Shinobi hasn’t gone the Metroidvania route. The game is set out as linear, platform, levels. These can be revisited later when new power ups are acquired which can in turn can then be used to access a few hidden areas, but generally you are going from left to right through large levels and then taking on an impressively large and difficult boss at the end. Between each of the main platform levels there are also further throw backs to the past such as more action-based stages riding on horses or other vehicles.

The general games difficulty is challenging but fair. There’s certainly nothing here to compare to the Mega Drive games in terms of difficulty. If you do die you start back at a checkpoint, and as the levels are vast this is a smart design choice. It also helps to lessen the frustration on the few occasions it’s difficult to tell between a pit and what is the legitimate way forward. The bosses though are tough. They are damage sponges which go through varying phases of attack patterns, and we often found ourselves zooming through a level, only to be stuck at the boss checkpoint for a considerable amount of time. While this can be frustrating it’s good to see some of the old Shinobi challenge remaining in the game’s DNA.

Overall, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance represents a stunning return for Sega’s much-loved franchise. The action is slick and frenetic, and the level design is both beautiful and creative. Enemies are varied and provide enough of a challenge to be interesting obstacles and getting through a level provides enough satisfaction to continually push on to the next. Sega has been slow to mine some of its formally popular IP’s so we hope this is a sign of things to come. This is a creative, fun and intense success that it’s hard to see anyone not liking it, especially those with nostalgia for the original games.

Overall 9/10

Roadwarden Review (Switch)

Roadwarden, originally came out on the PC in 2022 and was universally praised for it’s rich story telling and world building. Now, a few years later it has made the jump to the Switch. With the market flooded with Metroidvania and Rogue-like games it’s great to see something a bit different and it’s even better to see something forging a more original path that will actually captivate and engross you. Roadwarden is all these things and more, despite a few performance issues.

The basic premise is that the game is a sort of choose your own adventure, text based, game with some RPG element. You play a new Roadwarden, sent by the merchants’ guild to keep trade moving through a fantasy peninsula filled with monsters and strange happenings. You can pick from a few different variations of your character and then it’s off into the pixel illustrated world to investigate and carry out quests. Your overall goal can be decided on by the player from a host of different options and it’s really up to you to explore where you want over the course of forty days.

The play screen in the game is split into three sections. You get an illustration of your location on the left, the main text description and selectable options in the middle and then access to information about your status and other information on the right. This is navigated by using the Switch control stick or arrow buttons or pressing one of the shortcut buttons. It’s a bit clunky compared to the PC but it does work. We can’t help but feel some kind of virtual mouse cursor may have been a better option though.

Both the illustrations and text set the scene of the harsh fantasy environment well. The text is often lengthy but interesting and there are a normally a host of options to choose from. You can normally even pick from different tones and emotions to use in your replies, all of it adding up to giving the player different paths to follow. This tied to the forty-day time frame means there is a decent amount of replayability here for those who really get into the game and want to play for longer. You certainly can’t do everything or go everywhere in one play through, and the selectable goals also means different priorities are needed for each run.

Once, players leave a location they enter a larger map screen which fills in as they explore. It can feel a bit daunting, but characters are good at giving you information about locations that are in different directions and where you might want to head. This means you are rarely in a situation where you are unsure of where to go or what to do. Instead, the game relies more on a sort of risk versus reward system with the player knowing what’s ahead but also what they stand to gain or lose by doing certain things.

While you are traveling you need to keep an eye on a host of things to keep your character going. There is nourishment, health, tiredness, armour and even appearance which all tie into different aspects of the game and add or remove options if they fall too low. If your appearance is too dishevelled for instance characters are less likely to interact with you, but resting and cleaning takes up precious time which you may not be able to waste.

There are various skill checks and elements of chance you’ll have to face as well. This is very much in the mould of an old school dungeons and dragons RPG, just with a bit more direction. Whenever something which requires ‘chance’ is an option the game will highlight it for you, so you are always have the information you need before making decisions. A well implemented tutorial which pops up naturally as you progress also helps to gently integrate player with the various systems the game runs on.

