Monster Boy And The Cursed Kingdom: Video Game Overview

One of the first amazing games of the year was “Metriculum” Iconoclasts, And one of the latter was similar to her Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom, performed in the same genre. Such projects this year came out a lot – and Guacamelee! 2 succeeded, I Yoko’s Izland Express from The Messenger. At the same time, the diversity of new “Metriculia” still manage to amazeful to interesting ideas and quality of performance, and to released the other day Monster Boy This also applies. If you remember the old series of games Wonder Boy, You can consider Cursed Kingdom Its continuation – simply because of problems with the rights to use the name it was impossible.

Not people and animals

At the same time, newcomers who do not have the slightest idea of Wonder Boy, Here will be most comfortable – know the plot of ancient platformers is not needed at all. The main hero was a blue-haired guy named Jin, whose uncle went crazy, got drunk and began to ragged the rod, turning all the inhabitants of the kingdom in animals. The boy also got under a hot hand – from a pretty “anime” teenager he was transformed into a funny pig. However, this does not prevent him from heading for a long journey to remove the curse and with himself, and from all the others.

Sorry, but after the entry plot goes on the second or even the third plan and right up to the final it does not get any development. Almost immediately, the protagonist is asked to collect six spheres around the world, which has already become an alarming bell for me – with such a structure, it is difficult to tell a difficult story. Make this authors really failed, but the characters on their jean path meets very cute and cute. Researcher Caves with a bodyguard assistant, an inadvertental bird that lives somewhere in the clouds, a family in which the children were turned into raccoons – all the inhabitants are funny, but still not remembered.

Fortunately, the atmosphere is so comfortable that during the passage about the weakness of the plot is not thinking. In many ways, this is the merit of artists and animators who have done a lot of work for the “revival” of the game world. The details begin to notice already at the very beginning, when you jump from one bridge to another and fought with crabs, – before the fight they have a smile on the faces, and after receoning damage, they begin to be angry and with displeashed physiognomies run toward Gina. Then the hero turns out to be in the very center of the kingdom, where there are full of all sorts of shops, the streets are standing on the street and the rest of the inhabitants, and the player checks whether he can jump out onto that roof and where it will be able to slip after that.

Protagonist is always ready to help.

In addition, there is also a wonderful soundtrack – separately it is hardly wanted, but half a dozen of Japanese composers wrote many excellent compositions, including inspired by old Wonder Boy.

Each forms that acquire the main character in the course of travel, there are unique animations. Finding a new sphere, he gets the opportunity to turn into another creature on the fly. At first, the protagonist runs only in the guise of a pig – he can sniffs to search for secrets and flopping on the buttons, and a lot of weight allows him to dive on the bottom of the reservoirs. Then the character learns to transform into a snake, capable of clinging for moss on the walls, flutter poison and break into narrow holes in the walls. The lion runs very quickly and breaks the head of the wall, the frog grabs the language behind the objects hanging in the air, the dragon flies and breathes fire.

Over time, each of the forms will acquire new abilities that allow each creature to be useful in several situations. The lion, for example, will begin to destroy the blocks not only in front of them, but also above the head, hinting high and getting to the previously inaccessible places. In general, classical in many ways “metriculum” with a periodic receipt of new skills.

You can switch between forms at any time, and with this, many puzzles are connected and simply unusual episodes. Destroy the obstacle to one character, jump onto the next platform to others, switch to the snake and squeeze into the hole, then take a lion again and break through the ceiling. In some situations, it will have to change the appearance immediately after the jump or during the flight – for example, quickly reincarnate in the reptile, in order to have time to get to the wall covered with moss. Sometimes there are problems with the logic of riddles – more than once we ask, why only the snake and frog can select objects. Is it really in the case of a lion, the character is so lazy to remove the sword into the sheath? However, difficulties with the decision of the puzzles because of this there is no.

All these shoes will be useful in a variety of situations.

Deep into and wrench

There are B Monster Boy and various types of weapons and armor affecting the characteristics. Only a shoe of almost a dozen: there are shoes, allowing to walk along the lava, and special boots for walking on ice, and at some point the hero can even stand on the clouds. All sorts of amulets and bibs give useful bonuses, such as fire resistance and poison, or increase the chance of obtaining coins and charges for spells. Swords should be chosen depending on the location – if ice beings run around, they will die from fire weapons much faster than from any other. Gold coins falling out of enemies and hidden around the world are spent on the purchase of these things.

Pass the Monster Boy succeed and without constant shift of the wardrobe, but the game will become more difficult. In the volcanic area, I went with a standard equipment, spraul money on ice armor and a sword, and because of this I received much more damage than could. Characteristics here really affect the survivability of the character, which is especially important if you do not hunt chests with increasing health. Plus, the equipment can be improved by the blacksmith, adding additional properties, and when wearing a set of one style, we give another bonus characteristic.

For upgrades, special stones are needed, but just not to get them – the overwhelming majority of them lies in secret zones with puzzles. Capture a 100% card would be exciting and without it, and so – an extra reason to study every corner, carefully consider the card and look for secret passages. Sometimes you will have to jump on invisible platforms, then you will get on a peculiar minefield, where it is to use snag pigs and determine the location of the bombs. Some chests open only with consistent use of the same spell, and this is also impossible to do without appropriate improvements. In general, wishing to continue the journey after the final of the plot will be able to spend another five o’clock.

With such a margin of “lives” will be difficult to live for a long time.

Thanks to a pleasant visual style, excellent music, useful characteristics of equipment and other advantages, tear away from Monster Boy very hard. Every time I wanted to turn off the game, I decided to inspect a couple of neighboring rooms, I noticed some chest, stuck for a minute because of the difficult riddles, fought with monsters and as a result I was still one another hour and a half.

Cursed Kingdom Not only looks beautiful, but also played remarkably: the character is responsive, the management is convenient, and you can specify in the menu whether you want to switch between the guys on the fly or using the radial menu.

If you do not consider the mediocre plot, the only claim for the game is related to the storage points. They are placed quite generously – very rarely I passed more than five rooms in a row, hoping to find “Chekpoint” as soon as possible. Yes, and all the riddled riddles player remain after death solved, which is also a huge plus. But it is not entirely clear why some points are completely restored by health, and on others you are reborn with a couple of hearts without the possibility to fully cure. Closer to the final, the game is becoming more and more difficult, and from the opponents of “life” falls extremely rarely. Fortunately, about most “bosses” there is a medical center, where for a small fee you can heal, but in some episodes it is not possible to find it nearby.

With such a margin of “lives” will be difficult to live for a long time.

***

In the rest Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom – Beautiful and cozy game. It is nice to spend a half dozen hours, trying to find the right approach to puzzles, looking for chests with valuable trophies and choosing equipment for a variety of situations. Even a little disappointing that the plot was paid not so much attention as I would like, but for a similar game it is not so important. The main thing is to explore the big world was fun, but with this in Monster Boy everything is almost perfect – and fans Wonder Boy, and the new audience the game will certainly have to do.

Pros: Wonderful visual design and pleasant atmosphere;Excellent soundtrack, which is always great fits into what is happening;Gorgeous (in most episodes) level design and interesting puzzles;a variety of equipment affecting gameplay;Convenient management.

Minuses: weak main plot;Not all storage points restore health when revived.