Genre Platformer Platform Played PlayStation 4

Developer Comcept, Inti Creates Publisher Deep Silver

Mighty No. 9 feels like a generic knock-off rather than the spiritual successor it claims to be.

Mighty No. 9 follows the story of Beck, a robot who looks eerily similar to Mega Man; blue paint job and blaster included. Beck was created by Dr. White and when the entire robot populous suddenly go mad, Beck and Dr. White must work together to figure out who is behind this dastardly plot and take down the mad robot menace along the way. The basic premise of the story itself is interesting, but Mighty No. 9 fails to convert the sound premise into a coherent and entertaining story.

Mighty No. 9‘s failed narrative is mostly due to the phoned in voice acting, laughable writing and poorly produced cut scenes. Each actor throughout the campaign radiates a sense of not wanting to deliver the poorly written lines of dialogue, which does not help the bland narrative story. Characters themselves are poorly explained and after completing the story I still struggle to understand the motivation of each character or even remember their names; but I did not forget the incredibly cheesy and cringe-worthy dialogue. Mighty No. 9 is the first game I have ever heard characters shout the words “poppycock”, “cheese and biscuits” and “peas and carrots”. It becomes incredibly hard to take Mighty No. 9’s story and impending threat seriously, when such awkward lines are delivered. Even worse, each “cut-scene” (and I use the term lightly) has very little production value, with characters’ mouths refusing to move when they deliver dialogue. Mighty No. 9’s narrative is forgettable and more of a nuisance than a positive feature.

While Mighty No. 9’s narrative is worth forgetting, a spiritual successor to one of the best platforming franchises in the gaming industry must definitely deliver when it comes to platforming prowess – unfortunately this is not the case. Mighty No. 9’s platforming controls feels stiff and unresponsive for a majority of the time, which caused many deaths along the way. While deaths in a platformer are to be expected, there are dozens of times Beck would fall to his death simply because the character refused to acknowledge a ledge was able to be grabbed. While it is a simple error Mighty No. 9 produces a retro expectation for each level – run out of lives and you must restart the entire stage. Due to something as simple as the inability to detect if a ledge can be grabbed, it ended up costing me dozens of attempts at the same stage simply in order to hope that Beck would finally grab the ledge.

Adding to the frustration of the archaic stage restart model is the amount of cheap deaths throughout Mighty No. 9. These obstacles can be random pieces of the environment falling out of nowhere, precariously placed instant kill devices and falling debris. Most levels are straight forward and most enemies can simply be avoided in order to speed run through each stage, but Mighty No. 9 delivers cheap deaths consistently. Each Mighty No. 9 stage feels bland and basic, and without these obstacles sprinkled throughout each level Mighty No. 9 could easily be completed in a few hours. Instantaneous deaths can be an important tool to any platformer, perhaps to increase the difficulty of the final few stages; Mighty No. 9 instead relies of these cheap mechanics in order to simply lengthen the amount of time spent on each level. It never felt like Mighty No. 9 was testing my skills, rather halting my progress with inconsistent controls and frustratingly placed instant deaths; before asking me to attempt the entire stage once more.

Beck’s main weapon is a blaster cannon strapped to his arm and although Beck can assimilate other powers from each boss encounter, Beck’s basic weapon is usually the best form of attack. Beck can destroy enemies outright, but it is encouraged to simply damage enemies enough so Beck can assimilate them and acquire timed bonuses to attack, speed and damage resistance. The assimilation dynamic is an interesting premise, but defeating each low level grunt feels too easy and makes combat less enjoyable. Enemies never provide much challenge along the way and instead end up being a time consuming factor rather than a difficult obstacle.

Mighty No. 9’s boss encounters however provide an excellent sense of scale and challenge with thrilling battles. Like the Mega Man franchise each enemy is weak against attacks from another boss, which is where Beck’s assimilation abilities become most prevalent. Acquiring the fire form will allow Beck to have an advantage when facing off against the ice themed boss, which adds an interesting factor when deciding which boss to hunt down next. Each boss has a unique theme and attack pattern, which made experiencing each new battle exciting and challenging. I loved facing off against the variety of unique boss encounters as this is where Mighty No. 9 comes closest to reaching the spiritual successor status it claims to achieve. While the boss encounters are definitely a bright end to each stage it is unfortunate that the cheap deaths, generic platforming and laughable story provide a chore along the way.

