If you’re looking to relive the intensity of the Electric Daisy Carnival, this probably won’t do it. I mean, chances are you were impaired in some way, sweating to the bone, and surrounded by tens of thousands of other house music and electro fans — that can get a person going. Instead, ReRave from Step Evolution aims to get you into a groove and doin’ some good-old reaction-based rhythm gaming. If it’s not your cup of tea, especially with the kind of music provided — which tends to be electro, house, euro dance, and so on — then you’re probably not going to enjoy the experience unless you absolutely love rhythm games and must own every single one.

But we all know that’s not how music games and its fans go. More likely than not, you had some reason to keep playing Guitar Hero, all 426941 of them; you either liked the music a lot, or you had a newfound love for rock-n’-roll, or whatever. If you dig electronic music, you’re probably going to like ReRave. It is indeed a challenging and worthwhile new venture into rhythm gaming on mobile and tablet platforms, and it looks pretty too.

So let me explain how this one works. The game uses a power button as your symbol for a note. The power button spins counter-clockwise and as it hits the 12 o’clock mark you must tap it. There are 4 kinds of notes that you’re going to have to track: Tap Notes, Omni Taps, Holds, and Follows. Tap notes are self explanatory… Omni taps are when you have to tap multiple notes at the same time … Holds require you to hold the power button to complete a full rotation… and follows simply have you follow along the power button tapping notes as it moves around the screen. I might just be terrible at explaining this, or maybe you understood what I said; either way, it’s going to take one or two songs to get used to, and it’s a good idea to take a look at the tutorial beforehand.

Once that’s over with, you can get to playing and it’s pretty much like any other rhythm game, but ReRave tries to integrate some social components. I don’t mean Facebook and Twitter, I mean you can create an account and thereby track your progress seeing how you stack up against friends and strangers. There’s leveling and a total of 118 awards — achievements, really — to unlock, so that’ll keep you going for a bit. Step Evolution has three songs you can start with and many more available to download in-app. There are 2 free song packs, but 9 others you’ll have to pay for ranging from $0.99 to $2.99 (usually 2 to 5 or 6 tracks). This is probably where most gamers will find they have a problem with ReRave. Again, though, you’re paying an initial $1.99 to download the app and it comes with 3 songs plus 2 free packs totaling 10 songs altogether. That’s not so bad and — assuming you like electronic music — you may even want to purchase some of the other packs.

I’ll outright say that I’m really not a fan of the music in this game. I do enjoy some electronica and house, but I did feel that some tunes were cheesy and even uninspired at times. Fortunately for house fans, I shouldn’t be the one judging this genre, so it is your opinion that counts here and your willingness to play ReRave to see whether it’s a good enough go-to rhythm game for electro fans. Step Evolution latched onto something smart: the popularity of this genre seems to be rising, but does this really mean ravers are also ReRavers? We’ll see!

[ReRave, Step Evolution]

[DIYGamer obtained a free copy of the game for review purposes. This in no way affected the outcome of the review. ReRave was reviewed on iPad, but is also available on Android.]

Though I originally found out about Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel thanks to 93 Steps — who crafted an excellent and fitting soundtrack to the game — I’m very happy to have gotten my hands on this game. It kicks ass. I’ll tell you that before I even get into any details. Guardians is made by Drakkar Dev. It is an epic adventure title that combines side-scrolling action with an Infinity Blade-esque gameplay scheme based on timed responses and a quick wit.

It’s a rarity to see these kinds of games attempted on iOS, let alone by an indie developer (though the game is published by A-Tono). Guardians shines even in the face of Infinity Blade‘s superior graphical quality and against Gameloft’s Hero of Sparta series. Its polish may not be as evident, and occasionally this may hinder the experience of the counter-active gameplay. However, a couple of updates should fix any lingering issues left over from testing the game.