If there is a criticism it’s that the game runs pretty inconsistently on the Switch, at least in handheld mode. We had a fair few start up crashes when trying to launch and the very first time we played there was even errant code on the screen and an error message about memory. Luckily these disappeared once it seemed to get running but anything that moves is jerky and moving around your options on the play screen comes with a certain amount of lag. It certainly isn’t running in the most optimal way, lets put it that way. Despite this though it remains incredibly engaging and interesting.

Overall, Roadwarden is something both different and rather excellent. The world and atmosphere the game creates with its pixel art and lavish writing really helps to build the feel of a living place. Each interaction is interesting and there is more than enough ‘game’ here to keep people happy who would shy away from other visual novels. It’s closest to something like a digital Fighting Fantasy book, just with more options and systems running. Even with performance issues we really liked it and at the modest price, it’s very easy to recommend.

Overall 8/10

50 Indie Games that Changed the World Review

 

We’ve been covering Bitmap book releases for a fair while now. Most of them compile genres or specific games systems but every now and then you get something a little different. We’ve seen this before with the ‘Secret History of Mac Gaming’ and ‘A Gremlin in the Works’, 50 Indie games that changed the world may not be as far from the usual output as that, but it certainly takes a different view of the industry.

In terms of content, it’s a fairly straight forward set up. There’s a short preface explaining the goal of the book and what it’s featuring, a foreword by Thomas Was Alone developer Mike Bithell who adds some context to the indie scene and how development works and then an introduction which talks about what indie games are as a wider genre and concept. After that it’s a straight list of the 50 games with a few honourable mentions at the end. Surprisingly, there aren’t any more interviews are other features but then the book is pretty laser focused on what it’s trying to do and as it tops out at an impressive four-hundred and fifty plus pages so we aren’t really complaining.

Each of the fifty games is looked at with a considerable amount of depth. Generally, the games in these books get one of two pages maximum. A few special ones might justify four but here most of the games get around eight pages, split across text, screenshots and art work. Each also has a breakdown of why the game should be considered as a game that changed the world. It’s an impressive amount of focus to put on each title and if you aren’t sat there making a list of games to buy as you go then we would be amazed.

The games included are wide reaching. There are obvious inclusions such as Fez and and Axion Verge but also more modern games such as Vampire Survivors and some you may not be expecting like Among Us and 80 Days. It means there’s a wide range of titles covered from different years and spanning multiple genres. There will of course be a personal favourite left out somewhere but it’s hard to argue with any of the inclusions. The fact that Futurlab’s Velocity is here makes us particularly happy as the game and the studio are vastly underrated and you should probably all be out there downloading it right now. It even means we will overlook the fact none of the Pixeljunk or Bit Trip games are in here.

Despite the mass of pages and games included it would have been nice to have a few features in here. Something on key indie genres would have been welcome – even if it was only a few pages. That might have taken some focus away from the key theme of the book though and it’s not like there is a lack of content here. There is some mention of genres within some of the games covered as well. The piece on Dead Cells in particular highlights how Metroidvania and Rogue games dot the landscape.

Overall, 50 Indie Games That Changed the World works beautifully as a love letter to some of the most creative and innovative games the industry has to offer. Chances are you may well be aware of most of them but there are always those one or two that you will have overlooked. It also acts as a perfect place to start if you want to move away from AAA video gaming or even if you want to jump from retro gaming back into something more modern but which channels that old school aesthetic. We loved it.

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*image from Bitmap Books website

Beat'Em Up Collection Review (Switch)

We love QUByte games here at Retro 101. It’s great when compilations and older releases are brought to new consoles and QUByte have a knack for picking games just outside of the mainstream to do it with. These tend to be less popular releases from the past but it’s great so many hidden gems are given a new life.

This time they are back with a collection of belt scrolling and platform beat’em up games. And it so happens that two of the games on here are two of our favourites from yesteryear. Before we get to that though, there are seven games compiled here in total and most have been released by QUByte is some form before.

The First and Second Samurai have already been released as a duo, as have Iron Commando and Legend. Though releases were very bare bones in terms of quality of life though. This just brings them together in a bigger package and adds proper quality of life features such as rewinds. cheats and a small host of extras such as the original manuals. The screen display has been much better optimised as well with the games adjusted to take up more on-screen space.

