Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge

Ultionus is admittedly rather short, but if you can obtain it on sale - which happens regularly - you just night also manage to have fun. But first, we have to cover some major caveats: Ultionus is a (mostly) faithful - but otherwise visually glammed up - remake of a 1987 game from the "ZX Spectrum", a very-cheap (by design) computer format mostly remembered over in Europe. Due to various factors - such as games regularly being sold new for as little as 3 pounds, extreme hardware limitations, and their joysticks only having one button - design sensibilities in this market were very different to modern norms, or even contemporary expectations on the NES. This is not a "Run and Gun" experience, your character - save for some auto-scrolling sections - can not both move and shoot at the same time. This was true of the original - known as "Phantis", or "Game Over II" (depending on the market) - and is likewise maintained here as well. The game does feature (some) replay value in the form of achievements to pursue, as well as an alternative "Good Ending" - unlocked by saving your Ally (Balzac) on four specific levels - which furthermore unlocks access to an extra stage/boss.

Por mais que a pixel art do jogo seja de muita qualidade, infelizmente este é um jogo que eu, pessoalmente, não recomendo. Sua premissa é bastante inspirada nos jogos run n’ gun (bem ao estilo de Metal Slug), o que foi o principal fator atrativo do jogo, mas, infelizmente, ele tende a ser consideravelmente lento, o que acaba desanimando a progressão. O jogo possui alguns upgrades para aprimorar a jogatina, mas, por incrível que pareça, quando conseguimos o upgrade de pulo, a gameplay tende a piorar bastante nas seções de plataforma, fazendo com que a personagem, mesmo pulando mais alto, tenha uma queda muito lenta. Para aqueles interessados na pixel art, isso pode ser um fator atrativo, pois ela é, de fato, muito bem feita. Porém, a gameplay tende a não corresponder às expectativas do gênero.

Jogo simples de run n' gun, nada tão frenético tipo contra é bem mais tranquilo. O game encorpa com fases de navinha tipo R-Type mas também é bem simples, há boss nos finais dos stages e power ups, o charme do game se da a estética gráfica tipo GBA, e sua trilha sonora maravilhosa composta pelo grande Kaufman, a trilha sonora do Mighty Switch Force! são memoráveis. Um game que não deve agradar a muitos, porque ele arremete muito aos games das eras 8 e 16bts, se procura por esse estilo de jogatina vai gostar. Recomendo o game, mas em promoção, o game é bem curto platinei em menos de 3hrs.

Unfairly given a Mixed rating at the time of this review, but admittedly i didn't play it before its 2022 glow-up. Not a perfect game and has some questionable design choices, (e.g.; hiding the upgrades, not giving a run/dash function, stage 3 in general) but the graphics are beautiful and the protagonist has bouncy Heavy Metal magazine charm. It's a short game and you could do a lot worse for $7 so I say give this a chance.

I played this years ago and I remember that this game has god-awful clunky controls but I liked it anyways because it was funny. It's a hard one though. Also it has a 69% rating on steam, nice.

Los controles son basura. No se puede caminar mientras se dispara, el personaje se queda quieto. Los enemigos tienen armas pero no disparan... Una solución al problema del disparo hubiese sido, que para disparar en 45 grados estando quieto, hubiera que presionar también la tecla LT. Un poco de imaginación nada más...

Great art, good music, but the game could have stood on its own without the dated memes. Looks great on a small CRT, text is quite legible. Kinda bounced off of the game at first, but playing it on a CRT put me in the retro mindset and I found it more enjoyable then. It's pretty cheap and even has a demo, so it is easy to recommend if you like 80's/90's computer games.

То самое из 90-х с конамиевской музыкой с сеги (точнее тут спектрумская тема gameover 2 типа ремейк,но кому не срать) годно! олдам брать не думая!!!!

good game

Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge is a fairly short and lighthearted action-adventure game with platforming, shooting and the occasional SHMUP section. Gameplay wise it's a lot more reminiscent of something along the lines of the NES Castlevania games or DOS sidescrollers than, say, Contra. While a lot of the humour didn't land for me personally, I did appreciate the cartoony Barbarella-esque vibes the game has going on. My only complaint would be the short length, which isn't necessarily a bad thing and the game is clearly designed with repeat playthroughs in mind. Considering I initially got this from a bundle about a decade ago and it ended up languishing in the ol' Steam backlog, I took a chance on it and was invested enough that I ended up spending my evening 100%ing it. Overall a very solid retro action platformer.