Guardians has an engrossing story, told through some very well animated and drawn story sequences. The balance between gameplay and story is worthy of note, as it doesn’t feel lopsided and unsuccessful. Instead, Drakkar Dev managed to strike a strong balance between the two, with the game’s campaign progressing alongside your acquisition of skills and items. The game is very challenging, but not impossible by any means. In addition to Game Center achievements, Guardians provides extras obtained by completing certain objectives in-game (extras mostly consist of artwork, but they’re definitely pretty to look at). Likewise, there is also a “Dual Mode” in which you’ll be able to duel some difficult opponents you come across throughout the campaign.

The game’s story mode follows the main character, Loreena, who seems to have been wrongfully accused and detained. When her prison is attacked, she seizes the opportunity to escape. Loreena’s story thereby takes you through several parts of the 3D realm that Drakkar Dev has crafted for Guardians. Assuming the role of a “Guardian” yourself, you will be aided by spells, weapons, and other pickups along the way. The most important of these pick-ups and perhaps the biggest part of your success in the game will be your Destiny Points, which can save your life when needed most and also revive you should you die.

Guardians actually includes numerous levels with mostly varied surroundings, but more often than not the obstacles in your way will be familiar. Sometimes a roof may collapse and you’ll need to swipe up to jump or swipe up twice in order to double jump. Attacking enemies, of which there are different kinds peppered throughout a level, require you to either swipe to the right to attack with your sword (when you obtain it) or select a spell/pick-up to deal with them. Generally speaking, most enemies are avoidable, you can either glide right under them by swiping downwards and taking them out from below, or double-jump over them provided you time it well. It’s really your decision (most of the time) how you want to approach the game, and that’s a pretty beautiful thing about Guardians. Duel sequences will follow in certain instances and you’ll be pitted against a strong opponent, often one with a particular weakness to a counter.

Guardians‘ graphics and sound quality are superb. 93 Steps fill the world with fitting backing music and it seems the Unity engine yet again shines on the iOS by displaying pretty 3D environments. Again, it’s not the Unreal Engine and this isn’t Infinity Blade, but Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel is seriously good and easily in the top 10 of this year’s best iOS indie games. It’s just plain fun.

It should be noted, however, that some users are experiencing issues with the game screen icons being too large. This happened to me a couple of times while playing the game, I don’t know if it’s a widespread issue or if it the screen size increases on purpose or not, but it was certainly a bit confusing. Aside from that and some grammatical errors, the game should look near-gorgeous, run smoothly, and be tons of fun. Future updates will probably address whatever issues gamers have, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

[Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel, Drakkar Dev]

The Great Paper Adventure on XBLIG is a 1-2 player, side scrolling shooter through a paper-styled world and features an 8-bit era soundtrack. As shown above, many cows will be harmed during the playing of this game, which is currently available for 240 MS Points.

Two DIYGamers, Marty Rabens of Levity Games and Ellis Spice, took the time to try  this title to tell our community what they thought.

Marty provides a great introduction: There aren’t nearly enough games that feature a variety of octopodes in their stable of enemies. The Great Paper Adventure goes a long way toward relieving that shortage.

This rather surreal shmup on XBLIG combines hand-drawn colored pencil art and retro chip tunes by Spintronic with classic scrolling shmup gameplay. While the player pilots a fairly traditional flying ship, the enemies are a bizarre, random assortment that includes the aforementioned octopodes (in various apparel, including a classic French beret) along with cattle, cacti, ice cream bars, biscuits, mermaids, punching bags, and pirates in toy duck flotation devices. You know, stuff like that. In the latter half of the game, you also get zombified versions of most of these.

Graphics and Sound:

Ellis: The soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard in an indie game for some time. Sure, there’s hardly a lack of techno 8-bit soundtracks out there, but it works, so why shouldn’t there be as many as there is? It perfectly sets the pace of the game here (AKA bloody fast after level 0) and had my feet tapping along throughout.