We’ll start with the filler, The Second Samurai is an incredibly basic game that really adds nothing to the collection. It is also not a patch on the first game and employs a more arcade style, scrolling beat’em up mechanic. Sword of Sudan is also dreadful. A slow moving, jerky game that most people will play for minutes. It did raise a chuckle that in the trivia for the game it says it wasn’t highly regarded on release for the Mega Drive and there’s a better Amiga version available. Full marks for honesty at least.

The rest of the compilation fairs much better though. The First Samurai is a hugely underrated platform action game. You control a samurai and leap around levels that scroll in all directions looking for bells which help to remove obstacles such as flames or waterfalls then take on an end of level boss. The Amiga version is the best, but we’ll let it go that we have the SNES version here as it’s the one we played when we were younger. It’s been smoothed out nicely as well with the flickering and slowdown present in the original all but gone, add in the quality of life features and this really is a great fun game that more people should play.

There are two solid belt fighters here as well. Gourmet Warriors is bright and colourful and gives you three characters to pick from. It doesn’t have the biggest range of moves but then these games rarely do. Enemies are varied and it runs at a good pace, it also has some unique tricks such as being able to summon a helper character for yourself which conjures a clone that the computer controls to aid you. Iron Commando is a game we have come across before on the Piko 1 collection for the Evercade. It’s also big and bold and creates a good sense of destruction and chaos. We will say though that having the rewind option and the ability to add cheats if required turned it into a far more enjoyable experience as it’s a bit of a tough one.

There’s another game here from the Piko 1 collection as well. The excellent Water Margin. Another belt fighter it’s full of great levels, flashy special moves and diverse characters. It even has some branching routes and different endings based on difficulty settings. It’s a really strong game and one that wasn’t originally localised for the west.

Our favourite game on the collection though is Legend. This a SNES game that we have a lot of fondness for. It’s closest in style to something like Golden Axe or the Capcom Dungeons and Dragons fighting games. But it is a lot more graphically detailed than Sega’s outing and there’s a real weight to all the moves. It’s another game that was very hard back in the day so being able to mess around in it now with the cheats and rewinds as a back up is great. This is especially true as there are a couple of branches you can go down, so saving allows for easier access.

Overall, though there are a couple of poor games here the three excellent ones and two solid tiles are more than enough to justify a purchase for retro fans looking to play something a bit more outside of the mainstream. We bought both Legend and First Samurai when QUByte released them on the Switch before, to have them bundled in with the excellent Water Margin just makes this a no brainer and we hope this generates enough interest to keep these sorts of titles coming.

Overall 8/10

System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster (Switch)

Long before Bioshock hit consoles, the landmark FPS horror game was System Shock 2. Tied to PC’s until now, it was a title that pushed boundaries and tried to merge multiple genres to create a unique, ambitious and unforgettable experience. Its mix of traditional FPS tropes, character-building elements and creepy atmosphere have gone on to influence many first-person games and push the boundaries of what we can expect.

The story is set upon the stricken starship the ‘Von Braun’. It is here, after some early training, that you awaken to find you have little memory and all hell is breaking lose. You are tasked with trying to get the ship back under control from a seemingly rogue AI with the help of Dr Janice Polito who guides you via radio.

The game may be set out as an FPS, but it is really more of an exploration and adventure game. The ship is a maze of fizzing wires, broken machinery and genetic horrors and it’s often best to explore slowly and carefully. Often, events will happen which helps build the environment through visual storytelling and the soundtrack also does an excellent job of getting you in the right mood.

 The environment is an interesting place to venture through but can be a little samey in terms of how it looks, so the included map is very welcome. Although, even in this remake there are no onscreen checkpoints or guidance beacons. This is very much the original game, just looking somewhat sharper. The same can be said about the controls. Originally designed for a mouse and keyboard set up, the controls are difficult to get used to. As System Shock 2 is far more than a basic FPS it requires a host of menus and pop-up options in order to play. During our time with the game this never became a natural process and quickly swapping between objects and weapons often ended in death with us trapped behind a menu we couldn’t get clear of to fight back.

The reason for this though is the game has depth. The mechanics that make the game unique are the way you can build and customise your character. Throughout the game you can pick up cyber modules that allow you to upgrade various skills such as hacking or combat as well as general strength and endurance. These are few and far between though, so you need to really think about the type of character you want to build. We struggled early on in the game as we hadn’t activated the hacking skill which meant security cameras became a major issue to pass. There’s a host of objects and weapons to pick up as well which then need to be fitted into a resident evil style inventory system box.

