Yacht Club Games - 2014 - PC/3DS/WiiU
Being born in 1987, I just caught the very tail end of the 8 bit NES era. Some of my earliest gaming memories are of playing 8 bit platformers on the NES like Mario 1/2/3, Contra and Milon's Secret Castle - Anyone remember that game? But I actually never grew up on the old Castlevanias and Megamans that Shovel Knight draws heavy influence from. The legendary difficulty of those games had discouraged me from playing them until very recently. While I feel I now appreciate those games, I don't think I would say that I enjoyed them. I just don't have the patience to bare through the brutal old school difficulty those games have. I was pleased to find out that unlike the games it's influenced by, Shovel Knight does an excellent job of easing the player into the game by slowly introducing the player to the mechanics and then incrementally ramping up the difficulty level. Don't worry, there's still some controller-snappingly difficult levels later in the game. But they come at a point where you're already too invested in the game to throw down the controller and give up in frustration... I'm looking at you, Mega Man 2.
In Shovel Knight, you play as Shovel Knight who uses - you guessed it - a shovel as his primary weapon. Shovel Knight is off to save his comrade and love interest, Shield Knight, from the clutches of the evil Enchantress. Along the way you'll have to defeat eight "boss knights", which is a clear reference to Mega Man's usual eight robot masters. Your shovel can be used to hit enemies directly in front of you similar to Simon's whip in Castlevania or it can be thrust downward to bounce off enemies like the "pogo bounce" in Ducktales. The shovel can additionally be used to dig up the many mounds of treasure found throughout the levels in the game. Treasure can be used to purchase weapon, armor or health upgrades or it can also be used to purchase various "relics" which give you powerful secondary abilities which cost magic power. Instead of using a "lives" system, each time you die in Shovel Knight, you'll lose a chunk of your treasure. However, in borrowing a page from Dark Souls, if you can get back to where you died previously without dying again, you can recover your lost treasure. Very cool design. Another interesting mechanic is that each checkpoint in a level can be optionally destroyed for a good sum of treasure. It's a neat risk/reward mechanic, but I was usually too scared to destroy any checkpoints in the game, especially in the later levels.
Nearly every aspect of Shovel Knight is designed to invoke 8 bit nostalgia. Everything from the menus to sound effects is very reminiscent of the NES era. It's actually possible to play the game with just four buttons and a D-pad, like a NES controller. The world map is very Mario 3-esque with optional mini-boss enemies that shuffle around the screen after completing every level. There's Zelda II like towns throughout the game where upgrades and new equipment can be purchased. Even the health boosts are potroasts in homage to Castlevania. There's some great 8 bit music as well: Strike the Earth, An Underlying Problem and La Danse Macabre are highlights from the soundtrack. Even the composition of the tracks somehow simultaneously reminded me of Castlevania and Mega Man.
Summary:
There really isn't too much negative I can say about Shovel Knight. It's a difficult game, but it's also a fair game. It introduces difficulty over time instead of beating you over the head with it like Shovel Knight's old school brethren. It is kind of short though, but at the same time I felt its length was appropriate. If you're a fan of old Castlevania or Mega Man games or even 2D platformers in general, you must check out Shovel Knight. You won't be disappointed.
In Shovel Knight, you play as Shovel Knight who uses - you guessed it - a shovel as his primary weapon. Shovel Knight is off to save his comrade and love interest, Shield Knight, from the clutches of the evil Enchantress. Along the way you'll have to defeat eight "boss knights", which is a clear reference to Mega Man's usual eight robot masters. Your shovel can be used to hit enemies directly in front of you similar to Simon's whip in Castlevania or it can be thrust downward to bounce off enemies like the "pogo bounce" in Ducktales. The shovel can additionally be used to dig up the many mounds of treasure found throughout the levels in the game. Treasure can be used to purchase weapon, armor or health upgrades or it can also be used to purchase various "relics" which give you powerful secondary abilities which cost magic power. Instead of using a "lives" system, each time you die in Shovel Knight, you'll lose a chunk of your treasure. However, in borrowing a page from Dark Souls, if you can get back to where you died previously without dying again, you can recover your lost treasure. Very cool design. Another interesting mechanic is that each checkpoint in a level can be optionally destroyed for a good sum of treasure. It's a neat risk/reward mechanic, but I was usually too scared to destroy any checkpoints in the game, especially in the later levels.
Nearly every aspect of Shovel Knight is designed to invoke 8 bit nostalgia. Everything from the menus to sound effects is very reminiscent of the NES era. It's actually possible to play the game with just four buttons and a D-pad, like a NES controller. The world map is very Mario 3-esque with optional mini-boss enemies that shuffle around the screen after completing every level. There's Zelda II like towns throughout the game where upgrades and new equipment can be purchased. Even the health boosts are potroasts in homage to Castlevania. There's some great 8 bit music as well: Strike the Earth, An Underlying Problem and La Danse Macabre are highlights from the soundtrack. Even the composition of the tracks somehow simultaneously reminded me of Castlevania and Mega Man.
Summary:
There really isn't too much negative I can say about Shovel Knight. It's a difficult game, but it's also a fair game. It introduces difficulty over time instead of beating you over the head with it like Shovel Knight's old school brethren. It is kind of short though, but at the same time I felt its length was appropriate. If you're a fan of old Castlevania or Mega Man games or even 2D platformers in general, you must check out Shovel Knight. You won't be disappointed.
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