The graphics are, well, unique. Given a style to make it all seem hand-drawn with a paper background (thus the name of the game, I’ll guess) and 2-D objects to shoot, it works well for this kind of game. Everything looks like it should, and the background gives the Japanese shump vibe I’m going to guess they were aiming for.

Marty: The chip tunes with the pencil art may seem like a misfit pairing, but it somehow works for me. Maybe it’s the nostalgia connection; the art looks like something out of the high school notebook pages of an aspiring artist, while the soundtrack is that of the Commodore 64 games I played in high school.

Gameplay:

Ellis: The gameplay, however, is a little poor. It’s a fun game, I can’t deny that, but bullet hell seems a little too common for my liking, with bullets seemingly unavoidable after a while in the second level of the demo (Level 1). On top of this, enemies can go behind you or swarm from above, which, seeing as you can’t shoot backwards or upwards, does get a little annoying.

However, it isn’t all bad. A range of power-ups partly redeem the above issues: a flame-thrower instead of bullets for a short period (grilled cow, anyone?) and an accurate (if slow) shooting system, along with a bomb system to wipe the screen a limited amount of times.

Marty: The gameplay overall seems fair and balanced. The pacing between the general shoot-everything-in-front-of-you phases and the periodic panic-inducing difficulty spikes is on par for a good shmup. There are a few places where the player is required to use a bomb, which is a little disappointing. In a good shmup, the bomb should be a “panic button”, or a scoring technique. With enough skill, the player should be able to make it through any section without using bombs.

The enemies provide a mix of fixed bullet patterns (where it’s mostly a matter of memorization and planning) and enemies that fire directly toward the player (where a lot of the strategy consists of leading the enemy fire away from where you want to be next).

One thing I don’t like is the number of enemies that come from behind the player. You can only fire to the left, or only to the right, depending on the level. Large numbers of enemies will often come from the opposite direction, so you can’t shoot them. Sometimes you can squeeze between them or otherwise get around to the other side of them, but often it seems that you can’t.

Some weapons fire a little above or below the player, and some (like the flamethrower) even originate slightly behind the player. You can use this to a certain degree to work your way through enemies behind you, but it feels awkward and unreliable. One thing that would improve this significantly would be to have the weapons’ areas of effect more explicit and visible.

The co-op multiplayer works well. It doesn’t appear to scale the difficulty or number of enemies or bullets with more players, so there is a definite advantage to having a friend play along with you. I don’t consider this a bad thing.

Final Word:

Ellis: Overall, I would recommend at least a trial for the shump lovers out there, if only for the soundtrack and the unique graphics.

Marty: Overall, I recommend The Great Paper Adventure. For pure shmup gameplay, there are better options, but for indie quirkiness and charm and a very attainable price point of 240 MS points, TGPA deserves a slot in your game library.

[Thanks for the reviews, Ellis and Marty! Thanks for the codes, Great Paper Adventure Team! Like both reviewers said, give Great Paper Adventure a try for free. You just might like what you play. We have a steady supply of XBLIG games for the community to review; keep following DIYGamer for more free codes!]

DIYGamers Ryun and Matt Starsoneck were provided with free codes to play Going Loud Studios’ twin-stick shooter/RPG Lair of the Evildoer, which retails for 80 MS Points, for the first ever Community Review. The goal was to get different DIYGamers directly involved with playing the games and talking about them, in an effort to get different feedback to the developers and spice things up for the readers.

We hope to have a couple more reviewers in each piece in the future, but for now it’s nice to see where two dedicated DIYGamers/XBLIG fans agree and disagree with regards to Going Loud’s execution of Lair of the Evildoer. While the verdict seems split, we’ll leave it to the comments below to rock the vote!

