This is easily one of the most frustrating platformers I've played in years.
[b]Pros:[/b] The early levels are deceptively fun. The graphics vary, but are competent overall, with the 2nd world really standing out to me.
[b]Cons:[/b] Now, I said that the early levels were "deceptively" fun. What I meant by that is that once you enter the 3rd world and you approach the halfway mark, the overall quality of the game takes a rather noticeable plunge. The gimmick of the game is that when you take a hit in the “real world” you are teleported to the “realm of code” which is effectively a second level hidden behind the one that you spawn into. In the early game, this rarely causes problems, but as the complexity of the level design increases, this mechanic starts to break quite often, and you end up spawning inside enemies, spikes, and even walls in the “realm of code.” And the mechanics just aren’t as much fun. The light feel of your character is fitting or the first two worlds, but once you go beyond the 3rd, it just starts to feel weird. Enemies have an unfortunate tendency to go out of sync, making it somewhat RNG whether you can actually complete certain sections when approaching them. Hitboxes aren’t where you’d think they’d be on a variety of enemies and the enemies in the later levels often feel oddly shoehorned into levels where they really don’t belong, as the game suddenly tries to be too many things a once. There’s also not a lot going on in terms of story and humor, leaving the game with little personality. It’s very much a case of substituting content for references that rarely go anywhere. You get a gold star for every level in which you collect all of the collectible “pixels” but other than giving you that visual pat on the back and an achievement, they don’t actually do anything. They’re really only there to give you some semblance of a reason to actually explore the levels in the first place, but since you have no reason to care if you aren’t a completionist, well… (And I found at least two levels where I managed to collect 21/20, which seems like an odd oversight by the developers). The bossfights range between bland and incredibly tedious. Oh, and your reward for actually beating the main game? The challenge mode. What is that challenge mode? It’s an opportunity to play through the game again, except with a ton of unfair and cheap enemy and spike spam. Sounds fun, right?
[b]Conclusion:[/b] In the past decade, there have been plenty of games that have explored the idea of showcasing the evolution of videogames over time. All of them that I’ve played have done so better than this one. It really has no personality of its own, and thus doesn’t stand out, instead relying purely on nostalgia. What makes this odd, though, is that a lot of the references it makes aren’t actually to platformers; sometimes not even to games. All in all, this game stops feeling good to play about halfway in, and just overstays it welcome by several hours. Quantity over quality. I wouldn’t have been nearly as frustrated if this had been a 3-6 hour retrospective, rather than a 13 hour grind with really inconsistent quality, difficulty and level design. I was originally going to make a positive review, stating that this was a solid entry-level platformer, but that was before the issues began to pile up in the latter half and the whole thing just wore my patience thin.
[b]For Completionists:[/b] I have absolutely no idea what you’d get out of this game if you aren’t a completionist. That being said, as a completionist, this wasn’t a particularly enjoyable experience. Collecting pixels quickly starts to feel like a chore, and the challenge mode is just not fun at all. There are a few non-story achievements, but not of them are particularly challenging except for one.
