indie

Ritual: Sorcerer Angel Review

iPhone, Role-Playing

Developer: David Peroutka
Price: Free intro, $3.99 for whole game
Platforms: iPhone, Android, Steam (PC & Mac), Switch
Reviewed for: iPhone
Estimated playtime: 6 hours

Story

Catch me if you dare plague man

The story of Ritual: Sorcerer Angel follows a resurrected angel named…Angel…on his quest to reach Hell. Angel is an anti-hero who seems to be an enemy to the gods and on a quest to destroy the world, but the ones that stand in your way don’t seem to be very good themselves. The very people that resurrected and then tried to sacrifice you refer to themselves as Cultists and don creepy plague masks. In Ritual: Sorcerer Angel, evil and good are not black and white. While the story runs a little slow and then fast at times, its running theme of trying to figure out if you really are the bad guy in all of this held my attention throughout my playthrough.

Gameplay

Chaotic fun

The gameplay can best be described as addictive chaotic spell-casting pinball. Moving your finger around the left side of the screen changes Angel’s running direction, while pressing buttons on the right side casts your preset spells. Once the level starts, massive amounts of enemies start to fill up the screen and you must avoid, stab, and cast spells to defeat them. It’s all about strategic crowd control. As you progress from level to level, you attain new skills and spells. Customizing them to fit each level’s enemies is really fun and becomes crucial when you get stuck. Learning how to adapt to each level’s environment also becomes a gameplay factor because some have enemy-killing fire traps and others have spikes coming from the ground to avoid. Rather than getting annoyed or overwhelmed when there was an influx of enemies on the screen, I really enjoyed it because that meant more explosions and chances to strategize how I could use the environment with my spells. Another interesting mechanic is that you start at an experience level of 1 at the start of each new level. In order to level-up your experience and defeat the higher-level enemies, you must quickly find and defeat lower-level enemies. If you die, it’s back to experience level 1. However, if you are able to make it back to the spot where you died, you can get your lost experience levels back.

Graphics

Cute, yet dark

The sprites and environments are high-res and run beautifully during gameplay. I was surprised that I never experienced any lag, even when the screen was filled with enemies and I was running around shooting fireballs 360°. While the characters and environments are cute, the overall art direction is dark and muted. I love games with that juxtaposition. The brief cutscenes and character portraits that display during dialogue are just as enjoyable to look at. *mwuah*

Soundtrack

I can best describe the soundtrack as an afterthought. It mainly consisted of low and slow beats, with angelic singing cues here and there. Even when I messed with the game’s settings and turned the music volume up, I never really noticed it. That’s not to say that I couldn’t hear it, it just never really stood out to me or rose high enough over the surplus amount of combat sounds. Not bad, just didn’t stand out.

Overall Freeze Score

Pros:
Interesting story
Smooth and consistent graphics
Addicting and high replayability gameplay

Cons:
Dull soundtrack

Yeah Bunny 2 Review

iPhone, Platformer

Developer: Adrian Zarzycki
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Platforms: iPhone (iOS), Android
Reviewed for: iPhone
Estimated Playthrough: 15-30 minute sessions

Story

Bunny is here to save the day

Even though I have not yet played the first Yeah Bunny, it’s not hard to piece the series’ storyline together. In a very Angry Birds fashion, the babies of a mother chick get kidnapped and you are the bunny tasked with rescuing them. There really is not much more to it and I enjoyed that simplicity. As you play through, the plot thickens a little, but not much. The simple story adds to the cuteness of this game.

Gameplay

Tap…tap…tap

This app is a casual retro platformer with a small twist. Instead of having multiple buttons that perform different actions, this game only requires one finger press to jump. Bunny runs at a standard pace all by himself. You just need to tap (or double tap) in order to avoid enemies and traverse the environment. This mechanic adds a little difficulty to this otherwise very simple game. Because you can only tap to jump, you have to time everything just right so that you don’t fall into spikes or miss the opportunity to hit a wall so that Bunny changes directions. The major problem with this game is the ANNOYING timing and placement of its ads. Every time you die, a video ad pops up. Some of these ads play around 30 seconds before you can skip. While you can use the carrots that you collect throughout levels to skip ads, those carrots go fast. Also, you can pay $2.99 to remove ads completely, but I don’t think this game is really worth that.