Andromatta sets the stage for the beginning:

The game starts off with a pretty standard tutorial and story. The main character is a creation of Dr. Odious and must follow his instructions by twin-stick shooting through a few waves of enemies until the doctor deems him unworthy of life… Dr. Odious spends the first moments of the game insulting and making fun of him, and I found myself laughing out loud once or twice. Unfortunately, once I escaped from the first two stages, he is not heard from for most of the game. There are still a few humorous aspects to the game. In later levels the player is confronted by ‘Zombees” and their stronger and less successfully punned ‘Zomhornets”, and every now and then there are computers terminals with short notes presumably written by the doctor. Sadly, this humor is pretty scarce past the intro.

On Graphics and Sound:

Ryun: The soundtrack is not half bad itself. If you spend too much time on a floor, you may find it getting annoying due to the repetiveness of each track. Sound FX wise the game did pretty good.

Graphics were nice. Each floor was nicely detailed and there were quite a number of different enemy types with a coloring system for the “Superior” effect enhanced versions. However, the animation for those enemies was lacking, and they all just would rush at you attacking in the same manner.

Andromatta: The art style… is very cartoony and doesn’t seem to come together as a whole. The differing perspectives of the floors, characters, and walls give the game an odd feel. Enemies show little life as they bounce, unanimated towards the main character. However, the art, design, and programming were all created by a one man team, so I can forgive the lack of detail here, and about halfway through playing, it didn’t seem to bother me any more.

The music is also a bit odd, ranging from droning guitar tracks with strong percussion under them, then to eerie atmospheric choral sounds, and finally to upbeat dance tunes. Rarely does the soundtrack fit the mood of the game, but some of it is fun to listen to. Not entirely memorable, but not bad. The sound effects are an assortment of clips from free sources, and they do their job.

On gameplay:

Ryun: I always come in with fairly low expectations for the budget indie titles and didn’t expect much, but Lair of the Evildoer delivered more than I expected. On the positive side, each level’s randomized layout was amazing. I cleared each floor before proceeding to the next. The hunt for weapons was fun for a while, but some primary weapons outweigh others, and I soon found myself not sticking with one gun. However, I can see the replayability by trying to beat it with just using one weapon type.

Andromatta: [The gameplay] handles quite familiarly; left stick moves and right stick aims primary, secondary, and melee weapons.  Levels consist of doors, rooms, and hallways, with enemies, boxes, explosive barrels, traps, and chests scattered throughout via random generation. The titular Lair is 20 stories tall, with each level being randomly generated for a different experience for each playthrough, though I’m pretty sure I got my fill the first time around.

Unfortunately, this entry in the rising trend of random generation just gives off the feeling of uninspired, and sometimes linear, level design. Each floor plays exactly the same, except with a new enemy or trap added to make it more difficult. This helps break part of the monotony, but every one of these enemies has the same attack pattern (save for the turrets, which just shoot at you), which is a kamikazi charge at the player until it dies or kills the player. This makes the game very easy, as every situation can be handled by backpedaling and shooting your pursuers. The penalty for death is to play the current floor over again, which at the lower levels can get rather frustrating, as dying at the end of the progressively longer levels stings quite a bit.

The variety of weapons that is included is a nice way to keep things interesting, and there is a great quick comparison button for seeing if the weapon on the ground is better than the one you’re currently holding. Like most dungeon crawling RPGs, weapons and enemies have a chance at being special and enhanced over their vanilla versions. What can be frustrating about this, however, is the random nature of these special enemies can cause unfair challenges. More than a few times I have died at the end of a level because I ran into a ‘Superior Turret’ that exploded upon being destroyed and couldn’t be harmed by bullets, only melee weapons; killing it also meant killing me.

At 3 hours of gameplay, it is beatable in one sitting, but I don’t think I’ll be back for any more. That being said, at a dollar, if you are a fan of the twin-stick shooter or games that constantly throw weapon drops at you, it’s definitely worth a try.

Ryun on improvements:

A few of the downsides to the game can easily be remedied with a sequel I’d love to see, such as co-op and maybe even some deathmatch on the randomized levels would be great fun. A new game+ mode would be nice because once you beat it your character saves at “Ground Floor”. More animations for the enemies would be nice, as well.