Each stage in Mighty No. 9 is generic and it becomes difficult to tell them apart in most cases, with a bland overall visual style that is reminiscent of a Time Crisis arcade machine. Making Mighty No. 9‘s basic visual style worse is the fact each level is plagued by framerate issues that can slow the platforming action down to a snail’s pace, or simply freeze the entire level in place forcing a manual restart. Honestly Mighty No. 9’s only positive visual standpoint is the unique character design of each of Beck’s alternate forms. Each design looks fantastic and incorporates the Beck’s original character model with each boss design, creating some excellent Voltron-esque visuals.

Aside from the standard campaign in Mighty No. 9 there are an array of bonus features and modes to be unlocked, but most are bare-bones and broken. Players can unlock Boss Rush and Challenge stages that feature timed goals, but most of these miniature challenges are completed within 30 seconds or are simply copy paste challenges for each of Beck’s different forms. Mighty No. 9 also includes cooperative challenges, that for some reason can only be experienced online – with absolutely no local coop options. This wouldn’t be horrible if the online experience worked, but at least 80% of the time the process of finding an online match would break the game and force me to restart. After hours of attempting to find an online match and countless manual restarts, I have still not been able to experience any of the online multiplayer options.

Mighty No. 9 ultimately fails to produce a smooth platforming package. While the concluding boss encounters of each stage are thrilling to experience, it is a shame that what must be completed in order to reach these battles is so poorly implemented. Mighty No. 9 attempts to offer a little of everything, but instead of ensuring each feature is polished and well-presented Mighty No. 9’s array of features feels unfinished and uninteresting.

Mighty No. 9 was touted as the spiritual successor to Mega Man, but unfortunately Mighty No. 9 falls significantly short at reaching those lofty goals. Mighty No. 9 instead feels like a platformer that has lost its way. Unable to achieve the platforming mastery of retro platformers and struggling to produce unique platforming ideas.

The Good

• Thrilling and challenging boss encounters.
• Design of Beck’s alternate forms.

The Bad

• Poorly delivered voice acting, laughable writing, poor story.
• Stiff platforming.
• Basic stages littered with cheap deaths.
• Frame-rate issues, game freezing.

The Score: 4.5

Publisher Devolver Digital, Team17 Developers Roll7

Genre Side-Scrolling, Indie, Sports Platform Played Xbox One

Olli Olli 2 is a stroke of brilliance that rolls the feeling of satisfaction, addiction and frustration into one small bundle for everyone to enjoy. Developer Roll7 has accomplished a great feat by designing a unique art style, soundtrack and fantastic gameplay to accompany this highly addictive game.

The entire premise of this quirky side-scroller is to reach the end of each level and achieve the best possible score through a series of skateboarding tricks, so simple yet so great. With a unique art style, each level presents a different feeling environment. Colours pop and each style brings out the level’s aura. The variance in styles is apparent between the initial set of levels and the last set of levels as the protagonist travels from an easy going concert-like setting to a dystopian, futuristic one, each accentuating the amount of thought and effort that went into level design.

The art isn’t alone in Olli Olli 2, it’s accompanied by an astounding soundtrack composed of synths, thumps and unique sounding flair. Each tune appears to perfectly fit each level it is featured on and works with the fast paced nature of the game.

Gameplay is the star focus in Olli Olli 2. Once learning all the nuances and tricks through the games inbuilt training mode, players can begin to pull off super slick tricks and actions. Tricks are accomplished through the combination of a couple of button presses in addition to a flick of the analogue stick, it can be a daunting task that may take a few tries before understanding it. It can’t be stressed enough how much important timing is in Olli Olli 2. It plays a major role in determining when the player should execute precise tricks, which helps with accumulating points. Through the use of particular ‘manual’ actions it’s possible to chain a combo multiplier with helps with collecting additional points.

