Review: Drift along, Xeodrifter

I’ll say it right from the start: I didn’t love Xeodrifter.

It bears obligatory mentioning Xeodrifter pays particular homage to Metroid, which is to say the first Metroid on the NES specifically. This is actually what drew me to the game more than anything else.

Xeodrifter is a side-scrolling action platformer released in 2014 that is currently available on the 3DS, PS4 and PC (via Steam). The premise is you are a spaceman (or spacewoman or alien – I don’t know, the game doesn’t specify so just use your imagination) with a damaged spaceship, who is in range of four planets with seven energy signatures among them that must be investigated in hopes of finding a replacement warp core to fix the ship. I’m not even summarizing anything there; that is the story from the beginning of the game and it doesn’t really get any more complicated than that.

You can travel between any of the planets from the start as you like, with Xeodrifter offering zero amount of handholding or direction. That much feels liberating – at least initially, yet it also eventually leads to annoyance.

The level design is pretty dull. At any given time you’re unlikely to need to deal with anything more complex than a single corridor forward, twist and turn though that corridor probably will. Sure, there are a few secret tunnels off the beaten path (usually devoid of anything besides a power up to reward your luck, perseverance or ability to look up a full map online) and there are some alternate paths accessible by using at least one of six unlockable abilities. Typically though you’ll only be mining one way forward on any one of the given planets. Until, that is, you encounter one of the obstacles requiring an ability to bypass that you currently lack. It’s like hitting a brick wall and it happens a lot in Xeodrifter. I know, for those experienced in Metroidvania games, that sounds like par for course. Coming from someone who has played and loved many a Metroidvania title, I will say I still found it surprisingly irksome. The game basically boils down to finding the correct corridor over and over again among the four worlds. I’d keep in mind the impediments that blocked my path and return once I had the necessary ability to proceed, often only to find the only thing beyond that was yet another roadblock of some kind.

Alright, I admit I might be a little grumpy right now (I played Xeodrifter and wrote this review while starting to come down with a cold for what that’s worth), but the game doesn’t really have anything in my eyes that redeems it of this issue. Once you’ve spent a minute walking down any particular corridor on a planet, you’ll probably see nearly every art asset such planet has to offer. There was never a point where I thought a particular part of a level stood out or was of particular interest, and there was nothing that made me think about what kinds of places these planets were, their ecology, civilization and whatnot. Whatnot. What what.

The six abilities are serviceable in that they aid exploration, and using a few of them to navigate the usual obstacles offers a few fun moments. Phasing into the background is kind of cool and is put into some creative application for both exploration and combat. I understand this particular gameplay mechanic was also featured in the developer’s previous game, Mutant Mudds.

There aren’t many different enemies to run into. Most can be described as “some kind of bug monster” and all but I think two of them are more like traps than actual living creatures that are aware of your presence and want to make you dead. By traps, I mean they just repeat the same movement or attack over and over regardless of your presence or position in relation to them. For me, the primary danger from enemies was how quickly either they or their attacks came at me from beyond the edge of the screen. Simply being methodical and proceeding carefully will defeat most of the difficulty of exploring.

Speaking of enemies, there is only one boss creature in Xeodrifter. You fight it multiple times and each time you do it is a different color and has a new attack to add to its arsenal. I’m not going to necessarily knock the game for this though, as the boss battles actually felt like solid, challenging fights. The relatively unforgiving game, offering only a single save point located on your ship, at least gives a checkpoint before each boss to give some leeway to learn how to fight it. For a game with a minimum of story, there is also a certain ambiguity about this creature. Is it a single entity or is there more than one? Does it/they have a goal similar to the protagonist? Again, the only resort is to use your imagination.

Briefly, I will say the graphics, sound and controls are all serviceable. In aesthetic the graphics have an 8-bit NES look while taking advantage of effects only possible with more powerful hardware. For what Xeodrifter was clearly going for, there’s nothing wrong with the graphics here – they are colorful, clearly portray what they intend to, and offer a consistent style. As I said before though, the level design that makes use of these perfectly functional art assets was sadly bland. The sound likewise has an NES midi ring to it. Nothing is obtrusive, but nor did I encounter any music that stood out or helped give any particular planet a certain feel. While precise overall, a few of the game’s controls were more unyielding than I’d have liked. Every jump goes up to the same height regardless of how the button is pressed. Shooting the gun up is possible while stationary - not while moving though (kind of a missed opportunity).

Xeodrifter is on the short side, taking only several hours to beat even with lots of backtracking. I found that once I had all the abilities and was finishing up my exploration of each area, I had a much better time with the game when I was rampaging around with my superior weapons and abilities than I had when I was feeling lost and vulnerable with only a peashooter.

