Xeodrifter is definitely a game worthy of the Metroidvanai genre, though you might as well call it Mutant Mudds 2: Now in Deep Space. This is because the game borrows a lot of themes and gimmicks from that game. This includes the abilty to jump into different layers used in the game’s screens.
Mutant Mudds was really proud of this idea, making it go as far as using three to even four different layers you could use. Assuming you hadn’t played games like Donkey Kong Returns, the gimmick gave the game a selective 3D experience. However, Donkey Kong Country Returns only used as much as two because it understood any more would make it impossible to tell what was in the background and what wasn’t. Xeodrifter also seems to know this as it only uses two and makes good use of the exploratory skills and world to utilize it.
Xeodrifter also seems to have a lot of that hardcore material I found in Dark Souls where you are building your skills with few breaks inbetween. You are gradually learn as you go on and while I do wish enemies got a bit more creative, each boss you encounter has new tricks to try and murder you with but are telegraphed easily enough that it’s not impossible to work out their attack patterns before finishing them off.
If I did have a complaint about the game, though, for ten bucks, the game is actually kinda short. Only like 7 bosses, six of which are mere pallette swaps of the same boss, and 4 worlds to explore with exploratory power-ups and stat upgrades set accordingly. I have my suspicions that it’s actually quite linear for a Metroidvania game–much like Master Blaster for the NES. Still, the game is written very tightly and has everything it needs in order to work. So, yeah. I’d say it’s pretty good–at least it’s far better than the Mutant Mudds game before it.
Xeodrifter is definitely a game worthy of the Metroidvanai genre, though you might as well call it Mutant Mudds 2: Now in Deep Space. This is because the game borrows a lot of themes and gimmicks from that game. This includes the abilty to jump into different layers used in the game’s screens.
Mutant Mudds was really proud of this idea, making it go as far as using three to even four different layers you could use. Assuming you hadn’t played games like Donkey Kong Returns, the gimmick gave the game a selective 3D experience. However, Donkey Kong Country Returns only used as much as two because it understood any more would make it impossible to tell what was in the background and what wasn’t. Xeodrifter also seems to know this as it only uses two and makes good use of the exploratory skills and world to utilize it.
Xeodrifter also seems to have a lot of that hardcore material I found in Dark Souls where you are building your skills with few breaks inbetween. You are gradually learn as you go on and while I do wish enemies got a bit more creative, each boss you encounter has new tricks to try and murder you with but are telegraphed easily enough that it’s not impossible to work out their attack patterns before finishing them off.
If I did have a complaint about the game, though, for ten bucks, the game is actually kinda short. Only like 7 bosses, six of which are mere pallette swaps of the same boss, and 4 worlds to explore with exploratory power-ups and stat upgrades set accordingly. I have my suspicions that it’s actually quite linear for a Metroidvania game–much like Master Blaster for the NES. Still, the game is written very tightly and has everything it needs in order to work. So, yeah. I’d say it’s pretty good–at least it’s far better than the Mutant Mudds game before it.