Tag Retro

Nogalious is very much a retro styled game.

Impressions: Nogalious

Sean Alexander

Nogalious is a challenging and short platform puzzler from LUEGOLU3GO STUDIOS. What did we think of the opening title of this trilogy?

 

Free Product provided generously by LUEGOLU3GO STUDIOS!

 

Nogalious is a game that captures the essence of challenging retro titles, injecting some light puzzle elements. This classic design can lead to a sometimes frustrating but equally rewarding experience.

Nogalious is very much a retro styled game.

Nogalious proves to be a fun and challenging title.

 

How Does It Look?

Nogalious aims to replicate the earlier days of gaming.

Nogalious captures the classic PC era of gaming perfectly.

Nogalious is a very simple game. Objects are defined and the character stands out. Enemies can at times blend in, red bats and red clouds for instance, but the aesthetic suits the game well.

Items are often obvious, though at times can be obscured by the low-level of detail making it hard to see what you need to do.

As the game is a puzzle platformer of sorts, you need to examine each screen carefully to identify your objective, usually a key, to be able to pass to the next screen. This can involve pushing or pulling graves to align them, or killing all the enemies.

Of course the soundtrack is suitably retro, and captures the gothic feel of each stage well.

 

How Does It Play?

Nogalious isn't always a pleasant walk.

Nogalious can sometimes be a bit challenging…

Gameplay is as noted above, find the objective to grab a key to move to the next screen. Progress through each screen in a stage and finish the stage.

Along the way will be special stones and weapons for Nogalious to use. These range from a sword, a boomerang, and even timed mines. Each of these works differently and can be cycled through, so finding the right one is key for each situation.

Sometimes the way forward isn’t particularly clear, and this can come down to either the visuals, or the translation. The translation for Nogalious is odd in that while it gets the basics across, the language barrier proves difficult when explaining finer mechanics. With experimentation though it doesn’t take long to grasp.

Nogalious himself is very easy to control, being able to attack, jump and pull or push objects. Oddly jump is assigned to pressing Up, but this is simply a matter of adjusting. You have fluid mid-air control, but be warned as some platforms are less solid than they appear.

 

Let’s Talk Problems

Sometimes the solution is hard to see.

What do you see on this screen? Do you see a way to lower the water?

Trying to find the solution to a screen requires precise assessment of the pixel art. On the screen above you have a branch on a tree that will lower the water level and let you find the key to progress. Of course, this isn’t immediately obvious.

Another problem with the above screen is the crows. Given Nogalious perishes in a single hit, and they can eat away at the respawning vines you need to climb and jump between, and contact damage is also fatal, care is required.

There is a degree of randomness to this all. How much of the vine they chop away depends on where they land. Further, jumping between vines requires you to first jump and then move, making it feel more awkward than need be.

The final issue is, unfortunately, overall difficulty. The challenge in each room can vary greatly, and your limited lives and fragility lead to using your limited continues at which point, well back to the start.

This is a game about mastery, so a lot of trial and error will get you to the end.

Expect to die. A lot.

I saw this a lot…

Overall?

Nogalious is a fun game held back by its reference material. It’s still a great time, but the less patient gamers may find it a bit much. It’s fairly short, but the amount of (Mandatory) replaying will leave you chasing that high score if you are persistent.

I recommend this quite easily to fans of classic challenging titles.

If you want to see the game in action, we have a short stream below:

Thanks for reading everyone, and don’t forget to share what you think of on social media or try it out for yourself on Steam. While you are here, check out our other Impressions pieces! Until next time, Happy Gaming!

Sometimes simple is better than messy.

Impressions: Tiny Hands Adventure

Sean Alexander

Tiny Hands Adventure is a charming little romp of a platformer from Blue Sunset Games. What did we think of Borti’s debut adventure for bigger hands?

 

Free Product provided generously by Blue Sunset Games!

Sometimes simple is better than messy.

