Nukezilla Review: Old School Adventure (XBLIG)

Earlier this year I had the chance to check out Chris Unarmed. It’s a simple little Indie Game platformer with an old school toughness to it. At the end of the review I highlighted the shortness of the experience. I enjoyed everything about the game (including its punishing difficulty) except for its roughly three hour playtime. Luckily a sequel to the game has been made in Old School Adventure.

Taking place soon after the events of Unarmed, Old School Adventure is… how can I put this delicately…the exact same game as Chris Unarmed. Every asset from that game has been carried over; the level designs, the sound effects, the enemies, the character names, all of it. Whether or not you liked the original, your opinion will likely be exactly the same for this title.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of playing the original, Old School Adventure is a platformer that has you take control of a face with feet as he travels around the world in an attempt to defeat the evil Mondo. Various perils and objects, such as lava and spike pits and gravity panels, attempt to hinder your progress. Keys open doors, enemies are killed by jumping on their heads, yadda yadda yadda. It’s a simple formula.

Another similar aspect of both games is their difficulty. I’ve never played a more aggravating platformer than Chris Unarmed. Then I played Old School Adventure. This game is very, very frustrating, not because the mechanics are bad, but the game is just that difficult. Spikes everywhere and unforgiving jumps will test your abilities as much as your patience. Luckily the door you enter for each room acts as a checkpoint, making death somewhat meaningless. Which is good, since you’ll be dying a lot.

Old School Adventure shakes things up a bit by adding power-ups to the mix. Winged boots allow Chris to fly, while white and red armors protect him from spikes and lava respectively. The armors also make Chris too heavy to be affected by the gravity panels, which turned out to be a double-edged sword. While you solve certain puzzles by being too heavy, this creates lots of situations where you get stuck or lose time retracing your steps.

That ties in with the biggest problem with the title; you’re often completely unaware of where to go. There are no maps or directions anywhere, which can easily get you lost. If you disable your current power (by picking up Chris-shaped icons) you can end up backtracking more than necessary to find the power-up you just lost. Add to that fact the patience-trying difficulty and you’ve got a game that can get tiresome rather quickly.

With Chris Unarmed I enjoyed the challenge that the game presented (in its short run-time) and happily looked forward to more of the same with Old School Adventure. Instead I found a game that was more frustrating than its predecessor, making the challenge more of a turn-off than a turn-on. Serious, hardcore platformer enthusiasts, along with fans of the first game, might get a kick out of this for its scant 80 MS points. Everyone else should look elsewhere for their platforming needs.

Disclaimer: Nukezilla received a review copy of the game from developer Chris Hughes.