Chester Review (Xbox Indie Games / 240 MSFT Points)
Good Xbox Indie Games are a somewhat rare thing so I was surprised by this title a few days ago. Chester is a typical platformer that sticks with a true and tried formula: running, jumping, avoiding obstacles, shooting some enemies and trying not to fall in a hole. What is different though is the ability to switch characters and the level backgrounds while playing. Each character has different abilities such as shooting in all directions, falling slower or being able to slow down time.
Graphics: This is where the title shines – everything is hand drawn in different styles such as 8bit retro(large pixels), a blueprint scheme, a colorful version and a darker version. The characters and enemies are animated fluidly and stand out. The backgrounds have a pseudo parallax effect thing going on to add depth and there is usually some element moving. Some background styles are a bit confusing meaning that it takes a few seconds to figure out where to run/jump.
Sound: It’s been a long time since a memorable lead theme has graced an Indie Game title. This is one of them – it sounds similar to the Ulrich Schnauss title “Monday Paracetamol” which happens to be a personal favorite. The tracks generally fit the game well, the sound effects also match the action. The only thing that I noticed is that the sound levels of the sound effects were too high (louder than the music) and the sound levels were not consistent. I also disliked the level/winning music because it did not match the rest of the “chillout” soundtrack.
Gameplay: The basic platforming gameplay is solid. You can also shoot and initiate a special move and level up the characters to obtain new backgrounds and other characters. The enemies consist of cannons, two different what I call mouse characters, a jumping yellow thing that shoots thunder waves, a flying blue robot that tends to get in the way, a black bouncy thing, another black robot that spits out a blue robot that follows you, green monster plants that spits out mice? and this grey machine that sends out lots of small black balls that follow you around in swarms. Overall there are enough enemies in the game but they need more attack patterns. There are some bugs that cause enemies to not show up in the same place every time.
The controls are just fine when running, jumping, walljumping, wallsliding, swimming and respond as expected except when jumping and shooting. The problem here is that as soon as you land, you shoot backwards (I noticed this mainly on the level with the very many destructible walls that you have to open while being followed by several black ball enemies). The buttons for switching characters and backgrounds can get in the way – a better solution would be to offer a way to configure the buttons in a configuration menu (or assign those 4 buttons to the D-pad ?)
Some parts of the game were a bit unbalanced with the main problem being a lack of action / things to interact with. On the other hand there were parts that were action packed and multiple elements worked in tandem to create a “flow” which I liked. There were at least 6 areas / level parts with this positive flow.
Replayability: There are 3 worlds with about 20 levels in total. There are no boss fights or side objectives. The game has 4 difficulty levels of which the hardest one can be quite a challenge because of the enemy placement and not having any checkpoints. On your first playthrough it will probably take you around 2 hours to get through, on my second playthrough on the normal difficulty it took me 63 minutes. On the hardest setting, second time it took me 80 minutes (mainly due to that one level where you have to walljump up while avoiding the spikes – I think somehow the collision detection was a bit off). Playing with the other characters did not have any effect on the game as far as I can tell. It is interesting however what you can do with the other characters – for example shooting vertically or using the what I call spider character to jump better.
Potential: This is the part of the review that talks about what could have been and what I would like to see changed in a future version / sequel. I spent some time thinking about what I would do different and why. The potential is what I feel the developer could achieve given enough time.
First is the length: make the game at least twice as long. I would not even mind the use of the same graphics since I’m just looking for different level layouts.
Second: add more objects – for example 5 completely new objects that are basically obstacles and can be combined with one another. This way you have many more combinations of objects to use / place in the levels. Don’t be afraid to put more stuff/objects on the screen – we want to be challenged!
Third: we need some bosses. No one is expecting a boss on every level but maybe add one in the middle of the game and one at the end.
Fourth: Make some unexpected stuff happen. Have part of the scenery blow up or have a forced-scroll level. You could also for example block the exit to the level causing you to backtrack/use a different route to get to the goal. Do something that has not been done before.
Fifth: By using the solid gameplay engine with the different characters and objects that are already present, create some gameplay modes such as a time-attack(speedrun), split-screen mode or simply have the player complete the levels in reverse. It gives the player more to do without having to program too much.
Conclusion: this is one of those games that deserves praise for its oozing-with-style visuals and solid gameplay. I look forward to future titles from this developer and can recommend the game blindly. Visit the developers homepage here: BBG Games
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