And so, I will now ask, who is this game for? Xeodrifter’s spiking difficulty and blind progression rules out the casual gamer crowd. If story, atmosphere, characterization and complex environments are all must haves for you, it’d be best to look elsewhere too. I wouldn’t even automatically recommend this game to someone who has an overall love for the Metroidvania archetype. Still, if you like old school, side-scrolling action platformers, you could do much worse than Xeodrifter. Somewhat barebones perhaps, it still feels like an earnest effort to pay homage to the memory of Metroid and deliver some similar gameplay. It is inexpensive, especially if you find it on sale, so at the very least I’d say the game is more or less worth the price for admission.

My rating: 6/10

8-bit retrospective: 8 Eyes, the Castlevania clone that could have been good

Even if you have been gaming since the early 90s, I’d be a little surprised if you knew what game I was talking about when I say 8 Eyes. Somehow or another, child me ended up getting it for my NES collection. There are a lot of interesting and noteworthy things to say about 8 Eyes. Obviously the developers were looking at Castlevania as a template for their own game. Some factors of this include: the perspective of the action, the look of the protagonist and most enemies, the way stairs both look and function, and in particular the prevalence of a near exact looking stone block in level design. I don’t bring this up as a negative, just as an obvious note.

8 Eyes also has some flair from the Mega Man series thrown in, as there is a lineup of eight castle stages that can be picked among in any order. Also like in Mega Man, there is an advantageous order to do them in. The game is no slouch copy and paste though. Levels are varied and interesting looking, and enemies likewise look detailed and are well animated – for NES standards obviously. Music is likewise a high note, with music that stands out and fits the locales it’s paired with, even if sometimes stereotypically. It’s not really anything I’d seek out just to listen to it again, but it was memorable.

So we have a game taking cues from two popular side-scrolling action titles. It both looks and sounds good for its time. Why is this retrospective about to take a more downward tone? Despite its merits, 8 Eyes is punishingly difficult.

Game balance and difficulty were areas I think a lot of developers were really struggling with in the NES era, and that’s very much the case with 8 Eyes. For starters, you only get a single life. One … single… life. For a game with eight stages plus a final level, most of which are quite long, grueling slogs through dangerous enemies, that’s pretty extreme. Once you beat a level you can get a password allowing you to pick things up with your progress intact, although that still means you both have to beat a level on one life and necessitates entering a long password. Password-based saving isn’t around anymore for several good reasons, not least of which is that nobody wants to deal with that crap.

Next up on the extreme difficulty train: attacking. Whereas Castlevania provided a lengthy whip to fight enemies from a relatively safe distance, 8 Eyes offers no such amenity. You get a sword and its range is quite short. This requires some fancy footwork to adequately defeat enemies while avoiding damage, so lots of back and forth with hitting and retreating. Some adversaries are quite mobile too or possess a long-reaching attack, presenting significant challenges. Once you reach a boss though, if you do, care and precision tends to go out the window. The boss fights are wars of attrition: you need to do as much damage as fast as possible because these opponents are fast and unpredictable.

Assuming you are up to the challenge of triumphing over every obstacle in a single stage, you pretty much need to make use of an assortment of hidden items. These are randomly hidden, often in the middle of a wall with no clues. To help access the items, you have an animal friend. The bird is actually a pretty unique gameplay mechanic for its time. Mostly you’ll want to keep the bird perched on your character’s shoulder. At the right times though, he can be launched off to fly around and then be commanded to attack enemies or nab hidden items. The attacking part would be a lot more useful if he weren’t so fragile, hence it usually being a good idea to keep him benched.

In addition to all the things I’ve already mentioned, two levels are also particularly fiendish, requiring a very specific set of movements to proceed, naturally without any good clues.

If you beat 8 Eyes back in the day, that would be quite the accomplishment indeed. I managed it a few years ago, but only after watching a YouTube playthrough by a gamer who knew the game very well. 8 Eyes is an odd, easily overlooked page of gaming history. I wouldn’t recommend playing it and it doesn’t even have any contemporary ports to make playing it easily accessible. Giving it a watch may be interesting though. The sad part about 8 Eyes is there was a good amount of work put into the game, and with only a few easy changes it could have been much better.

Retreading the legend... in 3D?

Obviously, it has been awhile since my last post. So, that said, moving on.

Awhile back I went and played some game called the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Apparently it has some name recognition. Okay, to be more technical I replayed it for... I don't know, somewhere in the vicinity of the fourth or sixth time? But ah ha - it was the first time I played it on the newfangled Nintendo 3DS doohickey (says the guy who bought it nearly two years after it came out).

