There are many platform adventures, but in the end there are few that end up making their gears resonate to materialize a virtuous work of gameplay. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom achieves it through one of the best platform video games that I have had the opportunity to try to this day.
One of the things I like least about E3 is that there are so many important titles that in the end you have to prioritize and you run the risk of leaving interesting titles uncovered. One of them was Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom . I remember myself on the last day of the fair making an effort to find it. After a couple of emails and some inquiries, in the end I found two well hidden consoles, with just a couple of people waiting. That allowed me to try, albeit fleetingly, a title that already at that time caused me a pleasant sensation.
Months later here we have it. A cover shot, with hardly any promotion. You probably arrive here and don’t even know what we’re talking about. However, before you close the window, let me tell you that it is one of the platforms that I have enjoyed the most. The work of FDG Entertainment is an exquisite work of playable design, with the classic Wonder Boy at its core , spiced up by that which is so lavish today (did someone say metroidvania?). In short, the spiritual successor to the original creation of Ryuichi Nishizawa, who has in fact actively collaborated in the project.
It never ceased to amaze me as I went from one situation to another, with increasingly well-studied and ingenious approaches, a touch of difficulty very well measured and a considerably high duration for the genre we are talking about (around 3 pm). It will capture your attention for its explosion of color: an artistic section that makes your television take magic. But in the end you will stay for its pleasant gameplay, a mix between jumps, exploration and puzzles that I am sure will not only delight fans of the original games, but all those who admire good video games.
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom E3 2018 Trailer
More than just a returnMonster Boy’s narrative approach is a simple excuse to start playing. Your uncle seems to have lost his mind and has begun to transform the entire kingdom into animals. Your task is to return the situation to normal, recovering a series of orbs scattered around the environment. Simple approach, which translates into traveling through a map that allows some freedom and undergoing a series of transformations to become a pig, frog, snake, lion, etc.
The transformation of the protagonist in several different ways allows us to overcome obstacles that raise a really varied gameplay.
Yes, as you have read. The central dynamic of Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is not the design of its world, with its metroidvania essence, but the possibility of transforming ourselves into various animals . This allows us to activate a magnificent playable variety, which increases as the hours of play pass and we unlock new forms. By the time you reach the end of the game, you will have learned to alternate between all of them, taking advantage of the lion’s lunge force, the pig’s ability to sniff out hidden aspects of the scene or the frog’s ability to launch its tongue and activate propellants that carry us further into the set.
It kept surprising me as I went from one situation to anotherThanks to these transformations, we can make our way onto the Monster Boy map, which is a real exercise in ingenuity, a wonderful puzzle to solve where not everything is always too obvious. The game has its resources, and shows talent to guide the player without giving it all chewed up. For these purposes, the final bosses , in addition to numerous, pose as a very pleasant challenge. You will lose your life several times before finding the solution to your weaknesses or behavior patterns.
The game design has a strong metroidvania inspiration, with the possibility of returning to visited areas to find hidden objects.
The rate of 60 images per second, together with a great response to the controls, gives rise to a continuous feeling of satisfaction while we handle our protagonist. The control is magnificent, better with a crosshead, just like we did in the 80s and 90s. But make no mistake, I don’t want you to think that the game is mere nostalgia. I sincerely believe that the developers wanted to go further. Not staying in a mere memory, but in adapting the classic Wonder Boy mechanics to the present .
The way to achieve this is through the dynamics of transformations (we have up to six), combined with a world of multiple routes and “backtracking”. You will have to consult the map and stay well with certain instructions that the characters give you. But don’t worry too much. Monster Boy is made to be a smooth, satisfying adventure… but without forgetting the sense of progression . As soon as you stray, you will find special abilities, armor and the odd weapon with which to make the journey more enjoyable.
The final bosses are inventive and some are especially likable. It will not be too easy for you to overcome them.
Varied, long and even replayable. You can put few “buts” to a platform that is also very nice. When you are in pig form, and you do nothing, your character changes his eye patch, as if no one is watching, with an incredible smoothness of animations. This example synthesizes what you are going to find, a game made with great care, a very successful use of the color palette, very careful animations (all made by hand) and an artistic section that will make you utter an exclamation of admiration.
Throughout the adventure we can improve equipment and acquire skills such as fire, lightning or wind.
The soundtrack is on par. Check out the songwriters parade: Michiru Yamane (Castlevania), Motoi Sakuraba (Tales of), Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage), Keiki Kobayashi (Ace Combat) and a few more. In other words, a true musical “dream team” that gives rise to tones that are very appropriate to the type of adventure we live: with slower and more positive rhythms, and others more prone to action, especially during confrontations.
For all these reasons, I want to re-emphasize the idea that Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is an absolute surprise , one that comes to the end of the year, with hardly any warning … and that it seems unlikely that it has actually come true. I just read that it was planned as a kickstarter that failed miserably back in 2014. Look at it, and compare what that title (then known as Flying Hamster II) has become.
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is an absolute surpriseThis shows that you never know how a project is going to end, and that a book should not be judged by its cover. There are projects that are increasingly buried by the noise of the great marketing machines, and although they do not have as much promotion, they show they have a great job behind them . Take my advice and see if you can this title. If you are interested in the concept, you will not be disappointed at all.
“Magnificent”
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
8.0
Readers
(1)
A platforms of great variety, considerable depth and long duration. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is an absolute surprise, a charming title that shines for the transformation capacity of its protagonist, the number of situations it generates and a design that is heir to the metroidvania scheme, combined with the essence of the mythical Wonder Boy saga. But make no mistake, because it is much more than mere nostalgia. It is the adaptation of a classic to current times, in a delivery that any lover of good platforms will appreciate.
- Excellent combination of metroidvania exploration and classic platform action
- Transformations grant great playable variety
- Simple but effective puzzles, very satisfying
- Inspired final bosses, as well as mildly challenging
- High duration, considering that we are talking about a fairly classic platform
- It has an artistic and musical charm that immerses you in an incredible world of fantasy
- It does not propose too many things that we have not really seen in the genre
- Some compositions can become somewhat repetitive