Points determine how skilled a player is. It is a vital piece to Olli Olli 2 as it regulates a number of factors within the game such as which tracks are unlocked to the player in addition to ranking with others online and in local multiplayer. Olli Olli 2 features a multitude of game modes and this allows for endless replay-ability. Beyond the default single player campaign there are other modes such as ‘Daily Grind’ which gives the player an opportunity to name themselves king or queen as they battle it out to be top of the leader board for a single day.

The game mode ‘Combo Rush’ is a great example of how bringing a game of this simplistic yet addictive nature to a multiplayer environment can help bolster the competitive and fun aspect. Combo Rush allows four players to play competitively in a split screen nature and battle it out for the top score through the use of insane grinds and tricks.

While Olli Olli 2 can be super slick and satisfying, it is extremely challenging. The difficulty of this game can only be likened to those old retro games where a level needed to be replayed well over thirty times before it could be passed. The first few levels in the game introduce a steady, relaxed and enjoyable level of difficulty while the later levels dramatically increase in difficulty. This difficulty can lead to frustration which in turn leads to addiction, as I found myself coming back to the game over and over to, at first, try beat the level and then subsequently came back to try to achieve the highest score possible. Perhaps through the use of abilities such as invincibility as players re-do levels over a specific amount of times it would be possible to combat this difficulty factor.

Olli Olli 2 is a culmination of fantastic art styles, an incredible soundtrack and intuitive gameplay. Each level and world allows for a new feeling of immersion while the soundtrack features the right amount of synth and hip to suit the fast-paced and highly intuitive gameplay. As challenging as the game may, be pulling off those perfect grinds, lands and tricks can be very rewarding. Through the multiple game modes presented it is clear that Olli Olli 2 is a game that is definitely worth the time and effort. For fans of indie style games or challenging games with addictive gameplay Olli Olli 2 is an absolute dreamer.

The Good

• Great art style for each level.
• Outstanding soundtrack featuring fast-paced tunes.
• Highly addictive gameplay with satisfying tricks.
• Plenty of game modes, has excellent replay-ability.

The Bad

• Bit challenging.

The Score: 8.5

Developer Red Winter Software   Publisher tinyBuild

 Platform Played PC

Dungelot: Shattered Lands is the third entry in the RPG series which tasks players with fighting their way through randomly-generated dungeons. A healthy variety of enemies, mini-games, boss fights, and judgment calls are encountered along the way, making for an incredibly charming and entertaining journey.

At the game’s outset, there is only a singular character, the Paladin, you may take control of during your dungeon-crawling, but as you progress, more characters become unlocked. Each of these characters needs to be taken through dungeons separately to be leveled up, and initially this seems like a hindrance as you find yourself having to replay the same levels you have already completed, just with a different sprite. Fortunately, this sentiment quickly fades as the unique character skills and randomly generated dungeon levels showcase just how different every playthrough can be, with only a handful of elements remaining identical. Across character playthroughs, the number of floors found in each dungeon remains the same, there is a boss to defeat on the final floor, and on every fifth floor you will locate a tavern, providing you with a single chest of food or gold, a bed you may use to recover health, and a merchant who can buy or sell various items. Outside of those exceptions, each floor in the dungeon is randomly created, and may even contain mini games or friendly NPC’s rather than panels of flooring which hide enemies and items. Even if you return to a dungeon you were previously unsuccessful at completing, the floors will differ from your last attempt(s).

In order to progress to the dungeon’s next floor, you must locate a key which will unlock the stairwell. It is hidden somewhere underneath a square on the floor’s dungeon, but you must make your way by overturning a single panel at a time. There are items which will inform you of what is lying in wait underneath the panels, but the majority of any playthrough is centered around luck. If you happen to stumble across an enemy, any panel you have not yet overturned which is still making contact with the enemy’s space will become inaccessible until you defeat the creature. There may be dungeon floors which force you to fight several enemies in a row before you can even finish making your first two or three moves, but there may be other times when the key you need is two spaces away from your starting point. While this may seem like an incredibly wild degree of variance, it also means that the game is never intentionally punishing. There is a degree of difficulty, and a learning curve which requires you to discard many of the established gaming trends in order to succeed, but attempting a dungeon immediately after experiencing defeat at its hands may result in a completely different outcome, thus eliminating much of the discouragement found in dungeon crawling titles.

