The New Classics #62: Battle Axe

 

The Backstory: An obvious hack’n’slashy homage to the glory days of arcade and to Golden Axe had to be given a chance to shine — even though Golden Axe ain’t no Megadrive cult classic of mine. Let’s find out if that newest Axe will become a New Classic of mine, shall we? 

 

 

The Game: I went straight for Easy Mode, because I like my Hack’n’Slashes on the cushy, fulfilling side — especially when they’re retro. The metallic, gritty Megadrivey music grated on my ears and was quickly shut down, leaving me free to concentrate on the gorgeous 16-bit-ish graphics — think Seiken Densetsu 3, only with smoother edges and softer hues. 

 

 

As for the gameplay, it’s the most deliciously regressive piece of bloody messiness I’ve seen this side of Mortal Combat. Geysers of blood! Explosions of fleshy bits! All this at the slightest touch from your sword! I’ve never been one to relish gore in a game; but such cartoonish, over-the-top gore is right up my alley. 

 

 

B-Axe can be as short or as long as you want, which is also right up my alley. You can go for a quick carnage fix by polishing off the four levels of the Arcade Mode, or treat yourself to an all-you-can-eat buffet by diving into the Infinite Mode and its virtually endless string of levels.  

 

 

The Verdict: Gory retro goodness is totally something I can use — all the more so as there is nothing quite like Battle Axe in The Collection. We have a hit on our bloody, tainted hands, folks!

 

The New Classics #61: Hyper Light Drifter

 

The Backstory: Hyper Light Drifter first piqued my curiosity with its impossibly evocative title, and kept piquing harder with its deliriously beautiful special edition — which, incidentally, is the sole way to go if you wanna own that game physical. I had to secure that thing of beauty; and after unpacking it and discovering all the high-quality feelies included, I was more than eager to see if the game itself was as much of a gorgeous work of love.

 

 

The Game: For once, I didn’t mourn the fact that the introduction sequence is not skippable — because HLD’s intro is simply one of the most mesmerizing preambles I’ve ever witnessed in a video game. It’s just a couple of pictures and a theme track, with no text whatsoever; but these elements manage to create an atmosphere so encompassing that you just want to know more. 

 

 

Once that splendid intro is over, you’re let loose in the game world. No briefing, no tutorials, no explanations whatsoever; you’re just left to your own devices, free to figure out the gameplay and progress at you own pace. In-game menus and gameplay hints are kept to a bare minimum to enhance immersion; factor in the mesmerizing graphics and the riveting music, and you get an incredibly absorbing gameplay experience. When I finally emerged from my session, I had an Inception-like feeling of coming back to the surface — like I was returning from some deep, out-of-this-world place. 

 

 

I could rave about the great physics, the inspired puzzle-lite gameplay, the lush graphics and the haunting soundtrack; but for me, HLD’s most memorable aspect is first and foremost its immersive quality. It’s a game that pulls you in like few games I’ve encountered — not thanks to its gameplay, but thanks to its atmosphere. Gameplay in itself in remarkably simple — activate switches, kill foes, collect stuff — but the allure and mystery of HLD’s universe lends even the most basic act some meaningful weight. You’re not just a player pushing buttons: you’re a lone soul — the titular ‘drifter’ — trying to escape an unfriendly environment and to make sense of what happened to you. 

 

 

The Verdict: Why, of course Hyper Light Drifter is a New Classic! It’s absolutely splendid, and it totally deserves my love and my playtime — and a spot in The Collection. Maybe Heart Machine will see fit to port upcoming sequel Hyper Light Breaker to the Switch — fingers crossed!

 

The New Classics #60: Tales of Vesperia – Definitive Edition

 

The Backstory: I have yet to find a Tales game I genuinely love; until then, I’ll give every reachable entry its fair chance. The Tales game I really, really wanted to play was Berseria; but as it’s not available on the Switch, I have to make do with Vesperia. The title is nearly the same, and it even has a pirate theme — the next best thing, indeed. 

 

 

The Game: It’s a Tales game, so obviously things were not going to go smoothly. First thing first, I don’t fancy the MC, who unpleasantly reminds me of Luke Fon Fabre in Tales of the Abyss; and I fancy even less his throwaway canine sidekick, which looks like a cheap version of Red XIII from FFVII. In fact, I have an issue with the game’s aesthetics as a whole. I don’t like the character models, which stand in a disturbing uncanny valley halfway between chibi and realistic; and the cell-shaded effect grates on my retinas. 

 

 

Cutscenes are nicely skippable, and I like that; what I like less is the fact that these skippable cutscenes fill you in with some necessary intel — like, where you have to go and what you have to do. I vainly searched for a mission briefing in the menu, before throwing in the towel and resorting to running around aimlessly. Talking about this: I absolutely hate when RPGs open in a town hub and have you run errands for an uncanny amount of time. Look, Bandai Namco: if I wanna stroll through busy streets to perform a mundane task, I’ll just go on with my daily life. Let me roam and fight, damnit! 

 

 

The Verdict: That’s a great many things I don’t like right of the bat, and it should surprise no one that I turned off my Switch before fighting a single battle. Now here’s my quandary: I have to decide if I want to sift through long cutscenes and potentially irritating character antics to get — maybe — to some good gameplay. As plenty of games I loved right from the first second are sitting proudly in my collection already, I’m afraid Vesperia is doomed!

 

The New Classics #59: Sparklite

 

The Backstory: I bought Sparklite for exactly 16 euros, which is the cheapest price I’ve ever paid for a physical Switch game. Why do I mention this, you may ask? Well, to highlight the fact that I didn’t expect much from Sparklite, despite its honourable 75 score on Metacritic. 

 

 

The Game: From gazing at gameplay screenshots, I knew about the vibrant colours and the gorgeous environments already; what I didn’t, and couldn’t know about, were the tight controls and stellar physics. This is 2D Zelda on steroids: the MC slashes stuff with that abandon I’ve always wanted, yet never quite got, from prime-and-proper Link. There is some great dynamism at work there, so much so that you get the impression the MC is flying rather than running — and yet you’re in full control, with none of the floatiness that can pop up when handling a speedy sprite. And mind you, you’ll need all the speed and the full control you can muster, because some foes out there are real b*tches with tricky patterns.

 

 

While Sparklite looks and feels like a crossover between 2D Zelda and 16-bit Seiken Densetsu, it actually plays like a Rogue-lite. Here’s the gameplay loop in one sentence: you explore procedurally generated zones to collect the titular sparklite, a type of gem that allows you to purchase all sorts of upgrades, in order to get stronger, go further and gather more sparklite. That’s a very self-contained loop, quite phone-gamey in its simplicity; but such loops usually go straight to my gamer’s heart, and this one was no exception. 

 

 

The Verdict: I played for roughly 30 minutes: enough to gain some nifty upgrades and realise that Sparklite is probably a short and sweet game — and that I want much more of it!