A number of months in the past, the Change lastly acquired Pizza Tower, an indie motion platformer that’s gotten a variety of reward for the way properly it channels Nintendo’s long-dormant Wario Land collection. But developer Tour de Pizza wasn’t the one crew impressed by Wario. Summitsphere’s Antonblast is a wild and great motion platformer that feels prefer it might really be the subsequent Wario Land recreation if it got here with a special coat of paint; its mixture of pace, precision, and sensible stage design makes for a very thrilling expertise that’s solely let down by its points with secure efficiency.
Antonblast stars the titular Dynamite Anton, whose indignant, red-skinned look leaves Devil feeling envious and insecure about his standing as “the reddest being of all of them.” So, in a petty act of retaliation, he sends his minions to Anton’s residence to steal what he cherishes most: the Spirits that he stored round his dwelling area. Enraged, Anton grabs his hammer and units out on a quest to reclaim what was stolen and to present Devil a chunk of his thoughts.
Play by any given stage right here and the inspiration it takes from Wario Land 4 is instantly clear. Anton (or his roommate, Annie, when you desire) tears by ranges like a nearly unstoppable drive of nature, smashing containers and blowing up enemies as he bounces round along with his hammer and powers by obstacles along with his ‘Clutch’ cost potential. There are many aspect paths to discover and collectibles to snap up alongside the way in which, however the final aim is to get to the bomb on the finish of the extent so you can begin “Pleased Hour.” As soon as triggered, a countdown clock begins, and also you solely have a couple of minutes to run all the way in which again by the extent with the Spirit you collected. These mad dashes to security are an actual thrill, as you typically are pressured to take an alternate path again to the start and often go away an unlimited path of destruction in your wake on the journey again.
Merely beating a stage isn’t sufficient to get the total expertise, nonetheless, not even when you took your time to wash it for all its collectibles. After beating every one, you unlock a time assault and combo chain mode for the extent, and that is the place the distinctive stage design actually comes into focus.
For Time Assault, every stage provides you a decent par time to realize that calls for you grasp stage layouts and perceive the nuances of Anton’s moveset to optimise your makes an attempt. Combo Chain works a lot the identical, however right here you’re tasked with sustaining an unbroken combo by strategically smashing containers and blowing up enemies, all with none well being pickups that can assist you out. We loved what these two modes delivered to the desk, as they drive you to interact with every stage otherwise every time and add better problem and replayability to an already nice platformer.
Even when you simply stick with the minimal content material to clear the bottom story, Antonblast shows a exceptional quantity of selection throughout its comparatively temporary run. It ought to solely take you about 10 hours to clear (perhaps double that when you do every thing), but it surely makes essentially the most of that point by continually introducing new concepts and stage ideas alongside the way in which.
One stage has a power-up that basically turns you into Taz the Tasmanian Satan, completely obliterating every thing in your path as you flip right into a chaotic whirlwind. One other stage introduces a blazing-fast animal buddy shark that Anton can trip on land or sea, giving new traversal choices as he hangs on for expensive life. That is the form of recreation that retains issues transferring, and its dedication to introducing new concepts and constructing ranges round them retains it feeling continually recent.
As for its visible presentation, Antonblast is clearly impressed by the likes of outdated Newgrounds-style Flash animations and ‘90s Nickelodeon exhibits. There’s a twisted and considerably dreamlike high quality to the colorful worlds you terrorise in your journey, and all of the characters and animations have a really Looney Tunes-esque vibe with their exaggerated actions. At nearly any second on-screen, there’s one thing sure to be exploding, screaming, or collapsing, and with this underscored by the vibration characteristic of the Pleasure-Con it results in a really vigorous visible expertise. But it surely’s the eye to little particulars that basically sells the artwork fashion, such because the lengthy path of ‘A’s that follows a terrified enemy you simply despatched careening right into a brick wall.
The audio retains up with the insanity of the motion with a pop and jazz-infused soundtrack that maintains a excessive power stage all through. And we particularly respect the frequent cartoonish sound results to punctuate Anton’s harmful actions—issues just like the crashing airplane sound used when Anton does a physique slam from a excessive leap assist to maintain the goofy ambiance entrance and centre.
One draw back is that the efficiency practically can’t sustain with the fixed motion. There are many moments the place the display screen is positively soaked in explosions, poker chips, and screaming enemies, which results in a noticeable drop within the body price. These drops don’t have a large direct impact in your potential to manage Anton, however they nonetheless actually cheapen the expertise sufficient to be disappointing. We’ve seen experiences of crashing points and a few softlock bugs encountered by different gamers over the launch interval, too. We’ve been assured by the builders {that a} efficiency enchancment patch concentrating on these points has already been submitted to Nintendo, however simply be warned that the present model out there at launch is quite tough across the edges—you could need to watch for the fixes.
Conclusion
Antonblast is a good tribute to Nintendo’s Wario Land collection with its madcap motion and deal with gameplay selection. The cartoonish visuals, excessive replayability, and total spectacle of the expertise make this one properly value a suggestion, although we’d mood this by saying that it actually wants some work on its Change efficiency. Whether or not on Change or elsewhere, we’d recommend you decide this one up when you’re in any respect a fan of Nintendo’s different Italian mascot and are in search of a well-made and fast-paced new 2D platformer—Antonblast has obtained it the place it counts and is well-deserving of a spot in your library.
