I know this sounds cliché, but I think this game- no, EXPERIENCE has made me truly understand and love the art form of video games.
Let me start from where it begins: the title screen. As soon as you boot up the game, you fully know what to expect. Chiptune music piercing your ears, yet somehow soothing them. You see a death counter in the corner, making your mind wander to if this will be a rage game or something else. And most importantly: a pulsating title screen, colored red, conveying how it feels to play this game. Your heart constantly pumping, trying to find the next exit, while your lovely queen follows you along the way. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The gameplay of this may seem shallow on the surface to people that are not interested in the video game medium, however, it requires heavy thought and precision to effectively carry out your goal of guiding your queen and yourself through every level. The later levels may have tight walkways, but even some of the earlier levels may require you to inch yourself through. When you see the exit, your mind and your heart races, adrenaline pumps through your body as you try to figure out the most effective path to the end of the level, and to the end of the game. The death counter is a perfect symbol of your achievement and downfall; while it shows your failures, it also goes up so the human brain sees it as a reward.
Gameplay is nothing without graphics. And graphics this game does well. The way that the sprites have been pulled from various forms of media adds to the somewhat chaotic feel, while the developer uses these images and edits them to further benefit the gameplay. The bright characters against the moody background and scenery allow you to fully focus on your character. While we're on the topic of graphics, let's talk about sounds. The music is purely soothing to listen to, it feels like a waterfall through your mind at a temperature perfectly suited to you. The music could also be an allegory for the game itself; the sharp sounds at the beginning showing you first loading into the level, exploring every nook and cranny to find the exit. The music then descends into more soothing tones, symbolizing when you find the exit and are trying to find the path to it. And then, when the next level loads, it repeats again. The idle sounds of the main character may represent him trying to sniff out the path to the exit, as he is an echidna. (idk if echidnas smell to find stuff but dogs do and i think that's close) The clicking of the walk cycle punctuates this design further, as it is a symbol of the racing mind trying to find out the best possible way to find the exit.
While this game is great, there is one, MAJOR issue:
Ugandan Knuckles never says "Do you know de way", "Queen", or any other voice lines from his memes. This feels like a thorn in your foot, a trip in 1st place near the end of a marathon. This game could have been perfect, but this glaring issue leaves it at a 9.8/10.
However, I believe this isn't an issue so much as it is a showcase of how no game is perfect. Every game has some flaw; every game has an oversight. The design process of a game is challenging, from the conception, to the programming, to the graphics. And you will eventually miss a few holes in one of those steps. But this doesn't mean the game is bad, or should be tarnished forever. It shows the beauty of a work, how creators are not gods, but people just like us. It shows that anybody can make anything, as long as they have the skills, effort, and time to do it. Every masterpiece will have a flaw. And that's ok.
TL;DR: Ugandan knuckles funny, good game, no funny meme sounds, 9.8/10