Graphics

Too dang cute

What drew me to this game was the cute pixel graphics style and it was the only thing that really held my attention. I am a sucker for bunnies and I am a real sucker for cute games…I mean some of the enemies are even innocent little blueberries. The style direction really reminded me of Yoshi’s Island DS, a favorite of mine as a child. It’s vibrant and fun to look at.

Soundtrack

Speaking of Yoshi’s Island DS, the soundtrack for Yeah Bunny 2 is also similar. I would say its actually similar to most of the retro Mario games. Not long after playing, I was already humming the main tune of the level. However, while Yeah Bunny 2’s soundtrack is catchy, I would not say it stands out. Each tune is pretty standard and just accompanies its level.

Overall Freeze Score

Pros:
Wholesome story
Vibrant pixel graphics
Fun and catchy tunes

Cons:
Annoying ad rate
Lackluster gameplay features

198X Review

Role-Playing, Switch

Developer: Hi-Bit Studios
Price: $10
Platforms: Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC
Reviewed for: Switch
Estimated playtime: 2-4 hours

Story

The Kid

Set sometime in 198X, you play as The Kid – a cynical but relatable high school boy who is desperate to escape his small town suburbia. We meet him at a time when he is experiencing the struggles of growing up that we all face, but he discovers a way to escape through his town’s basement arcade. The story follows The Kid’s daily life as he seeks more and more relief through the arcade. It’s a narrative that mirrors many of us that sought out games as a means to escape the confusing and often troubled reality of childhood. Even though I wasn’t around during the 80’s arcade era, the game’s dialogue does a great job of portraying all of us misunderstood gamer kids and is a nostalgic introspective experience. It hits hard.

Gameplay

My favorite of the arcade games: Shadowplay

This is where things get really interesting. While you play as The Kid, you don’t really control his character other than through the arcade games he plays. The gameplay breaks down into various minigames that call back to retro arcade classics. There’s the side scrolling fighter “The Beating Heart”, the space shooter “Out of the Void”, the racer “The Runway”, the ninja platformer “Shadowplay”, and the dungeon crawler “Kill Screen”. Each of these minigames has quality game mechanics that ring true to their inspiration. However, I call them “minigames” here for a reason. While they cover a broad selection of genres, they lack any real depth to them. Each only has about two short levels and no real difficulty wall. With the game only being comprised of five minigames with short cutscenes in-between, it only took me about three hours to beat. While I understand that this is only a $10 game, I wanted more from each level.

Graphics

Ahhh those polished pixels

198X brings the retro pixel style of the 80’s into the modern era. The cutscenes between gameplay are incredibly detailed, pulling me into the experience rather than taking me out. It really made me appreciate that art style and realize that I put too much emphasis on the hyper-realistic graphics of today. When gameplay switches to the arcade games, the quality barely seems to drop. Whether you’re looking at exploding spacecraft in “Out of the Void”, or racing down a fluorescent highway in “The Runway”, everything is gorgeous. The difference in art direction for each level is different, but cohesive.

Soundtrack

The chiptune soundtrack of 198X adds yet another layer of the retro gaming feel. During cutscenes where you listen to The Kid’s musings on life, the synthesizer’s beats are low and made me feel like soul-searching too. When you jump into a minigame though, the tone switches to match. Each track fits perfectly with its level. When I was frantically spinning around trying to avoid 20+ galactic fighter jets shooting at me all at once, the upbeat synth music added to the fun insanity. I usually find chiptune music to get annoying after a while, but even when I had to repeat “Shadowplay” a few too many times (apparently I can’t avoid shuriken well), I never got tired of the level’s track.

Overall Freeze Score

Pros:
Relatable and memorable story
Gorgeous pixel graphics
Catchy chiptune soundtrack

Cons:
Shallow depth of gameplay