Fox n Forests (Switch) Review

Fox n Forests is a retro inspired platformer.  It has nice sprite artwork and a very old school game map.  Your goal is to guide Rick the fox through the seasons and find each piece of magic bark.  To do so, Rick will bring along his trusty sword and crossbow, while also gaining magic that allows him to change the season in each stage.

Platforming is decent overall.  Rick starts with a double jump, which is very useful.  There are some jumps that feels just out of reach of the double jump, which is disappointing.  It is unfortunately harder to jump over enemies and hazards than I want, because Rick's hitbox feels too big.  He will frequently hit his head on things above him, which kills your jump momentum.  There are, of course, bottomless pits, too.  Running out of health or falling to your doom will quickly send you back to the last checkpoint.  The saving grace is that respawning is so fast.  The bad side is you have to pay to use checkpoints, and the cost increases as the level goes on.  You can skip them if you want to save your money.  I don't really like that idea, since I need most of the checkpoints.  I also feel it's a way to keep your total money down, meaning you will need to replay stages more times to buy the upgrades.

Combat somehow feels worse than the platforming.  Rick has two basic attacks: one with a sword, and one with a crossbow.  It's a great idea, but suffers from both being attached to the same button.  If you are standing still, Rick will use his crossbow.  If you are moving or jumping, he will use his sword.  I'd really like to be able to use the crossbow more than you can.  Ranged attacks help a lot, given Rick's large hitbox and how cheesy the enemies can be.  I'd also love to be able to jump and shoot.  It's not like that would break the game, just make it more fair, so having them as separate buttons would be great.

The crossbow is weak, and has a cooldown between volleys, so you still need to use the sword.  Even so, the sword had its own problems.  The range isn't that good, and I frequently got hit while trying to attack enemies.  The purchasable double jump attack hits a nice circle around Rick, but the single jump attack is much more confined.  If it was more of an arc, it would be better, and it wouldn't be so easy to get hit while trying to use such a precise attack.

The unique mechanic if the game is the ability to change the season.  Each level has two versions, and using your magic effectively swaps between them.  Water will freeze so it can be walked on, plants grow or retract, and fog can disappear.  It's a really cool idea that is used pretty well.  My only gripes with it are that you cannot activate it in the air (but can turn it off while jumping), and the activation time.  When you change the season, Rick has to stop and hold up his sword.  This would be fine if the rest of the game paused with him, but it doesn't.  So, if you aren't careful, or constantly unlucky, you can get hit when you activate the season change.  As if the game needed to get in more cheap hits.  It might be less frustrating on a TV instead of handheld mode.

The money you gather not only pays for checkpoints, but can be used to get potions and upgrades for Rick.  Health and special move upgrades just require money, while mana and melee attack upgrades also require some collectibles.  Unfortunately, you have to alternate buying special move and melee strength increases, so you will have to find some of the whetstones to get all the moves.  The potions you can buy are cheap, but you need to find the bottles first.  Easier said than done.

There are not many levels in the game, as each section has two, a boss fight, and a bonus stage.  To make up for this, the levels themselves are long.  Too long for my tastes.  I'm a fan of more, but shorter, levels (see Disney Infinity versus Skylanders).  Especially when you can easily jump back to completed stages for missed collectibles with new abilities.  Well, I say “can”, but the game means “will.”  After beating a boss, you need a certain number of the seed collectibles to progress.  While I usually like going back to grab missed stuff, it feels arbitrary when I'm forced to.  Plus, when I’m happy just getting through a stage, given how frustrating things can get, I don’t really want to go back.  However, since the levels are big with some alternate paths, you may be completing each level several times to find everything.  Or without finding everything, like me.  You also need every seed in a set of levels to do the bonus stage.  The first bonus stage gives a little extra money, but you only get one chance to do it.  Considering the work I had to put in to get it, the reward was not worth it.

Parts of Fox n Forests are fun, but it feels like a missed opportunity.   There are good elements, such as the different attacks and the season changing mechanic.  Too bad most other game mechanics are working against you.  In reality, the game is short, and has to resort to artificially drawing it out.  Because of this, it feels strange to complain about each level being way too long, even though I will still do just that.  Ultimately, die hard platform players looking for a challenge or something unique should check it out, but for others it's a pass.


The Good:
Season changing leads to some nice level designs and opportunities.

The Bad:
Controls aren't always responsive, character's hitbox is too big, not many levels.

The SaHD:
I really appreciate the Gorgeous Gorge name.