Combat really isn’t the games strong point though, with enemies just kind of running at you and then waiting to be hit in return. The constant spawning of enemies when you set off security alarms is also annoying as you’ll be attacked every few seconds by the same generic enemies – rather than it just alerting enemies in the area. They always know where you are as well so you can’t go and hide somewhere to wait out an alarm. You do have options for fighting though, there are no shortage of things to hit and shoot enemies with and the plasmids option gives you a host of other inventive things to play around with such as setting them on fire or using telekinesis to move objects.

Another thing to note is that the game is hard and relentless. The difficulty kicks in pretty much straight away, so getting used to the controls and menu system will have you dying multiple times early on. You can save whenever you want though (which we are pretty sure you couldn’t in the original), and there are also regeneration stations set up where you will respawn upon death. Just be warned if you respawn during a security alert enemies will rush straight to you again.

Overall, it is easy to see why System Shock 2 is held in such high regard in terms of its place in video game history. There is an awful lot here that sets it apart and you can see the influence it has had very clearly. But there ae a few sticking points. The controls are a pain and that may well put some people off as when coupled with the difficulty it can cause frustration and block progress. For fans of the genre, and especially those who love Bioshock this is pretty much essential though. If you spend the time needed to get it to click there is little else out there like it, even now.

Overall 8/10

Neon Noodles Review (switch)

 

It takes a lot to stand out from the ground these days. So, when we heard about a cyberpunk themed, automation game about making noodles it was intriguing enough to to take a look. The Switch has very few of these games so anything that isn’t another Metroidvania or retro themed platformer is welcome.

The plot, like many games with he ‘Cyber Punk’ tag sees you playing a character with no memory, thrust into a world run by shady corporations in a dark and satirical future. We reviewed the excellent Citizen Sleeper 2 and this, weirdly, had much the same premise. The big difference here though is you work for an automated food production company were your task is to set up a production line to create whichever food is required to progress.

The game unfolds with your character going through training and then gradually being allowed to make more and more complex dishes. As the dishes get more complex you get higher security clearance which drives the plot behind the scenes as you learn more about who you are and what has happened to you. Taking on a recipe sees you move into a small, top down, grid. Here you place everything you need to get an automation process going.

Recipes start out simple, with something needing to be cooked then cut. This is done by having a robot, drone or other helper take the food, process it in whichever way is required at the cutting or boiling station and then moving on to the next required element. Soon you’ll have conveyor belts and plating stations, sauces and frying stations all added into the mix. You’ll need to combine items as well, such as coating chopped chicken in lemon before moving it on to be fried or instance.

The difficult does ramp up pretty quickly from the tutorial but you’ll soon find that things that seemed overwhelming will become a logical sequence in your brain as you gradually move through the recipe. The controls also took a fair while to get used to but once we had it worked out we didn’t have any issues. It will undoubtably be a bit simpler with a PC mouse interface though.

Once everything clicked, we found the Neon Noodles to be a creative and addictive puzzle game. It certainly took some patience to get into, but everything works in a logical way and the controls work well, even if it’s easy to still press the wrong button from time to time. There are also lots of things to help the player such as an undo button and being able to move to specific points of a robot’s movement commands to make changes. This means no set up is ever a complete disaster, which is a good thing as you’ll need a lot of tweaks to get everything running smoothly.

Overall, Neon Noodles is an inventive and original game that gets better the more time you invest in it. The recipes get incredibly complex as you progress and it will really stretch players. Once finished you can go back and try and beat your previous scores as well and compare them against other players globally. This proved to be a real surprise and is well worth checking out for those looking for a puzzle game with a difference.

Overall 8/10

Neon Noodles Nintendo Store Link

Preserve Review (Switch)

 

One of the most surprising genres to have sprung up on the Switch is the digital board game. To begin with, we simply had digital versions of games such as Talisman, but now we have started to get games specifically designed from the ground up for consoles. Preserve kind of merges the idea of boardgames and deck building to create a surprisingly deep diversion.

