Adventure in the Tower of Flight

Charming platformer. I would recommend to Kid Icarus fans.

This definitely has that retro feel to it. I feel like I am actually playing an oldschool NES game. It's worth the price, especially if you like retro inspired games. 7/10

I want to preface this by stating that my play time is longer due to restarting the game while halfway through. If not for this, my play time would be about 3 hours. Now, why do I feel that's important? Because in all honesty the game is exceedingly short. I do understand why this was done, as the game has multiple difficulty options to extend play time. The highest difficulty allows for no saving, so a longer game wouldn't be truly viable under such circumstances. That said, however, and again while I understand it, that doesn't excuse the short length. Many of the achievements encourage you to replay the game, and while there are some different paths through the areas, the only major deviation is prior to the first boss. There are two different paths to take which lead to two different bosses, but this is the only time such a thing happens. It would have added much more replay value to the game if all of the bosses were like this, but sadly they aren't. Major power ups are very limited and one is obtained in an order that makes it pointless. The armor, with its half damage reduction would have been highly useful mid-game, yet it's the last major upgrade gained, and by that time there's perhaps little more than perhaps twenty minutes left in the game, if that. None of the enemies ramp up the damage potential beyond this point, making its reduction moot. The bow, while it adds some range, is only useful for some puzzle sections due to its weak power compared to the upgraded sword and its powerful charge swing, plus its inability to be fired in any direction but forward. The shield should have been a basic item from the beginning as it deflects arrows and your character looks like he has a shield to begin with, yet lacks any projectile deflecting qualities. The shop update, while it looks good on the surface, is a bit of a pointless addition. The ability to store power boosts, invincibility and attack items seems useful, however in every mode where shops are available, the game poses little significant threat to the player. The only time I even bothered to pop an invincibility item was the very last boss, and that made it such a cake walk that I felt bad for cheesing it. The attack items are extremely weak and are incapable of killing anything in a single hit, some not even in two to three uses. In the higher difficulties where items would be useful, there are no shops at all. However, with all of this said, the game is extremely fun for what it is. The music is by no means a masterpiece, but there was no a single track that wore out its welcome. I personally wouldn't buy the soundtrack DLC, but that's in no way an accusation of poor quality. The controls with a controller are tight and responsive, I didn't find myself fighting with them, nor was there any moment where I could look at the game and truly blame the controls for mistakes. When I screwed up it was my fault, not the game. I haven't tested the keyboard controls, mind you, which perhaps I should in the future, but for now 360 controller users can rejoice because there's no jank here. The story... is, well, serviceable. This isn't an RPG, nor is the story very important, but as a framing device it services its purpose. Don't go in expecting more than just a bare bones reason as to why anything is happening or a minimum conclusion. The game, to me at least, has a strong feeling of the NES and Game Boy Kid Icarus games to it, with perhaps a bit of Alex Kidd mixed in. The HUD is very clearly original Legend of Zelda inspired. It manages to blend all of this into a game that is fun and addicting for however long you can get out of it, and frankly I was left with wanting more. If there's ever a sequel, I can only hope that it's longer while retaining the same charm as this game managed to capture, because then I feel it'd be a truly amazing, must play game.