(Review code for Fox n Forests was received from the publisher)

Blossom Tales (Switch) Review

What is a grandpa to do when his grandkids demand a bedtime story they haven't heard before?  Make one up, of course!  I really like this premise for Blossom Tales, a retro-styled game obviously inspired by the old 2D Legend of Zeldas.  To better fit that premise, there are times the story has added elements as the grandkids chime in.  There are even a few scant places that have player input, with minor changes.  While a great idea, it would have been better to throw in a few more of those choices to make its unique inclusion better stand out.

At first, the controls felt odd to me.  A is your sword attack, but other usable items and sub-weapons can be mapped to B and X.  After playing for a bit, this configuration worked well and I got used to it.  It is strange that the Y Button can't be mapped to a third item, or do anything at all.  I really like that each non-consumable item just takes your magic meter, which refills over time.  No more running out of arrows or bombs!  The only minor gripe I have with the items is the bow.  You have to hold the button for a second before the arrows can be fired.  I get that it is to represent drawing the bow, but it can be very inconvenient.

Combat in Blossom Tales is pretty good.  The sword's range is decent, but it is strangely weaker than all the sub-weapons, even the boomerang.  It's easy to get hit, but there are plenty of hearts in destructible things.  Plus, the game is generous with money and gives you a good chunk of healing items for free.  I do have a few problems, though.  There are times when there are many enemies on the screen.  Boss fights can get really chaotic when they have fancy effects, attacks, and enemies all over the screen.  Usually at this point it's best to ditch tactics and just keep smashing and heal as needed until the fight is over.  Bosses don't display their health, but the screen flashes a bit when they take damage.  As they do, the flash changes from green to red.  When all the effects are flying around, it is nigh impossible to make out this element.  I'll say it doesn't ruin the game, but some of these aspects should be tweaked to better work together.

Being so inspired by Zelda, there are of course many puzzles to solve in Blossom Tales.  While not nearly as hard as the brain twisters in Ittle Dew 2+, they have their fair share of problems, too.  I'll admit I do like some of the puzzles.  One where pieces are rotated to make connected lines (like the old Pipe Dream game), shooting arrows through torches to light other torches, sliding block puzzles, and walking over a pattern of tiles without stepping on the same block twice were pretty fun to do, and required thinking.

Probably my biggest gripe with the puzzles I don't like is that they just go on for too long.  I can tolerate them in short, small bursts, but they just keep going, which increases my agitation.  There is a Simon Says-like memory mini-game that I really disliked.  Having to remember 3 to 5 in a row is fine, but they sometimes go up to 7+!  That might be passable, but they only show it once, the patterns are random, and messing up at all starts all the way over at the beginning.  If I'm having trouble with 7 in a row, I don't really want to have to re-do 3, then 4, then 5, then 6 in a row before attempting the 7 in a row again.  My short-term memory isn't that great, so you might have better luck than me at these puzzles.

There are also sections where you have to walk along narrow paths without falling.  Again, sounds okay until they have crumbling paths that mean you have to rush.  Oh, and they also throw in enemies, traps shooting at you, and conveyor belts pushing you toward the edge.  Definitely another pain in the butt, amplified by having to do the whole room over again if/when you fall, even if there is stable ground in the middle of the course.

If you rush through the main part of the game, it will last about 8 hours.  If you are poking around for all the secrets and items, it will of course run you a few more.  Unfortunately, there isn't a way to mark which caves/holes/etc you have been in, and which still have something to collect.  There are a few side quests to collect various item drops from enemies.  While these quests aren't tracked, you will basically need 20+ of each item dropped.

Overall, Blossom Tales is a lot of fun.  Even though I have some small issues with the game, it's still worth a playthrough for old 2D Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past fans.


The Good:
Fun game that harkens back to two of my favorite 2D adventure games.

The Bad:
The puzzles/sections I don't like last too long, and boss fights feel too chaotic as you progress.

The SaHD:
If you are playing for fun, I wouldn't stress about money or getting every heart piece.  You should have plenty by the end.

(Review code for Blossom Tales was provided by the publisher.)

Assault Suit Leynos (PS4) Review

Assault Suit Leynos recently came to the US by way of the Playstation store, and is a remake of an old Mega Drive/ Genesis game (renamed Target Earth in the US).  I was surprised I had not heard of the game before, since I loves me some mechs.  Maybe it was a combination of not having a Genesis as a kid (I was a SNES guy) or that the cover looks like a guy in a suit, not a mech.  Either way, I can now experience it on a modern console.

The remake boasts better graphics, rebalanced gameplay and a few other tweaks.  The updated visuals still hold true to the spirit of the original 2D sidescroller, and look good.  Character portraits look like they came out of the early 90s and I like it.  There is some voice acting in the game, but the dialogue is kept fairly minimal, which feels appropriate.