So how did it stand up? Approximately the same, which is to say approximately the same amount of awesome. I mean, it's Ocarina of Time, it really doesn't need to be elaborated on too much unless I'm talking to someone who really needs to brush up on their Zelda's.

The most noticeable thing about the 3DS version is some highly polished visuals. Then I looked between the new polish and what it looked like on the N64, and I realized just how significant an upgrade it was. The textures are now greatly improved and look much nicer. Overall the game looks more detailed and less murky. Many objects also have quite a few more complex polygons for their model. A good example of this is to compare the roots of the tree-like houses in the Kokiri village between the versions. Yet, it struck me as odd that so much was done on this front but the angles and such of the environments themselves were essentially copy and paste. It doesn't bother me really and I guess it goes along with the game providing a more perfectly accurate translation of the gameplay, but I wouldn't have minded if the very unnatural angles in the mountains, hills, cliffs and the like were given a more stylized look.

The only thing that really bothered me is there are a few icons on the bottom screen that must be touched to use - there is no button for them. Considering there are three directions of the D-pad that more of these functions could have been mapped to (in addition to being functional as touch screen icons), this was a baffling design choice. My hands hurt playing this game due to the way I naturally hold it to use L targeting. Although some extra button mapping probably wouldn't change that, it might have helped a little.

To kind of undermine the praise and fanfare I introduced Ocarina of Time to in this post, I will say it's not my favorite Zelda game. That honor goes to Wind Waker on the Gamecube. It's not even my favorite Zelda title on the N64. Gasp! That goes to Majora's Mask. But, you know, Ocarina of Time is still up there. Wind Waker I love for so many reasons: the unique art style, the ocean setting, the finely tuned gameplay, the fun exploration, the merging of new and classic ideas, and more. Majora's Mask... is harder to define. To simple it up, I'll just say it fits my tastes better. Also, I love the creepy moon, the mask transformations, the day/night passage combined with the schedules of people in town, and all the bizarre moments the game offers.

I haven't talked about the 3DS before, so I guess I'll go ahead and say I think the 3D functional is an unnecessary gimmick (again, says the guy nearly two years late to the 'party'). I don't hate it, but it's not something I'm interested in. From my experimenting with the 3D slider and after careful analysis, I've determined it results primarily in headaches. I also am not sure my eyes pick up the 3D in an optimal way. Still, I think it can have some extremely marginal value so I keep the 3D on the most minimal setting possible. That way there's some visual addition from this gimmick that's supposed to be a selling point on this thing and it doesn't seem to cause the headache effect. Other than the stupid 3D, it's basically a more powerful DS, which is far from a bad thing.

Review of Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Kirby's Return to Dream Land basically takes the concept of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and applies it to the Kirby series. It translates the 2D side-scrolling gameplay of the originals to 3D side scrolling, harkens back to earlier entries in the series primarily, and throws cooperative gameplay with up to four players into the mix. Overall it does a pretty good job at what it sets out to do. Since this is the first official review I've done for my blog, I'll mention now briefly that I will primarily examine games based on gameplay, looks and sound. Other factors such as story, controls and replay value may weigh in on a case-by-case basis.

There's not too much to say about the gameplay besides that it's classic Kirby. You move forward, eat certain enemies to gain their powers, then use those powers to blow through everything in your way until either losing them or finding a better ability to copy as you move through a stage. Kirby can float so there's no danger (usually) of falling into a pit, but there's a good number of varied obstacles for some platforming fun. There is a variety of abilities with a lot of mainstays and a few new ones to copy. Nearly all the familiar abilities have at least one nice little addition, like the spark ability being combined with plasma, and some of the new powers are fun and useful, like water.

One gripe I have with the gameplay are the super abilities, which are new to this entry. Back when I saw a trailer for this game I remember seeing a few of these in action, such as when Kirby pulls out a massive sword and does an attack that spans nearly the entire screen. It looked very impressive at the time. Now it looks uninteresting because I know how these abilities are used now. A fair number of stages feature one of several super abilities in the last area before the goal, and they're instantly recognizable because a large, fancy looking enemy will conveniently appear in front of you as if to inconspicuously say: "I'll bet I have a pretty awesome power." Assuming you do as the game intends and copy their ability, you'll spend the next few minutes spamming the one attack they have. Almost all of them require you to use the ability to hit time or location sensitive windows of opportunity, which if missed will require the use of the ability yet again. Super ability attacks will pause action for about three to five seconds each time they are used. It's boring to do and it is even more boring if you are another player tagging along with the Kirby using the super ability. Snow bowl, where you become a large snowball and roll forward, is about the only one that's actually interesting. However, if the super ability segments are plodding than at least there's a decent reward in the more frantic section that always come immediately afterward. For every super ability section there's a star gate that appears just before the goal, usually with some minor requirement to make it appear, such as by destroying a large object. The gates lead to obstacle courses that are a race against time to keep from being crushed and are immediately followed by decent boss battles. The ultimate reward is a few energy spheres, the collectibles this time around typically hidden (sometimes well, sometimes not) throughout all the stages. Anyway, the gist of this rant is I think super abilities were a poor addition to the game.

