By Sam Coles:
Shovel Knight is a game that evokes gaming mechanics from the past
to bring forward in the modern gaming space, but however even though the
mechanics have been pulled from games in the 80's they have aged remarkably
well considering it takes queues from games that are nearly 30 years old such
as Mega Man and Duck Tales. It is a breath fresh air with a game that is
so light hearted and doesn't have gritty realism and the brown hues that
saturate the main stream gaming space.
Shovel Knight if you haven't guessed already is a 2D platformer in the same
vein as Zelda II, Mega Man and Duck Tales from the NES era with its game
mechanics such as the pogo stick move taken from Duck Tales which is great when
you rack a great rhythm with more difficult segments of platforming. The U.I is
heavily influenced from Zelda II The Adventures of Link with aspects such as
upgrading your maximum health or magic at certain points to the town
hub area where you can restore health and magic.
Level layout is fairly similar to Mega Man from the NES era where
you have small and dangerous platforming where you have to be precise with your
movements. When you die in this game it's generally your fault and the not the
game because you can't fault the game for its tight controls and excellent
level design coupled with fun enemy design and bosses. So tread carefully in
this game because it is not easy you have to keep a decent rhythm and momentum
as you traverse this world with you spade.
Unlike some platformers from the era where you pick up coins as a
means to gain extra lives Shovel Knight's gems have monetary value which helps
you buy food tickets so you can upgrade your health or magic in the town area
hub which goes up in value each time you buy one or you buy items in levels, so
scavenge each level top to bottom. You'll gain extra items as well such as
the fire rod which aids you in combat which takes the sort Zelda
aspect of gaining items in dungeons this is where your magic meter
comes in where it will take a certain amount of points from it that is why it's
a tough decision to choose which one you want to upgrade.
How the game works you go through level by level on via a world map
like Super Mario Bros. 3 and you go through the level and beat the boss then
you'll unlock a gate to progress through the map. Each level is varied with
different themes such as medieval to the creepy grave yards like Ghosts and
Goblins.
Like the playstation version of this game where they had the included a
exclusive character of Kratos Xbox gets the inclusion of the Battletoads which
is hawking back to the NES days with the difficult platformer although Shovel
Knight is not nightmarishly difficult like Battletoads, it’s a nice inclusion
and maybe a teaser for a future game. Maybe?
Overall I found that I really enjoyed Shovel Knight it’s nice to see a light
hearted platformer which seem to be a rarity these days in the triple A circle
I must give a credit where credit is due to Yatch Club Games and say that this
is a fantastic platformer with the old school NES feel. Get this game it’s on
multiple platforms.
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