The Spanish studio Mango Protocol has released its third game, Colossus Down , a work with which it comes to close a peculiar trilogy: Psychotic Adventures . Before this title came first MechaNika and then Agatha Knife , both starring two unique characters each with more charisma: Nika is a very intelligent girl obsessed with technology , so much so that she has been able to build her own killer exoskeleton, and Agatha is a butcher who pays homage to the gods of Carnivorism , her own religion.
Both are controllable characters in this third game, a title that leaves aside the commitment to the more graphic adventure tone that the previous ones posed and makes the leap to pure action. Colossus Down is a beat’em up in two dimensions , if we stick to the genders, a self against the neighborhood of lateral advance in which we do not control the girls, but their alter egos, MechaNika and the Great Bleeding Pig , in a grotesque but lovable adventure of chaos, destruction and unbridled violence.
Nika and her plan to “destroy everything that is not cool”
Colossus Down can be played both alone and in local cooperative for two players , the latter being the most recommended option in our opinion. If we go into its plot alone, we will only play with MechaNika, but if we do it with someone we can choose whether we want to control the mecha or the giant pig. In either case the story is very similar , although there are certain differences to make Agatha Knife fit in all this: basically Nika gets everything she needs to, finally, complete her mission of destroying everything she doesn’t like , from school – the first thing that destroys, obviously – even boring video games, through vegetables, police cars and a host of other things.
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At the playable level, what we will do during the bulk of the story is to fight with enemies who try to stop our malevolent plans of world destruction: they can be from police and riot control to kittens and giant teddy bears. In Colossus Down we will travel through several fictional worlds (a military base, a cyberpunk city, a kingdom of sweets …) each with a new range of enemies to face, new ways to play and a final battle against some of their leaders.
If you have to destroy everything that is not cool, let’s start with school.
Although most of the time we are pounding the buttons to end the waves of enemies that are arriving (always advisable to do it with a controller, not with a keyboard), Colossus Down tries to break that routine with alternative playable sections : sometimes it takes the form of a platform game , others those of a martian killer , and even drops the odd puzzle . Although the presence of these phases is to be appreciated, the central axis of the proposal continues to be the fights in two dimensions, the fights against final bosses , which have their own design in the traditional style.
Doll’s Head Cannon, Activated
Colossus Down’s combat system is one that may seem straightforward in the early stages, but gains depth as we progress through the plot. We start with a series of basic attacks, similar in both characters, that allow us to hit melee, at a distance, dodge, jump and electrocute . These simple moves are complemented by special abilities that can be unlocked by gaining experience; Of course, the most powerful powers not only have a waiting time, but it also affects the life of our character.
Nika finishing off the riot gear.
And is that both the mecha and the giant pig have a very well brought life system: both are overheating when they receive enemy blows , so we need to find consumables that help us reduce that excess . If the bar fills up without our being able to stop it, we will die. The best thing is that Colossus Down has no interest in punishing you for not doing things right, so if you die you don’t lose lives or have to go back to the last checkpoint , but you are reborn in the same place thanks to a time-skipping system invented by Nika.
Rhythm, humor and graphic style: the best of Colossus Down
Thanks to that system, progress in Colossus Down is smooth and we will hardly get stuck in any phase . That way the game focuses on what it really wants: to make you laugh with its story. Ultimately, this work is a work of humor that with the premise of “destroying everything that is not cool” leads us to completely crazy situations . With small animations of dialogues and very short sentences (they are available in Spanish, obviously, but also in other languages such as English) he achieves a very successful comedy rhythm , making great use of silences especially in the dynamics of his two characters main.
Sometimes’ Colossus Down ‘changes shape to give variety to its’ gameplay.
The game’s graphic section is worth noting , a style that ranges from adorable to gory and whose dominance Mango Protocol has already demonstrated on previous occasions. They have very aptly used their stamp to lead us to fight in very different spaces, taking advantage of the versatility of their drawing . A style that also brings out the best of itself in the impressive cinematic animations that are used for key moments in history.
And that story is, perhaps, what is most important in the game, so much so that much of what we will do in the game will be to read Nika’s soliloquies or her hilarious dialogues with other characters, moments of tranquility can bother those who Come here just for the action outright . We will also find some situations that will require a decision on our part, in some cases more integrated into the gameplay (such as killing or not the principal of our school) and others more established as options within a dialog box.
‘Colossus Down’ is full of references to the world of video games.
Conclusions
Although Colossus Down serves as the finishing touch to a trilogy that was born more than five years ago, its beat’em up proposal is enjoyable by anyone who wants to enter it, even if they have not played the previous two : excessive action against Hordes of Enemies is funnier with the hilarious background of its characters and with its charismatic graphic style, which will pleasantly fool those who mistake its gore proposal for an adorable children’s play. It is true that the action sections can seem repetitive and that the dialogues will be heavy for those who want to simply play destruction, but both aspects are supplied with a voluntary variety in the gameplayand a comedy with a surprising rhythm for the margins in which the game moves. This is a fun game that becomes more enjoyable the more you let it enrapture you with its great ideas, as well as, of course, when you play it accompanied rather than alone.
