Your character, Shadow, is awakened mid recovery from a massive blast that has destroyed a whole city. Thankfully Cyber Shadow by developer Mechanical Head Studios and publisher Yacht Club Games mixes the best aspects of retro platforming with new exciting moves for an experience that is uniquely it’s own.Ĭyber Shadow’s narrative is relatively ambiguous from the start. Unfortunately, some rely too heavily on nostalgia over any real substance, resulting in a pretty shallow experience. I didn’t like this in the ‘80s and I don’t like it now it just feels like a cheap way of punishing the player for a small mistake.I’m always down for a challenging retro-inspired side scroller as I find it fascinating to see how developers implement modern gameplay sensibilities into the classic genre. The same happens when running – if a projectile hits you you are thrown back, typically into another trap. There’s nothing more annoying than taking a leap of faith, and an enemy appearing in mid-jump who immediately recoils in horror, forcing you to go backwards, usually into a spike pit or oblivion. The first is one of my pet hates in games of this type – the exaggerated knock back that occurs if you take a hit. Of course, there are issues with Cyber Shadow, but only really a couple of note. Luckily, as I mentioned a little earlier, the controls are sharp enough to allow you to chain together jumps, dashes and slides into an almost balletic dance through the enemies. Luckily, there are shrine-looking things that act as checkpoints, although not quite as many as you’d like. Small passages with spikes, platforms that seem to be just out of reach and perilous pathways to traverse will take their toll on you as much as the enemies do.
#Cyber shadow xbox full
With many more powers to obtain, including a double jump, parries, dashes and wall slides, you’ll soon be an absolute badass.Īnd it’s just as well, as not only is the path ahead full of enemies and bosses to dispose of, the actual design of the levels is also out to get you. You can only have a certain amount of throws as well, controlled by how many power points you currently have. The first one, for instance, gives the ability to throw shurikens, which can either be used as ranged weapons or to trigger switches from a distance. The ninjas we pull from these pods are in too rough a shape to live, but before expiring they bestow upon us some new abilities. Sound-wise it is all bang on as well swishes with a sword, shurikens and a pulse-pounding retro soundtrack by Enrique Martin.Īt the end of each level, there tends to be a pod, similar to the one that we were encased in at the start of the game. The animation appears to be period correct too, and the controls are absolutely pin-sharp so any deaths (and there will be some, make no mistake) will be entirely your fault. In fact, the design of the enemies and backgrounds are all beautifully realised. You see, the good parts are very good indeed, with a beautiful hand-drawn look to the sprites, and backgrounds that scroll in a mesmerising parallax style – the best I’ve seen since my days with the SNES. Only we survive, and so the scene is set for a massive ruck with revenge at its heart.Ĭyber Shadow transported me straight back to the glory days of side-scrolling platformers as a love letter to the games of olden times, both for good and for bad.
Now, I have to be honest, the story here is more kind of hinted at than spoon-fed, but it would appear that the chief baddy – Dr Progen – has used the souls of the ninja to power his evil army, exterminating all life forms on the planet.
As the game opens, we find ourselves hibernating in some kind of pod, awakened by our faithful robot buddy, who goes by the designation L-Gion he is our only guide through what remains of Mekacity. We are in rough shape, and seemingly made up of more than a few cybernetic upgrades. The world has been taken over by synthetic lifeforms, and we are Shadow, the sole survivor of our whole clan of ninjas. The story of Cyber Shadow is suitably bonkers, seemingly coming straight from one of the more believable video game nasties of the 1980s.
0 kommentar(er)