When I suggest that many gaming trends must be forgotten in order to succeed in Dungelot: Shattered Lands, I refer to notions such as complete exploration always being the best option or all monsters in a level must be defeated. No experience is rewarded for defeating enemies in this title, although chests may appear after defeating all enemies on a single floor or defeating one bearing a crown symbol above its health statistic. these chests contain coins or items, but considering you have very limited opportunity to heal significant portions of your health while traversing the dungeon, it is often best to simply explore until you find the key or you have gone as far as you can without having to engage in battle. Completely exploring every floor in a dungeon works with ease for the first level or two, but after that, when entering dungeons containing 20 or more floors, uncovering every panel on each floor is a recipe for certain death and failure. Likewise, defeating every enemy you encounter will result in a severely diminished health bar long before you reach the top floor and death will be lingering over your shoulder until you ultimately fail. Once you have modified the way you approach the game, things become infinitely simpler and more enjoyable.

To aid in your dungeon travels, there is a crafting mechanic, items to buff your offense or defense, a mood meter which will influence your combat, permanent buffs you can purchase from within the abode your heroes share, new weapons and armour to unlock by completing certain tasks, and a goddess you may purchase temporary upgrades from prior to entering dungeons. There is absolutely no shortage of ways to alter your heroes or improve them, and any gold you accrue during a playthrough is saved universally, across all characters. This makes it far more appealing to try the various heroes you unlock as permanent buffs and coins transfer, despite everyone having their own individual stats.

The biggest negative to be found in Dungelot: Shattered Lands is also one of its biggest positives. Forcing the player to go against so many trends which have been ingrained in a player’s head through years of gaming in order to stand the best chance of winning can be incredibly frustrating at first. Video games have always provided an alternate sense of reality, one where the protagonist is placed on a pedestal and, at least in most RPG’s, has survived numerous brushed with death by the end of the tale, even if it required numerous attempts to reach that point. To have it suggested that not only is it in your best interest to avoid conflict when possible, but that scouring every inch of a dungeon is not advisable is almost RPG heresy, yet Dungelot: Shattered Lands does just this. This negative element is only temporary, and is an issue with the player’s mindset more than the game.

Dungelot: Shattered Lands is not an incredibly deep or expansive game, but it provides a thoroughly enjoyable experience and breaks the mould to present players with a fresh style of play. There is a quirky sense of humour found throughout the title, whether it stems from defeating a zombie cow or watching as the giant finger of God descends from the top of the screen to instantly kill an enemy. The rogue-like elements found within the game help alleviate any of the grind associated with replaying dungeons as different characters but also ensure failure is never set in stone. Given the nature of the game, it’s a great title to pick up and play for five minutes or sit down and dedicate an hour to, with no two dungeon attempts being identical. Anyone who can work past the mental and behavioural barriers established through more traditional RPG games will undoubtedly have a blast playing Dungelot: Shattered Lands.

The Good

• Offers a fresh approach to dungeon crawling and RPG’s
• Rogue-like elements make every dungeon attempt unique
• Fantastic variety of enemies, items, and spells

The Bad

• Players must get past established gaming notions of extensive exploration to succeed

The Score: 8.8

Developer Digixart Entertainment Publisher Digixart Entertainment

Platform Played iOS

Music games can often be a fun distraction. Whether it’s a simple rhythm-tapping game on mobile or jamming to classic hits with friends on Rock Band, a good jam session is welcoming from time to time.

Unfortunately, Lost in Harmony, an iOS and Android a rhythm game from the creator of Valiant Hearts, only manages to land a few of the right notes.