[DIYGamers, be sure to give Going Loud Studios' Lair of the Evildoer a try for free. It should help in deciding whether to make the purchase.]

It’s a sad fact that the Japanese indie scene doesn’t get much coverage outside of a few localization projects such as Recettear, or the occasional english-friendly freeware release. Usually relegated to the dustier corners of the internet, most Japanese indie studios aim their products solely at their local market, sometimes even selling purely through hobby stores or convention stalls.

Cipher Prime is a developer that has become synonymous with artistic rhythm/puzzle games… and good ones, too. With their newest venture made specifically for the iPad, some may feel as though they’re abandoning their traditional ground for the trendy. But to think so is to undermine the true achievement Cipher Prime has pulled off. Pulse pumps rhythm in a slightly different way, and it’s important not to overlook its positive elements.

The game takes the shape of the rhythm genre, with little that’s puzzling about its core gameplay mechanics but a ton of depth behind the scenes.  You’re most likely going to be screen-tapping like a maniac — and hey, if that’s not your thing, you probably won’t dig this game. But when I put on my headphones and engulfed myself for a good hour, attempting to perfect my score on three of the game’s eight launch tracks, I was impressed not only by its presentation but also Cipher Prime’s ability to weave intricate melodies into on-screen patterns. It ultimately feels very zen. This is one of those games that is just simple fun, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Pulse can certainly be construed as art — which, of course, it absolutely is — but for those who don’t know much about its underlying schematic will see it as a pretty rhythm game to oogle over on the iPad.

At the core of Pulse is, surely enough, pulse itself. Throughout each track, players will tap at notes as dictated by the beat (or pulse) of the center in varying numbers of concentric circles. As the pulse expands into each circle, gamers are expected to time their fingers perfectly. The earlier levels, namely the “Tutorial” and “Straylight” will keep it rather simple with a small number of circles. As the tracks progress, their difficulty will increase. Notes begin orbiting the circles and — thanks to the iPad screen real estate — there’ll be lots to keep track of. What’s really cool about Pulse is the technology behind each track, as the musical properties of each song have meaning in how gameplay flows.

Given that its mechanics aren’t all that complicated, what will likely have gamers talking are the title’s glowing color schemes through each track. You’ll notice that when notes are tapped at the correct time, a small explosion will create waves of a specific entity or object — often related to the song’s theme (at least, depending on your interpretation of the music). For instance, “Low Tide” employs a blue color schematic and when notes are tapped in sync with the music, what looks like sting-rays (or fish of some sort) are released onto the screen; “Porcelain Doll” mixes shades of blue and purple along with butterflies. It’s not the most important part of the experience, but it’s nice to have something else to look at besides concentric circles and pulsating notes.

It’s admirable that Cipher Prime managed to create some splendid melodies for Pulse. More impressive still is that they’ll be working in conjunction with a number of indie artists to expand the library of music in the game. These first eight tracks —  ”Tutorial,” “Straylight,” “Low Tide,” “Sakura,” “Porcelain Doll,” “Let’s Roll,” “Cinder,” and “Cirrus” all written by the studio’s own Dain Saint and Kerry Gilbert — are considered the first volume in the series. There may be some who will feel let down by the limited number of tracks at launch, but the purchase is ultimately worth its asking price because of the melodic and melancholy groove of the music and the challenging feat of achieving 100% across all songs. Furthermore, new content updates will come at no charge as this is Cipher Prime’s first self-published title. So, really, what can you complain about in terms of content?

If you’ve got an iPad, then there should be no question about Pulse: it’s pretty to look at, it’s enjoyably difficult, and it’s easy to show off. Especially for fans of rhythm games and Cipher Prime’s previous work, Pulse is a must own. As a side note, if you’re expecting a release on the iPhone/iPod Touch, don’t hold your breath. It’s apparent that the game will not allow it to be fully utilized on a smaller screen. We at DIYGamer will keep an eye out for any new developments or new content released for Pulse, but you should have no qualms about celebrating Cinco de Mayo with this purchase.