The main menu has the arcade game, but it does help to try out the tutorials, which are tucked away in the options menu.  These help give you a basic grasp of the controls, while providing small stages for you to complete.  Strangely, they can be a bit difficult, and you can even die during one of them.  They have timed goals that thankfully you don't have to meet, but the operators will yell at you for not doing well enough.

The arcade mode offers 8 stages that are tweaked versions of the original.  Some of them are pretty hard, testing your skill and loadout management.  As an example, stage 3 took me numerous attempts.  I got through 1 and 2 the first time I tried them (I wouldn't say they were easy though), but stage 3 slammed me back down.  After learning what to do and figuring out a loadout that complimented the enemies I faced, I was able to make it through.  The following stages didn't test me as much as that, but they were still harder than the first two.  Learning enemy layout and what to bring helps a lot.  You can also change the difficulty if you so choose.

Movement in Leynos is decent, more so if you have the boost pack equipped.  This gives you a dash and a little extra on the jump.  The movement of the suit does have a bit of momentum on it, which can cause you to move a bit further than you intended.  This is really problematic around traps and pits, but not as much during a majority of the game.  There are some stage sections that are less platforming and more free-floating, mixing up the action a bit.  The mech can aim its gun a full 180 in front of it, but trying to get a specific angle can be a bit trying.

Aiming is quick, so it is very easy for me to over or undershoot the angle I want.  There is a button for locking the angle when you do get it, which is supremely useful.  Another problem I have with the shooting is the big dead area where your shots do not hit.  Sure, it makes sense since it is your whole mech, but it makes it hard to hit enemies near you (punching is an option, but still not the best).  Combine that with how loose it is about walking backwards while shooting instead of turning to shoot, and it is a recipe for trouble when trying to eliminate flanking enemies quickly.  Aiming straight up does like to pan the camera a little too far in that direction, which makes it harder to avoid hazards near your feet.  These are not huge problems, but they are annoying to me personally, and make it harder to run and gun accurately.  I was mostly used to them by the end of the game, but I still don't like them.

On the positive side, your mech's health will regenerate if you don't take damage for a few seconds.  This can be absolutely critical in passing the more difficult stages.  You can also equip extra armor to get a health boost, and a shield that you can use to absorb enemy fire.  While there are downsides to the shield (you can't shoot with it up, and it takes a second after releasing the button before you can), it is almost a necessity to have going through the game.  Get in the habit of relying on it early.

Before each stage, you can pick your loadout from your available weapons.  The weapons have no descriptions or stats, but at least they have a small video that shows its attack pattern so you don't just have to pick everything at some point to know how it works.  You have up to six slots, but things like the shield and booster pack take one of those slots if you choose to take them.  You unlock more weapons as you go through the stages and perform various tasks.  You can get multiple of some things, and they do stack.  This is useful for some of the stronger guns that have no reloads, but you may sacrifice weapon diversity to do so.  It's a nice open-ended system, but there are weapons that are much better suited to certain stages and situations.  In theory you could pick just about anything if you are good enough to survive, though.

Additionally, the game contains a mode that more closely resembles the Mega Drive version.  However, it is tucked in the options menu instead of the main menu.  I wondered why that is until I played it.  It's ridiculously hard.  Even though I had beat a few stages of the main game by that time, I couldn't even complete the first one of the "original" version.  It still controls and looks the same, but isn't re-balanced to be something playable.  Instead, you get a near constant stream of enemy grunts shooting at you.  I could either stay alive and constantly get pushed back, fight back and die quickly, or make a run for it and die eventually.  Yikes.  Playing that mode made me glad I didn't play the original, as it seems like a nightmare.

Being an older action game, it theoretically doesn't take more than a couple of hours to beat the game.  In practice, the difficulty adds time to that.  Plus, since some of your weapon rewards are dependent on your mission performance, there is replay value.  If you are crazy, you can even attempt to beat the Classic Mode, or unlock all the bonuses.  Each stage section unlocked is also replayable, which should help you clean up any trophies, or even practice a problem spot.  I heartily endorse selectable checkpoints in action games, and am happy to see them here.

While not a long or easy game, Assault Suit Leynos is worth playing for fans of older action games.  It's presentation is nice, the gameplay is decent and there are reasons to replay the game, other than because you blew up.  Zosaly isn't going to save himself!

No, seriously, he's not.  You have to figure out the trick to do it for him.


The Good:
Old school arcade action with a mech suit!

The Bad:
I likes to get difficult at several parts, and the aiming could use a little work.

The SaHD:
I'm really tempted to try the actual original version to see if it's that difficult.


(Review code for Assault Suit Leynos was provided by the publisher)