LiH follows Kaito and Aya, a pair of teens who are close with one another. Aya finds out she has been afflicted with a deadly disease, the specifics of which are never mentioned. Over the span of about a year, the player sees the story unfold via text messaging between Kaito and Aya.

That’s right. The only real interaction between the two characters are through barely-minute-long text conversations. As a result, I barely felt any connection to the characters, even during somber moments. The only true interaction players have with characters is hitting the send button on Kaito’s phone; it’s about as fun as it sounds.

Transitioning from chapter to chapter also follows a noticeably repetitive and ho-hum formula: Kaito and Aya text, and things are either fine or getting bad again; players select a dream; dream is completed; the camera zooms in on the calendar to show the passing time; camera zooms out to see Kaito laying down on his bed and pulling out his phone to text Aya; rinse and repeat.

Between texting sessions, players must complete dreams, which is where the meat of gameplay comes in. Kaito and Aya ride on a skateboard in an endless runner-like fashion to avoid numerous dangers in a variety of backdrops. This can range from anything such as bears attacking in the woods, avoiding literal email icons in a Tron-like cyberspace and the vastness of the cosmos.

Dreams are often the definition of sporadic, but as a game clearly tied to heavy themes, what goes on in the backdrop of each level is often detached to the story. And although they are more unrelating than not, the backgrounds often look pretty with the game’s cel-shaded aesthetics, especially in the later levels.

The controls have players holding down left or right on the touch screen, flicking up to jump or tapping on beats when prompted. The bottom half of the screen is used tp move while the top half is used to hit notes. This often led to unintentionally touching the wrong half of the screen or accidentally moving Kaito when tapping a beat. It also seems frustratingly impossible to avoid obstacles at times, but even more so with cumbersome controls.

The only time the gameplay has anything to do the rhythm is when notes need to be tapped. The rhythm of the music doesn’t necessarily inform the player know when to avoid things. Instead, arrows are used to signal when an object is about to hit, which doesn’t match the beat. What instead lines with the beat is the timing of the dangers. For example, if a bird is flying in from the right, it will swoop with precision to match with the song. It’s neat to see how well things are timed with the music, but rarely does it help the player.

Speaking of which, the soundtrack is one of LiH’s few finer points. Within the story’s hour-and-a-half span are numerous great remixes of classical songs such as Hall of the Mountain King, 7th Symphony, Sarabande and more.

Outside the mostly drab story, players can either create or play levels using any music on their device. I’m not sure how it’s legal to include such a feature, as virtually anything is on the table. I played levels with music ranging from Coldplay to Skyrim’s iconic theme from the community levels. However, with clunky and sometimes unresponsive controls, the only thing that makes going through levels worthwhile are the songs themselves. I probably had a dorky grin when I found a remix of the Mos Eisley cantina song from Star Wars.

I understand what developer Digixart is trying to convey in LiH’s story, that Kaito can save Aya in his dreams and feels helpless in the real world, and I’m sure it could hit a soft spot with anyone who has had a loved one affected with a terrible disease, but everything up to the final curtain feels like random ideas put on the drawing board without being fully fleshed out. With unwieldy gameplay and frustrating controls, characters I felt little connection with and rhythm mechanics that do not help the player and a brief story, there’s not much of a reason to play LiH other than its soundtrack and gazing at the eye-candy backgrounds in dreams.

The Good

• Great remixes to classical music
• Pretty visuals

The Bad

• Underwhelming story
• Little to no connection to be had with the characters
• Clunky and frustrating controls
• Contradicting rhythm gameplay
• Few reasons to return

The Score: 4.5

Developer 1337 & Senri   Publisher Tilting Point

Genre Platformer Platform Played Xbox One

Initially released as a mobile title, Leo’s Fortune is now seeing a release across current generation consoles and the PC. While the quantity of levels leaves something to be desired, the level design is magnificent, the plot is meaningful, and there seems to be something innately enjoyable about traversing a dangerous world as a puffball.