Having multiplayer is a plus for the game and without it I probably wouldn't have played it for awhile longer. I don't actually own the game, but I've been playing it alongside my friend Eric who does. We only get to it for an hour or two once a week so it has taken awhile to go through. The drop-in mechanic of allowing additional players to come and go whenever they want, making use of a shared pool of lives, is nice and flexible. It can be played with up to four players, although I'm not so sure how well four players would work in practice. The game worked fine for the most part with two players. Actually it feels like it was optimized for two players as Eric commented at one point. Fortunately we didn't have to worry about bumping into each other or anything like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and generally we could do our own thing. However, once every now and then one of the cooperative mechanics would kick in. For example, we'd be jumping and floating between platforms and then suddenly Eric's Kirby would jump off my head, sending me directly down into a pit (or vice versa). These instances were rare and generally no more than minor annoyances, especially considering the ease of most of the game, but they did happen and I can scarcely imagine what situations would allow these mechanics to be useful. More often one of our characters would get lodged on the other's head, and while that could be debilitating depending on the situation it was usually more funny than anything (especially if the one doing the sitting was Dedede). Still not useful though.

On the note of mentioning one of the other characters, there are three playable characters besides Kirby: King Dedede, Meta Knight and a hero Waddle Dee. Apparently only usable by players besides the first, who is locked in as Kirby, I spent the majority of the game using these characters. I used Kirby some early on mostly to try out the various special abilities, but once I had it's hard to overlook the usefulness of the other characters and their permanent abilities. Meta Knight was my choice for quickly moving through levels and cutting down weak enemies, Dedede was my boss killer, and the Waddle Dee while fun was mostly set aside for the former two as the game became more difficult.

I briefly mentioned the game was easy and indeed it was for Eric and me. Both of us have played numerous Kirby games and we cleared standard mode with barely a problem and probably without either of us giving it our full, serious effort. Extra mode was quite a bit more challenging and we finally reached our first game over about halfway through on a boss, and the difficulty increased even more from there. How easy and how hard a game is are difficult qualities to rate for anyone but myself and it's even more difficult to say whether one or the other is good or bad. I guess I'm mentioning it as more of an observation. The easiness didn't bother me much early on, it was still fun, and the increased challenge was welcome by the time it arrived. Aside from the ease of the game, particularly early on, it also feels like it takes time for the stages to really start getting interesting.

Graphics are the easy part to critique because Kirby's Return to Dream Land certainly looks nice. I'm not too picky about the technical superiority of some graphics versus others, but to me this looks like they took the series' 2D sprites and translated it to 3D within the Wii's capabilities. That's about as best as I could expect. Stages are colorful and relatively varied in appearance, and player characters and enemies are well animated. Kudos.

Sound is somewhat of a tricky area for me to approach primarily because of all the things I notice, sound effects and music are almost never at the forefront. The game makes sounds like I would expect it to from my experience with Kirby in the past and the music seemed to fit whatever situations I was in. For me that's enough to give a game a positive pass when it comes to sound. Now there are certainly some music tracks I like more than others and I have a few older favorites that from what I could tell were competently rearranged, but in general there was no specific music in the game that really caught my attention. I asked Eric about the music since he has a much better ear for it than I ever will. He agreed he didn't think much stood out at first, but as things progressed he believes there were a number of catchy tracks.

I feel like I spent a good chunk of the review criticizing rather than praising, but don't take that to mean I didn't like the game. It was good, although not great. The multiplayer mechanics could be slightly less intrusive and some mostly minor gameplay gripes are what keep it from approaching overall better entries like Kirby Super Star. Kirby's Return to Dream Land is a solid addition to the series that keeps all the good, core elements older fans are familiar with. With an easier difficulty and possibility of multiple players, it's also probably a pretty good entry game into the series for newer gamers.

My rating: 8/10

Some content in this post is being used under the fair use exception of copyright law. Kirby's Return to Dream Land is copyright of HAL Laboratory and Nintendo.