Tiny Hands Adventure is a nice and charming 3D platformer

Tiny Hands Adventure is a game that manages to evoke its reference material and present some new ideas to forge a unique identity. What you ultimately get is a solid experience full of charm and unique ideas, but nothing truly stellar. Good, but not super amazing.

 

How Does It Look?

Tiny Hands Adventure has a lot of variety!

Tiny Hands Adventure is actually a quite attractive game with a lot of variety.

Tiny Hands Adventure is a very charming game. Not confined the dinosaur appropriate locales, the games has you climb lighthouses, traverse swamps, top-down view mazes, inter-dimensional stairways and even a comic book. While it may seem to be a visual mismatch, the game maintains its identity even though different settings.

On PC the game runs perfectly fine. No issues with resolution of frame rate, that I can see. On Nintendo Switch, I cannot say, but it stands to a reason a fairly simple game should have no issues.

Sometimes the worlds may look a little empty or flat, and the text certainly isn’t as refined or well implemented as it could be, but it’s functional. Everything is appropriate and accounted for.

I also have to say, the soundtrack is really good. Not a dull track in there, a good range of styles and lively beats.

 

How Does It Play?

Even with a controller on PC the game was very responsive.

Tiny Hands Adventure is a very nice feeling game in the hand.

Gameplay in Tiny Hands Adventure is simple. Progress through each stage in a tier, in what order you desire, grab the main collectible and finish the stage. When all 4 collectibles are assembled you can take on the boss.

Boss battles are perhaps the weakest aspect of the game as a whole, lacking feedback to being hit and at times either being too long for a fight that has no checkpoints, or being simply a waiting and dodging exercise. They aren’t bad, but some fine tuning would have been nice.

Beating a boss awards you a “Hand”, an extension of Borti’s standard tail whip. These include a drill, plastic grab hand that doubles as a wider spin, and grappling arms. Each of these are used in various stages, some even requiring repeat visits later in the game. Beyond this though, they feel under-utilised, but give Borti more to do as the game progresses.

Strikingly, the game encourages repeat visits to stages by offering 5 collectible crystals. Some require certain Hands, so making note of the different environmental situations is key. Collecting all five unlocks the harder version of a stage, with a single white crystal to collect, for 100% completion and rewards.

This is a simple but effective way of improving replay value, and while the game isn’t too difficult, the harder stages are definitely where the greatest challenge lies.

Borti himself however, is a joy to control. His weight feels right and his movement, even when using a controller on PC, feels smooth. There were very few times I felt like a death was the fault of the game, and rather my own judgement. He has a wide range of moves including a spin and slide, so he comes well equipped, though these feel under utilised until later, as the level design is often rather basic and doesn’t require much use of these advanced moves.

 

Let’s Talk Problems

Sometimes you can make Borti a super T-Rex

This game does have some rather entertaining bugs

This release is by no means flawless. As a smaller title errors do slip through. Sometimes you may find something isn’t quite solid, or a hitbox is a little misaligned on some spikes. Regardless, the game still manages to be fun.

The aforementioned issues with boss battles stands out as a real low point, as does the lack of enemy interaction, instead acting as stationary obstacles.

The game could perhaps come off as boring to some with its relative ease and simplicity, but to others this may be a positive. That is for the individual to decide.

Finally, and this is a purely personal problem, the explosive boxes in the game aren’t distinguishable enough from their standard counterparts, with the explosive graphic only appearing on some sides and the colour (Because I’m colour blind) being near identical.

 

Overall?

Tiny Hands Adventure is a game that occupies the same space as Sonic 1 and Crash Bandicoot in my mind: A solid foundation. With that said, I can recommend the game to platforming fans, and the concept of a T-Rex looking to expand his reach is ripe for picking.

I can only hope like the aforementioned examples, a potential sequel to this game would take the concept and run with it, with crazier worlds and more varied and useful Hand upgrades to Borti. The concept has a lot of promise.

If you want to see the game in action, we have a forty minute stream below:

Thanks for reading everyone, and don’t forget to share what you think of on social media or try it out for yourself, on Steam or Nintendo Switch. Until next time, Happy Gaming!