Leo’s Fortune, as the name suggests, follows a fluffy protagonist named Leopold in search of his missing fortune of gold. The tale begins with a monologue detailing the loss of his money, who the primary suspects are, and possible motives behind seeing Leo part with his gold. Leaving a note for his wife Mathilda, Leo embarks on his quest to regain his wealth and confront the thieving culprit. What follows is an adventure which takes some interesting twists and turns, including a large robot which runs on liquid metal. While the ending is relatively predictable, it does not take away from the meaningful message found within the story, allowing for not only a greater sense of closure, but also offering players something more than a simple distraction for an hour or two.

Five worlds separate the start of this journey and the finale, totaling 20 primary levels and four bonus levels altogether. As an arcade game now found on consoles and the PC, this number of levels does feel lacking, but a fantastic art style ensures there is no shortage of gorgeous foregrounds and backgrounds to enjoy, and there are challenges available to extend the lifespan of the title. The worlds span a great variety of environments ranging from ancient ruins and cliffs to snowy peaks and coastal fishing villages. Each new world introduces a new mechanic, giving a fresh feel to each one, particularly when partnered with a difficulty increase. The levels are not inherently difficult, although there are three possible stars to earn from completing a level under a specific time, without dying, and collecting each gold coin. When attempting to complete a later level without dying, the challenge becomes quite significant and even the slightest misstep leads to starting over again. If this is still not enough challenge for your liking, completing Leo’s Fortune unlocks Hardcore Mode which grants you only one life to complete the entire game. Some may view this as a simple or superficial way to extend gameplay, but only those looking for such a challenge will likely even attempt it.

The controls in Leo’s Fortune are simple and intuitive, although I encountered a handful of times when the button pressed did not behave the way it should have. While using an input command to inflate Leo and cause him to float in the air, occasionally he would jettison downwards, usually into some sort of fatal danger. If Leo happens to be even slightly touching a surface above him when he is inflated, he will always push off of it with great speed regardless of your intention, but it will also occur sporadically when not in contact with any surface, resulting in a great deal of frustration if you are attempting a flawless run in later levels. Using gusts of wind or water to navigate also carry learning curves, but in these cases, there are always empty, harmless areas for your first introduction to the new mechanic, allowing you to practice without being punished too much. None of the introduced mechanics are terribly deviant from traditional platforming schemes, but this gentle introduction to new elements is certainly a nice touch, particularly for younger audiences.

Eventually puzzles elements are also added to levels, forcing you to examine the environment more closely to determine your path forward. Like the difficulty level, none of the puzzles are too taxing, but can add just enough of a delay while attempting a speed run to obstruct you from reaching a desired time. Again, the title seems to find its balance between offering difficulty to inexperienced players but also finding ways to challenge the more seasoned gamers who will likely attempt to complete all of the tasks laid out before them.

The soundtrack in Leo’s Fortune is unique and quirky, quite like the fluffy teal protagonist. The music is never overbearing, changes appropriately to fit the environment, but you may also never recall what the music was like after finishing a level. The tunes are relatively simple, explaining why the music may not stick with you, but complex enough that the music actually has a sense of belonging.

The biggest strength of Leo’s Fortune is finding the balance between casual platforming and substantial challenges in an attempt to appeal to the broadest audience possible. Lacking lengthy gameplay from start to finish, the game relies heavily on players challenging themselves to draw out play time. Fortunately, the same individuals who will likely complete the basic game in short order are also the very same who will take on the task of obtaining all stars or completing Hardcore Mode. When understanding the title was originally on mobile platforms, the length of the campaign makes significantly more sense, offering a game which may be played in short bursts of time rather than hours on end as many consoles or PC gamers are known for doing. The plot is easily one of the most enjoyable found in platformers of late, if only for the message it offers to the player upon its completion. Leo’s Fortune will not offer hours upon hours of replay value, and may leave you wishing there were at least several more worlds, but it is a charming, solid platformer carrying an idea which far too many people need in this age.

The Good

• Gorgeous level design
• Plot carries philosophical meaning
• Hardcore Mode offers challenge

The Bad

• Little replay value
• Short campaign
• Little difficulty without attempting to obtain 100% completion

The Score: 7.3