#PC
#PC
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Born of a daughter’s request to have a version of Ghosts ‘N Goblins with a playable girl, Battle Princess Madelyn carries both the spirit of that childhood desire and the series it pays homage to. This results in a game that both challenged and charmed me, bringing spooky character designs with a sense of cuteness, alongside familiar chaotic action.
It leaves a good first impression. I was drawn into the world and simple joy of warding of the assault of the undead. Changing the damsel into a pup that needed to be avenged (and watches over you as a spirit) was a cute, if sad, touch. But as I went on it slowly dawned on me that it wasn’t the game I wanted. The levels were unfocused, too often full of sprawling areas that felt barren and tedious to navigate. Alternate paths and secret areas seemed promising but often led to…dead ends? Or side quests with no tangible reward.
I felt pretty down on it. Until I was met with the realization that Battle Princess Madelyn was actually two totally different games.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Curly returns to help me take a look at Lethal League Blaze, a fighting game where you bounce a ball around the stage until it builds up time distorting levels of speed through your volleys.
It’s a hell of a sequel with a hype soundtrack to boot.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Marble It Up! is at once familiar and strange. It’s a ball rolling puzzle platformer that alternates between open ended puzzle levels and fast paced time trials. While it might initially bring to mind to mind SEGA’s Monkey Ball series, it follows directly from the Marble Blast series, a PC series which shares some developers with Marble It Up! The devs’ experience comes through here, making it clear they know how to make a good momentum based platformer.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Companies like Konami and Irem might not be making shooters anymore, but I’ll be damned if that has stopped indie devs from following their designs. Games like Gradius and R-Type are clearly beloved and efforts like Rigid Force Alpha clearly aim to remind you why.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
In terms of shooter homage, Super Hydorah is definitely one of the top players. Its blend of arcade influences and tributes to games like Gradius, R-Type and Turrican is as meticulous as it was in the original Hydorah release, and it continues play as well after its move to the Switch. What’s new in the Switch version is the addition of some quality of life features, like boss health bars, and the Rookie Pilot difficulty mode (both of which have been patched into the PC version now). These are small changes, but they make a huge difference in enjoying Super Hydorah.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
To Leave feels like a game out of 2008. So much of its design philosophy reflects the aesthetics of the Xbox Live Arcade generation, and the indie game trends that rounded out the end of the previous decade. There’s a story that tries to add a sense of importance by tackling subjects like depression and mental health, and the promise that each moment of gameplay, each written word, is a meaningful and intentional delivery device for metaphor. What this means is a game that mixes elements of cinematic platformers, adventure games, and uh, Flappy Bird? It’s an uneven mix, one that’s often beautiful, though just as often archaic in the way it delivers its points.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
With a focus on momentum and aerial combat, Speed Brawl brings one of the best feeling combat systems of modern memory. It combines elements from popular time trial platformers alongside mechanics of tag based fighting games like Marvel Vs. Capcom to create a brawler with a wide range of expressive tools to master. It brings together the need to shave off seconds to get that gold ranking, and the desire to build even more elaborate combos in training mode. All of this is wrapped up in fantastic and varied character designs, each with their own distinct playstyle and synergies.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Shooters live on spectacle. A good shooter can get by on satisfying gunplay, but an exceptional one often enhances it with strong aesthetics and world design. Aesthetically, Shikhondo has it nailed. Its detailed, illustrated style evokes both modern anime and traditional Japanese ink paintings, with subtle animated touches. The animation itself uses popular paper doll style techniques, with small distortions to the illustrations to give them a bit more life. It’s an impressive look, and even the UI feels stylish. But even with this close attention to the art direction, Shikhondo has some major inconsistencies, which damage both the art and its readability as a game.