You can visit the Cipher Prime homepage for any more details. Pulse: Volume One is available here.

When the first footage of Alientrap‘s physics-driven platform/shooter Capsized landed, a great number of older gamers immediately thought back to Exile, a seminal open-world adventure for the Amiga, Atari ST and other such home computers of the time. Now complete and released, does Capsized manage to live up to its progenitor?

Steph Thirion: you sly, sly devil, you! Eliss snuck (or sneaked, according to Google, either is fine!) up on me a couple of months ago when I checked out the lite version of the app. Intrigued, I sent Steph a message and he promptly responded with the full version of Eliss. Though the game is already two years old, it ultimately hasn’t aged a bit. It succeeds because it is stylish, it’s fresh, and most importantly – as is usually the case with the best iOS games – it is made specifically for the iOS platform.

Eliss has often been hailed as the multi-touch holy grail on the iOS, and it deserves this title. Gamers will perhaps be surprised to find out that Thirion’s premise of the game had been planned, but its execution was rather accidental. At last year’s IndieCade, he spoke of how collisions and the idea of planet separation had come about while toying around during programming. It’s a good note for future developers to make that coding accidents can create some compelling ideas for gameplay.

Anyhow, in Eliss, you have a singular objective: create supernovas. In order to do so, you must proportionately account for planets and lead them into “squeesars,” which are essentially black holes. It’s quite a simplistic objective, but Steph’s execution is bundled with brilliance as you’ll learn soon enough: nothing comes easily. Squeesars come and go and it is your job to ensure that you have joined enough planets or split up enough planets to account for each squeesar’s size. It should also be duly noted that planets come in different colors, as do the squeesars, meaning you’ll have to account for double the workload. To intensify gameplay even further, suns — which have a given path — will populate your screen and use their gravitational pull to drag planets towards them.

Obviously enough, the game goes easy on you in its beginning stages. It will allow some leeway for you to fully comprehend the mechanics and establish your methods of action. But before you know it, it will throw in some incredibly challenging levels your way. Frustration is not uncommon, but I suppose that word carries a negative connotation that is not applicable here. Yes, you will be frustrated, but really it’s your fault for not utilizing all five of your fingers as tools for success.

Nothing is straightforward in Eliss – and yet everything is. It will help to pay attention to the game’s “How-To” tutorial, which sacrifices written directions for visual ones. I initially had no idea that “stardust” (which comes about after you form a supernova) would raise your energy when swiped and collected. That’s useful information in the latter stages, when the game’s difficulty spikes and requires careful but quick planning in order to make up for the loss of energy during collisions.

With a superb spacey art style and a plethora of sounds meant to be enjoyed with headphones, Eliss is a remarkable achievement in the world of iOS gaming. It’s a serious keep in any app library, and it’s $4.99 price tag is justified by some exceptional elements of play. The only real complaint I have here with Eliss is that it ends. Surprisingly, this is quite a valid complaint. For one thing, Eliss‘s gameplay is such that an endless mode would add greatly to its appeal. Unfortunately, with Steph working on Faraway and abandoning Eliss long ago, we may never see such an awesome act come to fruition. But the fact remains: Eliss is an unrivaled experience on the iOS and it needs to be played by everyone who loves or doubts the platform.

[Eliss, Steph Thirion]

This is a game straight out of a 12-year-old boy’s ‘most awesome game idea ever’ notepad. It’s about vampire ninja/samurai assassins (one of whom has a chainsaw/gun arm) battling evil cyborg zombies on the moon. The premise is absurd, the screen is almost always caked in gore, and the soundtrack is pure grungy guitar all the time. But is it good enough to be worth your $10/800 MS Points?