Coming from nowhere, we happened upon a trailer for the game and thinking it looked interesting decided to take a closer look. And we are really glad we did as this is a really lovely game with a sizable amount of content. The basic idea is that you need to build a habitat out of hexagonal shapes. You start with one landmass then as you place upgrades and animals it hits score barriers that then release more cards and more land masses that you can place as you head towards the overall goal of hitting a certain score to complete the level

Scoring works by putting different habitats down and trying to get them to twelve tiles. This then means they can contain three animals. Three of a kind gets you a decent bonus, but three different animals are far better. Of course, you don’t get all the animals you need released to you straight away so if you are going for the really big points you’ll need to be clever and keep things unlocking by scoring points in a different way. There is also a host of special cards and other elements to keep things interesting, but the basic game remains the game.

There are four different biomes to play around in. Continental is the starting point with the basic rule set with the Savanna biome working around rivers and the marine biome working around the ability to raise and lower the sea level. Wisely, a Dinosaur biome has also been included. All four are different enough to need to be played in different ways and add genuine variety.

There ‘s also a puzzle mode for each of the biomes which sets you up with specific land masses and cards. Here you need to try and create placements to hit a certain score and there is normally only a single solution. These start out simple but will soon require a real mastery of the game to understand as you will need to see ahead with near prescience to work out where to place each individual upgrade.

Initially, the controls seemed a bit tricky but after a while the interface became much more natural. We still struggled at times with the marine biome as the changes in elevation on the land can make it tricky to see what is where at times. But there are a host of zooms and swivels you can do to give yourself a decent view.

Overall, Preserve proves to be a charming game that acts as both a relaxing way to pass the time and something deep enough to spend hours ringing the last high score out of. It really draws you in and time will be flashing by before you know it. It comes highly recommended for anyone interested in deck games or those looking for something a little bit different.

Overall 8/10

 

Run ‘N’ Gun: A History of On-Foot Shooters Review

As much as we love the Bitmap Visual Compendium and Box Art books, it’s always nice when one of their more investigative releases appear. In the past we have had a host of great volumes such as The Games That Weren’t, From Antz to Zombies and A Secret History of Mac Gaming, which aimed to make us all instant experts on overlooked areas of video game history. Run ‘N’ Gun : A History of On-Foot Shooters falls more into this latter category as it aims to take us through the origins and thematic of everything running and gunning, while unearthing a fair few overlooked gems along the way.

As we’ve come to expect the cover art for the book looks absolutely gorgeous. Adorned with two sci-fi marines blasting robots, it perfectly captures the feel of classic games in the genre such as Contra. The pages inside are no different with a good mix of screen shots and text. The consistent and thoughtful colour palette used is also well judged to fit the mood while keeping text easily visible.

Contents wise, the book is exhaustive. There are of course too many Run ‘N Gun games for everything to be covered but you are getting over four hundred and ninety-five pages of curated coverage here. This covers pretty much every system from the Atari 2600 to modern day consoles (Or Atari to ZX Spectrum if you want to keep with the alphabet theme).

With such a wide area to cover the author has taken a logical approach to cataloguing all these games. Games are listed by decade with clear section dividing 1980-1989, 1990-1999 and then three more sections dividing up the 2000’s. the book goes right up to 2023 as well so the mix of old and new is excellent and gives a huge insight into the development of the genre.

The writing itself is of an exceptionally high standard. The Book opens with a well-judged preface by Dave Cook and then two contrasting forwards from Keiji Inafune and the team behind Cuphead. Again, mixing the old and new in a logical and interesting way. This then followed by a breakdown of what elements make up the genre and a look at how it developed. From then on, it’s onto the games.

The amount of games present is impressive. Many are spread across two pages, but these inclusions are bolstered by smaller looks at games split into four. This helps give a snapshot of certain decades and years while also focusing on the more iconic and historically important ones. Each decade also has a short summation talking about how the genre work throughout it. To add some variety there are also some looks at sprite work, characters and iconic moments from games as you go through.

Overall, Run ‘N’ Gun A History of On-Foot Shooters is an extensive and great looking highlight of the excellent Bitmap books catalogue. It’s an entertaining read that begs for you to go and start finding all the games to play. It’s definitely up there with the constantly sought after Point and Click and JRPG Books and is pretty much essential for anyone interested in video games.

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