When a game helps redefine a sub-genre, one could assume the review will have nothing but praise. Curve Studios’s PSN exclusive Explodemon certainly deserves heaps of praise for rewriting the physics of an exploding platformer. After players breeze by the campy Ingrish (botched English) dialogue intro, they will quickly realize how different Explodemon plays compared to any other platformer. In true indie fashion, Curve has experimented and succeeded in making a challenging, thought-provoking, addicting, and sequel (and prequel) worthy action/puzzle platformer.

GAMEPLAY CONDENSED:

Explodemon is an intensely fun game. At times, it’s a roller coaster ride of blowing up enemies and items, with thrilling platforming elements of jumping, dodging, and avoiding death. The game slams on the brakes with its sometimes brutal, but always mentally rewarding, puzzle mechanics. Players that have no desire to explore may meet the game’s time challenges, but exploring the huge stages with their multiple paths is part of the fun. Curve rewards players’ curiosity with a multitude of items: points for shopping for upgrades, stage-specific explosion restoring speed boosters, and explodicon collectibles. There are twelve stages that took me anywhere from 20-30+ minutes to complete the first time. Exploring was a must me, and I loved every minute of it.

While gamers may die frequently, Curve was gracious with frequent restart points. However, the singular kill screen each time Explodemon dies detracts from the action and becomes a little stale. There are pits, spikes, tons of enemies, areas that trigger random explosions or siphon the ability to explode, launch pads, and much more to keep the stages exciting. Boss fights with the same antagonist added an unnecessary chunk of time and ebb to an otherwise blockbuster event of a game.

“WARNING! THE ANALYSIS OF A GAMEPLAY IS DEEP IN ITS PENETRATING, GASP MECHANIC;”

(Ingrish often doesn’t work, does it?) Explodemon is a demanding but rewarding game, in that Curve has tweaked the “exploding platformer” formula for the better on almost all accounts. Some mechanics are easily learned and retained, while others may take the entire game to adjust to. Insightful gamers or developers could probably write a thesis on Explodemon‘s jumping alone. He possesses a sort of double jump, but it is executed so intuitively that it makes every other double jump seem counter-intuitive. How in the world does a character jump just as high the first time in mid-air?! Explodemon would surely like to know. Inertia is his best friend; at the beginning of his jump, players must hit the explode button to achieve maximum distance in what would otherwise be described as a double jump. This is really just him exploding at the most logical time to intensify his leaping force from gravity.

This jumping mechanic is brilliant. Can Curve Studios undo twenty-plus years of ingrained illogical double jumping? In time and with enough sequels, definitely. By the time I finished the game, I understood how to jump in Explodemon, but I would sometimes revert back to my Pavlovian response for double jumping. Fortunately, Explodemon demands several replays for which I will return and hone my skills.

Another jumping mechanic that Curve tweaked was the wall jump. Players can essentially wall jump once and then must explode to gather enough inertia to wall jump again. A meter limits explosions, so timing is imperative. This mechanic is quite the change of pace from the wonderful wall jump that games such as MegaMan X incorporated to allow exploration of huge terrains and advanced boss fights. Explodemon’s wall jump feels like an advanced technique and is one I struggled to master for a while. However game-changing, I applaud Curve for its ingenuity with the wall jump mechanic.

The jump has a third major component that isn’t as revolutionary but is still game-changing enough. Explodemon gains an instant “phase dash” ability. The dash also has a meter which limits its use. However, executing successful chains of jumps, explosions, and phase dashing is exhilarating and allows him to explore every centimeter of each stage .

Explodemon has a manual dash, as well. Once he gathers speed walking, he can burst to propel himself. This burst is Jesus-like/magical, allowing him to dash across bodies of water or other liquids. During the dash, he plows through enemies and breakable walls. All of which totals to pure adrenaline.

While Explodemon doesn’t turn water into wine, he can turn his enemies into vapor from exploding. The destructive element has its own mechanics. Last-second explosions to approaching enemies make time slow down dramatically, meaning he dealt maximum damage. A tiny flashing button icon appears above Explodemon’s head when he can rapidly chain explosions (avoiding the longer recharge of the explosion meter). By the end of the game, I could not trigger the later learned triple chain combo (denoted with numbers that flash over Explodemon’s head) with any certainty. This was frustrating when I was facing some of the tougher enemies.

The last major exploitation of the explosion worth mentioning is box pushing coupled with trajectory manipulation. Explodemon sends indestructible boxes sliding across the ground or flying midair with the propelling force of his explosions. Explodemon also has a slide, which helps particularly in puzzles when he needs to “sweep” objects off the ground to set them up for a midair explosion. Often buttons or weighed stations require boxes to weigh them down for Explodemon to progress. Players can later enter a trajectory mode with the shoulder buttons and use the analog to adjust the predicted path of the exploding object.

The trajectory also comes in handy when colored boxes have to line up with their outlines to unlock paths, as well. The puzzles in Explodemon gradually increase in difficulty and feel very rewarding upon completion. The sheer number of different, challenging puzzles is amazing.

Explodemon can rebound missiles to hurt enemies and solve puzzles, adding to the fun puzzle mechanic. Unfortunately, missiles can’t be rerouted with the shoulder button trajectory technique, so players must be beyond painfully precise to hit certain objects. The unforgiving missile mechanic adds a healthy level frustration except for the painful boss fights.

As noted several times, Explodemon is an intense experience. Puzzles and platforming are demanding. The boss fights with Absorbemon every two stages are mostly mood killers, especially when Explodemon must redirect missiles without trajectory assistance to hit him. Absorbemon has a damaging beam which gives him back life and an absorb technique that brings the player in swiping reach for a bigger life regeneration attack. It’s a good thing Absorbemon is so awesome by himself. It’s possible Curve intended these fights to piss gamers off.

STYLE & SOUND:

To quote Explodemon, “Irony detected! The wireless becomes a tether!” The incessant Ingrish Explodemon spouts will cause a love it or hate it reaction from players, but the villagers often quick-witted responses redeem the game. Each of the three worlds has its own strong upbeat/retro soundtrack, with the main melody of Explodemon heard in each. The sleek, futuristic backgrounds of Explodemon fit the advanced robotic technology theme. The minor enemies are a bit drab in color, and the status bars clutter up the sides and corners at times.

There are several comic-style cut scenes that push the story forward and reveal bits of Explodemon’s history, making it seem like he is actually an anti-hero in the story. The ending feels a bit abrupt, as if I expected something after the credits. Then again, maybe I just wanted more Explodemon.

As an aside, Absorbemon looks cooler to me than Explodemon, and his inverted powers of “absorbing” would make for a really interesting game. I get woozy thinking of a (computer-aided or local) co-op experience where players would use their powers together.

EVERYTHING ELSE:

Competitive players rejoice for there are leaderboards for each level, which ranks players by time. I loved almost every minute of the game, save most of the boss fights. I actually enjoyed the boss fight of 3-2. Curve has managed to rewrite the book on a few key platforming conventions, and I feel this outweighs the potential misstep of some of the boss fights. In addition to awesome platforming mechanics, the game’s exploration and puzzle solving were enormously fun.

If only I would ever start playing the game with the analog… I found myself holding the digital input in the beginning without my character moving. I suppose using only analog controls isn’t fault worthy to some; however, I feel a 2D platformer such as Explodemon should have digital controls if only to authenticate the retro experience.

I hope Curve releases an international free demo, so players that STILL have the horrible misconception of this being a copycat can finally shut the hell up… er, be delightfully surprised! Gamers who enjoy platform games must try Explodemon. Explodemon is available now for $9.99.

Thanks for the ride, Curve. I will wear the white hair and chin pubes Explodemon‘s stress gave me with pride.

Curve Studios